whats wrong

[krawlinyjjeep]

i bought a 79 xs1100 form a co worker that was moving out of town for 200 buck he said it had not run in 10 years got it home and spayed carb cleaner in it got it to run redid the fuse panel rode it a round a little bit and determined a float was stuck tor apart the carbs and found that the #2 jet was stuck cleaned all the carbs freed the jet and now the bike wont start and help do i have to adjust anything and where should the big brass screw on the back of the carb assembly be

[81xsproject]

pics help for missing screw type questions. I don't know if the 70's carbs had them, but the 80's had brass screws in the bottom, toward the front that appear to do nothing at all.

How did you clean the carbs? Did you put the vac advance (retarder) hose back on the #2 carb BODY or boot?

[stoked]

Man it could be about anything. Is your vacuum hose for your petcock hooked back up? Might wanna turn it to prime to make sure your got gas in it.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey there Krawlinyjjeep,

Okay, you cleaned up the carbs a bit, BUT what did you do to the gastank?? Did you replace the fuel lines? Have you put inline fuel filters on it?? 10 years of crud in the tank can cause lots of rust and stuff that will flow down and clog your newly cleaned carbs!!

Okay, your profile states a 79SF Special. Does it still have the Octopus, or has it been bypassed/removed?? The Octy valve can get frozen not allowing fuel to flow. You can bypass it by using the PRIME position of the petcocks.

There is a small jet in the float bowls that is hard to see when it gets gummed up, you can't remove it, but you can clean it so that fuel will flow thru the channel/tube and thru the jet into the bowl, it's what feeds the starter/fuel enrichener circuit.

More info on how it won't start will help. Does the engine turn over/rotate but no sound of fire, or will the engine not spin? Checked for spark at the plugs? The Pickup coil wires are a known weak link, see the tech tips!
T.C.

[egsols]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't the no. 2 carb supply the vaccum for the octo fuel shut off? If the vac line wasn't hooked up properly or if its leaking you won't get any fuel to the carbs. Like stoked said try running on prime for a fec secs to refill the floats.

[krawlinyjjeep]

ok there is still the octopus thing there and i had it running before now it turns fires but wont start as far as the screw it is there it is big brass and the head is about the size of a quarter in the middle of the carb pack. ill try to see if it will start in reserve tonight and maybe get some pictures


thanks for the quick responses

[AlanB]

Hi Kj,

You don't want reserve, You need "Prime" to start it for the first time.

Prime bypasses the vac system in the octy. The octy can only only pass fuel once it has vacuum, which it does not get until the engine fires........

AlanB

[skids]

Nope, the vacuum nipple of the No. 2 carb is for the ignition/pick-up coil unit.

Originally posted by egsols
Someone correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't the no. 2 carb supply the vaccum for the octo fuel shut off?