2007 hydro lock and ticking noise

[Jdegg]

Bike was running good than sat for 2 weeks, with fuel on. Didn’t want to start,  then loud pop then started up  and ticking sound started after that. Ran fine before. 17000 miles. Checked oil, spark plugs and clutch.  No sparkles in oil and Turned over with spark plugs out of the bike and couldn’t here the ticking sound. Don’t really know where to start. Any advice? This is my first Royal star.

thank you 

[saddlebum]

1.  I would start with checking your oil level, and see if it has risen at all. If gas has been leaking into the cylinders, some of it may drain into the oil sump raising your level .
2. Any time you suspect an engine feels hydro locked, it is a good idea to remove the plugs and crank the engine a few times with the plugs out before trying to start it.
3.  Once you have run the engine for a few minutes shut it down and extract some oil from the engine. a straw works well for this just reach into the fill hole with the straw then place your thumb on the end and remove the straw. Hold straw over a clean white sheet of paper and remove your thumb leaving a puddle on the paper. let it sit and soak into the paper for a bit usually a few minutes is enough and look at the oil spot There maybe a lighter tiny ring around the outside of the spot but if this lighter ring expands around the oil spot quite a bit you most likely have gas in the oil. In which case I would change oil and filter.
4. If this turns out to be a chronic issue you may want to check your float settings and condition of your needle and seats in the carburetor. 
5. If your concerned that you may have suffered some engine damage you can drain of some oil and send a sample plus your filter out for analysis. There are a few places that specialize in analyzing automotive oils and they will give you a break down of what is found in the oil as well as alert you to any warning signs that you may need to take seriously. Often they will ask for a second sample after so many miles/KM in order to isolate normal wear metal amounts from excessive amounts. Here is a link to the company we use at work. we found them to be very good. and there reports are usually very easy to understand      https://www.alsglobal.com/en/services-and-products/oil-fuel-and-coolant-analysis/oil-analysis-and-testing

Edited July 26, 2021 by saddlebum

[Marcarl]

What do you mean by 'wouldn't start'. It wouldn't turn over or it turned over but wouldn't fire.?

[Jdegg]

It wouldn’t fire then finally did with a big backfire noise. Then the ticking started

[Marcarl]

49 minutes ago, Jdegg said:

It wouldn’t fire then finally did with a big backfire noise. Then the ticking started

So I am assuming then that it did turn over well enough. Did you check to make sure all the electrodes were still on the spark plugs, thinking that one make have broken off and started bouncing around inside a cylinder.