What's going on with my bike?

[Montreux_Blue]

It's just you........

And second moral of the story is don't buy cheap gas in Ada, OK, it makes your bike go slower and blame exhaust leaks for it.

[XSokieSPECIAL]

CRAP! I knew it......I just didn't want to admit it.

I'm a victim of my XSive environment.

[Montreux_Blue]

I didn't mean to belittle you...

[XSokieSPECIAL]

I didn't mean to belittle you...

You can't help but be little. lol AH

[motoman]

With the information given I think Ray is dead-on for a diagnosis start. Also, XSokie needs to go for a L-O-N-G ride.

[XSokieSPECIAL]

Yea, he more than likely is but the way it came across to me at the time just struck me wrong. My appogies to all for losing my temper.

jaimes had mentioned in the early part of this thread that he had been through the carbs 4 times in the last 4 months and is still having a problem.

I did the same thing with the okie SPECIAL when I first got it. I was having VERY similar symptoms and pulled the carbs repetedly thinking that was where the problem was. Quite by accident I discovered the problem was in the p/u wires when I was test riding with the left cover off.

When I reached a certain speed (25-30 mph) the engine would cut off and then start firing again when it slowed down.

The air currents would blow the wires around and make them lose contact until I slowed down enough the air wasn't moving so much.

Crazy huh?

Yea...your right motoman.......I do need a l..o..n..g ride!

[trbig]

Yea...your right motoman.......I do need a l..o..n..g ride!

Ya know... if you weren't such a sissy to the weather and all, you could...


Tod

[XSokieSPECIAL]

Yea...well...I'm not a practicing masochist like you.




AH

[trbig]

Good gosh... Just go get a Harley and come out of the closet, will ya? lol.


Tod

[TopCatGr58]

That's not entirely accurate....movie quote!

Hey there Jaimes and XSOkie,

Albeit most of the time electrical problems on the XS11 are linked to the 1-4 and 2-3 pairing...there are certain rare situations where the 1-2 and 3-4 can occur. A member posted some time back about his bike that was not firing on a pair of cylinders, can't remember if it was 1-2 or 3-4 but it was a pair that is normally linked by the fuel system/carbs! After several trips into the carbs with no improvement, he turned his attention to the ignition.

Turns out that he wasn't getting full voltage to his ignition coils, and because they fire 2 plugs sending the spark out 1 wire/plug thru the engine and back thru the other plug/wire to the coil, that IF there is LOW voltage, it can generate a reduced spark impulse that would only have enough energy to fire the first plug but not enough to actually FIRE the second one, and so with both coils with low voltage, you get the chance of the paired failing plugs linked similar to carb pairing.

Several members have posted how ONCE they replaced their old worn out ignition coils with new ones, their engine misses went away!

I've seen your posts Jaimes, but can't recall all that you've done to your machine. Are you sure you have good strong battery and power to your ignition system? With the bike dying after 3 minutes, could be several things electrically, the ballast resistor can have a crack, and after a few minutes, heats up, separates and cuts out power to the coils. Also if the charging system isn't working right, and if the bike is just idling, then it's draining the battery, and IF it gets below 10.5 volts, the TCI will shut off, again, dead engine!

Aside from the carbs, you also have other components for fuel delivery, can't recall if you have standard or special with OEM petcocks, or octopus, but cracked vacuum lines can cause loss of fuel flow from standard petcocks or the octopus.

So....don't just dive back into the carbs until you do a bit more diagnostics on both the ignition and fuel delivery systems to RULE out other possibilities before finally settling on the carbs as a possible fault!

T.C.

[XSokieSPECIAL]

Yea... I remember that tread too TC. It turned out he ( whoever it was I don't remember) had a couple of bad plug wires.

Maybe he'll chime in and let us know how that turned out and maybe hand jaimse a little insight.

Bad plug wires guy............where are you?

[XSokieSPECIAL]

Good gosh... Just go get a Harley and come out of the closet, will ya? lol.


Tod

Then I would be the masochist.........I like RIDING my scoot, not pushing it.

Besides......then everyone would yell...FAG...as I went by.

[trbig]

Like they don't already..

LMAO.

[Larrym]

If it Be the Carbs:

well thats a relief. So from what you guys are telling me it is a carb problem and not in the motor. I have went through the carbs 4 times in the last 4 months. I am closely following the steps on this forum. It seems I just haven't mastered it. I will probably get it professionally done. Does anyone know the average price to get a set of carbs done at a shop? Also I noticed the spark plugs are really black and burnt looking. Is this why the bike is so hard to start? Good information thanks fellas

I dunno about "average" price to do the carbs but apparently here's a place where for $100 they'll be cleaned :

XS Member Services

More done if you want to...

[melbxs]

Before anyone pulls their carbs - especially an in-experienced owner - let's ask the basic question:

Is the bike giving a good strong spark on all 4 cylinders?

If not - do not go near the carbs until the spark is sorted out.