carb trouble... Help please.

[luckynumberxs11]

Ok, so i pulled the carbs on my 79 special to attempt a bench synch as described by you wonderful people on this site. However, once i had them removed, i had the common sense to realize that i had no idea what i was doing. So without taking anything apart or adjusting anything i put the carbs back on the bike exactly as they were. Now the bike fires up but immediately dies. Did i somehow mess with the idle jet or the air/fuel mix jets? If so is that what is causing my problem? Do i need to adjust the float needles? I am extremely inexperienced when it comes to working on motorcycles, but i am trying to learn. Unfortunately i have no one but the internet to assist me, so while i am waiting for my Clymer manual to arrive in the mail, any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[luckynumberxs11]

p.s. I have already scoured the FAQs and repair and maintenance info already on the site.

[Yard Dogg]

Well I hope you didn't read the thread I started about syncing carbs, cause that could be your problem . Having said that, if you didn't adjust anything is it possible you are out of gas? That's what mine does when I ran out of gas. Are your petcocks turned on? There is a knob to adjust your throttle cable in front of the carbs. If you turned it a few times when taking the cable off it could be the cause. Just a little twist of it on my bike makes a big difference in idle.

You might check to make sure your vacuum lines are hooked up. There is one that comes from the left side case cover where the vacuum advance is, it should be hooked up to the vacuum port on the #2 carb body. The other short one coming from your vacuum fuel switch also mounted on your #2 carb should be hooked up to the vacuum port closest to the cyli9nder on the #2 carb boot. Just a few things to check right off.

[luckynumberxs11]

no i put 2 brand new gallons in the tank, and both petcocks are definitely turned on while starting. i had them set to prime for a bit yesterday (when i was first attempting to restart) could that be the problem? Did i possibly flood the emgine somehow?

[luckynumberxs11]

that throttle cable could definitely have been adjusted though. ill have to try it tomorrow though, its midnight here.... dont want to wake the neighbors

[Yard Dogg]

It might be a bit flooded. It will choke out if it is. If you didn't adjust anything and you are having these problems, then something is hooked up wrong or the throttle cable just needs to be adjusted. I did the same thing last year when I first got my bike. Just keep studying things over and you'll get it. These bikes are great once you know your way around them. More bang for the buck!

[luckynumberxs11]

everything else i did have covered. im hoping the throttle cable is the culprit. thanks for the input. If anyone else wants to post a reply i am more than willing to read any advice. For now, im off to bed. Check back in the morning

[luckynumberxs11]

oh and jeepster i would definitely like to see some closer pics of that bike of yours if you have some. im planning on doing something similar to mine. thanks again and goodnight.

[Yard Dogg]

I'd love to tell you about it! I picked it up in a junk yard last year as an abandoned vehicle (hence the name Yard Dogg). It had 19,000 original miles judging by the clock and condition of the moving parts. It was very badly weathered, even worse than it looks in the pictures. Since then I've put on new tires, an attempted paint job (getting better as we speak), adapted a rear bobber fender from a Honda Shadow, made the seat from scratch (first one), and mostly just cleanup, lubes and some carb work. Oh yeah, I'm the most proud of my self fabbed mufflers! The originals had a huge hole in em so I made my own. They are just a few rings louder than the originals at idle and sound like a Ferrari when fully wound out. I didn't loose a bit of torque either. Last year I spent a few weeks on it to get it to where you see it now. I lucked out big time on that bike, I only gave $150 for it and the engine is in like new shape for being 30 years old.

Right now I've got it half way torn down again. I've rebuilt and repainted the carbs, I'm painting the fender, polishing up the frame to remove oxidation which is looking much better, replacing my fork seals and oil, repainting my rear wheel, and going to sync my carbs the right way and replace a few valve shims with income tax. I'm toying with the idea of repainting both my wheels gold so I can maintain some of the Midnight Special theme. I've had to get rid of most of the gold because it was ate away by the elements. The next pictures I take will show it looking a bit better than now. Here's a few I have posted on the Yamaha web site.

http://www.yamahamotorcycleforum.com...hp?albumid=678

[Yard Dogg]

It might help to post your location on your profile. Some of these guys are known to drive great distances for the change to tinker on an XS11 and to drink your beer. Great people in here.

[GARTHXS]

ballast resistor

could be the ballast resistor , does it only fire with starter button pressed in , you might have pulled the wire loose when taking off the carbs, also do you have all the vacuum lines hooked up , try to run it on prime?

[GARTHXS]

also

do you have the octapus still on the bike, if so check for vaccum leaks, many people trash that setup and go without .

[tarzan]

Have you pulled the spark plugs?
I would do that right away.That will tell you if it is flooding or getting no gas.If flooding, plugs are probably fouled.
Replace the plugs if fouled.Plugs are $10.Pretty cheap to replace.With our weak electrical system, you need very good spark.
Another thing is, lately up here we have had some bad gas. I put new gas in
all three of my XS's a couple months ago.Then ran into a no start situation on all three.They would almost fire and backfire a little and no start.
It took me about a week to put it together that it was the gas.By then the plugs were fouled.I replaced gas again and had to replace the plugs on all three and they all fired right up.

[psycoreefer]

could be the ballast resistor , does it only fire with starter button pressed in , you might have pulled the wire loose when taking off the carbs, also do you have all the vacuum lines hooked up , try to run it on prime?

+1 Done this myself, snagged a wire putting the tank on or off and then no start. The ballast resistor is a rectangle shaped thing on the left side of the bike mounted just bellow the upper frame tube. It should have two wire plugged into it, should only take you a second to verify its plugged in...

symptoms -> bike seems to fire fine but dies as soon as you take your finger off the starter button.

update your user information with your location, if you can't figure it out it is very likely there is another xsive in your area that would be willing to help.

[CatatonicBug]

while i am waiting for my Clymer manual to arrive in the mail, any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Rather than waiting, you can download one (and the OEM version too) for free from the link in my signature.