Resurrection not working

[Chuckster]

Thanks for the suggestions, I am sorely in need of them. I will try and do all these over the weekend and hopefully have good news to report on Tuesday. I can't tell you how anxious I am to hear that engine run! I will surely crack open a couple of cold ones to celebrate that event! Many thanks.

[fredintoon]

Divide & conquer

Hi Chuckster,
first, sort out the sparks. Make sure that all 4 plugs have big fat sparks when you lay them on the head and crank the motor.
Then make sure the plugs are connected to the proper coils. One coil runs #1 & #4. the other runs #2 & #3. The book will tell you which is which. If you ain't got a book, go get one. Now, take the carbs off. Betcha they could use another clean even if they do have the correct innards. Spray instant start in the carb boots as you crank the engine. The engine should fire up on all four. Quick squirts of instant start will keep the motor going for the brief while you need to see it firing on all 4. Now that you know the spark is good it follows that the carbs must need looking at.

[desert1]

something completely different

On two occasions my bike would turn over well, got lots of spark, lots of fuel available, no coil or pick-up issues, in short all appeared well and the darn thing should have ran but for one major issue that has'nt surfaced in this particular thread and probably would go unnoticed anyway.....the exhaust system, to be exact, a plugged exhaust system...if the exhaust cant get out fresh fuel cant be sucked in....not saying this is the problem here Chuckster, and in fact may be an issue with the make of exhaust system on my bike "Supertrap", lives up to its name! To correct my problem involved puting spacers between the baffle plates to allow the engine to breath better.....amazing how many little things can stop an engine from running!

Also, with this problem Chuckster on examining sparkplugs, they will be dry and it will appear as though you have a carb problem..

All this to say, check your exhaust baffles if you have a nostart problem....

Bruce
78XS1100

[Dragon Tamer]

Good point Bruce!
Although if the bike ran before it is unlikely to be a baffle problem.
We once spent an unholy amount of time trying to start a Suzuki that had been sitting for over twenty years, after several days someone noticed that there was not any amount of air coming out of the mufflers when we were cranking the engine. Further investigation uncovered a large amount of residue of rodent in the mufflers. Removing that gave us immediate results (and hangovers).

[Chuckster]

Resurrection now in progress

Thanks for all the help, I did as suggested, checked compression, spark, air flow, exhaust, etc. All looked OK, so I gave her a shot of starter fluid and after a sputter or two, she roared to life. Literally. She now starts instantly, but the tach heads straight towards the redline. I have to use the kill switch to shut her down. How do I bring the idle down? I don't think I can even try a carb synch with it idling this high. Any suggestions?

[bikerphil]

high idle

Make sure your throttle cable is routed correctly and not binding. It should have a tiny amount of slack in it. Try turning down the main idle adjustment between carbs 2+3. It's a round knob with teeth on it, 'bout 5/8" in diameter.

[Chuckster]

Cable does not appear to be binding. Just to be sure, I should tighten the adjustment screw, correct?

[psycoreefer]

You should loosen the adjustment screw, if you mean the main idle adjustment screw. Tighter is higher idle and looser is lower idle. Its on the rear "intake" side of the carbs. Also before you adjust it make sure your choke is off, that can make it rev quite high.