Killed it, now it won't start.

[jotimm05]

I tried taking my '80 XS1100 out the other day and I got halfway down the drive and killed it. Tried to start back up and it wouldn't start. Can't get it back to neutral. Put it back into the garage and tried to start with centerstand up, cranked but no start, could see rear wheel moving. Relatively new to bikes in general, no mechanical bike experience, have worked on cars before. Am I in deep doodoo? What should I try first?

[Crazcnuk]

You have to get it out of gear.

With the bike on teh center stand, rotate the rear wheel with your hand, while cranking the shifter pedal down, with your other hand. You should feel it cycle through any gears until you hit 1st.

Once you're sure it is in 1st, then, very gently try and lift it into neutral while still turning the rear wheel. It should go.

If it doesn't then I suspect you may have a more serious transmission or shifter issue. However, the transmission in the XS11 is actually not that bad to repair, or so they tell me

[COOL TOM]

Where are you

What part of central IL are you at I live at Canton, IL. If you are close I could come over and help you with it. Put your bike and location in your signature so people know what bike you have and if they are close they can come over and help.

[CatatonicBug]

However, the transmission in the XS11 is actually not that bad to repair, or so they tell me

He's right. There is a switch on the clutch lever that should allow you to start it when the tranny is not in neutral. If you don't have a neutral light on the tach, and don't pull the clutch lever, the switch should not allow the bike to start (safety feature). However, if you can't get it into neutral, you may be missing one of the pins in the shift drum that the shift pawl grabs when you lift/press the shift lever. If that's the case, except for getting the retaining washer and a new pin (if the old one has disappeared), it's a 45-minute job, start to finish.

Welcome to the forum! Be sure to post some pictures of your ride, so we can see what we're talking about!

[XSokieSPECIAL]

I tried taking my '80 XS1100 out the other day and I got halfway down the drive and killed it. Tried to start back up and it wouldn't start. Can't get it back to neutral. Put it back into the garage and tried to start with centerstand up, cranked but no start, could see rear wheel moving. Relatively new to bikes in general, no mechanical bike experience, have worked on cars before. Am I in deep doodoo? What should I try first?

jotimm05, I read something a while back about there sometimes being an electrical problem with the ignition and the neutral light switch. I don't recall what it was but it causes the engine to die when you put it in gear and the light goes out.

Sound familiar?

Do a search......or maybe one of these "Super Guru's" will chime in.

BTW.......welcome to the forum.

[Ivan]

Not all xs11s had the clutch switch, and its actually pretty rare. I think only 81s and up and possibly only specials had them. If you have one it won't crank in gear without pulling the clutch. If you don't it will crank in gear, so always start in neutral to avoid damage to your garage door.

If it cranks but doesn't start, its time to start narrowing it down to a basic cause. Check spark, fuel supply, timing and compression. Each of those four are necessary to start, and finding which one is not present gets you hunting on the right path.

FWIW, on the centerstand in neutral with the clutch pulled, there could be enough residual friction to make the wheel turn while cranking. However, it should be readily apparent if the transmission is stuck in gear, because the wheel will accellerate and stop rapidly when the starter is hit, where as resdual friction will take a bit to spin up.

Hope this helps and keep us posted.

[CatatonicBug]

Oh, sorry, I thought it was '80+ that had the switch. It's hard to keep track of that stuff.

[Ivan]

Actually, Bug, I am of the opinion that it was a mid year change. I have seen a couple 81 specials without the switch. Some of the wiring schematics don't show it either. But its hard to tell what people have done with these bikes over the last 30 years, or wether Yamaha was worth a hoot at publishing correct schematics.

[Bigge_al]

My 2 cents

This may seem dum but is it possible that you hit the kill switch and need to flip the switch back. ha I did not even know how to turn the turn signal off until I visited TC.