Losing my mind

[TacomaJeepJeff]

OK, I just got the 1981 XS11 out of the shop where I spent more than its worth.

Work done;
Rebuilt carbs
Carb boots
Petcocks
New fuel and vacum homes.
New front brake.

Got ~400 uneventful miles in 2 weeks.

Starting today, I can ride it about 10 miles (freeway). It starts surging, then begins to loose power and in about 1 mile dies. Wont restart.

I waited 30 minutes, it started right up and I got another 10 miles where it dies again.

Feels like its starving out.

Ideas? Besides a match.....

[crazy steve]

Did you try opening the gas cap? A clogged vent in the cap can cause this...

[XS1100 Newbie]

I would recheck everything the shop touched. I don't believe that there are very many, if any, shops that know how to work on these bikes. Shoot, most of us that do work on them still have troubles i bet.

[mack]

Gas Cap

Like Steve said. If you have a spare key, just leave it in the cap and drive until it acts up again the pop the cap, if it cures the issue, then remove the cap when back home and take it apart and clean it. You'll notice a small fabric filter. It's probably rotten and disintegrating and being pulled into the vent holes plugging them. Probably could use a new rubber gasket as well. You'll find that most problems you'll have are just little things. Anoying never the less. Good luck.

[James England]

Def sounds like fuel starvation. The hole in my filler cap was blocked and I had a misfire (rather than total stop) after a few miles. I unclogged it and the problem disappeared.


You've done 400 miles without fault. That means that anything the shop did re the carbs is probably all fine. You didn't get problems immediately on return from the shop, right? So, something's happened since then, rather than something they did not being right. Your symptoms sound like gas starvation and the filler cap is often the cause.

There are several threads here re cleaning the vent hole.

[soccer4m]

take it back

Take it back to the shop and let them check it out, as it could be alot of different things. As for advice,
1.check gas level, is it full?
2. petcock position-on reserve or prime?
3. clogged fuel filters?
4. gas cap vent check, run with lid open....
5. pinched gas lines?
Keep us informed,,,,good luck, Mike in S.Diego

[neJeff]

Gas line is first place I would check. Is there a reason why you can't take it back to them and say WTF is up here?

[neJeff]

OK, I just got the 1981 XS11 out of the shop where I spent more than its worth.

Work done;
Rebuilt carbs
Carb boots
Petcocks
New fuel and vacum homes.
New front brake.

Got ~400 uneventful miles in 2 weeks.

Starting today, I can ride it about 10 miles (freeway). It starts surging, then begins to loose power and in about 1 mile dies. Wont restart.

I waited 30 minutes, it started right up and I got another 10 miles where it dies again.

Feels like its starving out.

Ideas? Besides a match.....

If this is not out of line ( and even if it is ) I am curious if you would share exactly how much your bill came to with all of that service work done

[XSive Okie]

Maybe the ignition box getting hot and qutting until cooled off? I know Ford modules were notorious for that back in the day.

[XSive Okie]

Is there a reason why you can't take it back to them and say WTF is up here?

Also this ^^^

[BA80]

Sounds like a gas cap issue or a kinked line to me.

[DGXSER]

For one reason or another, the bowls are not filling with fuel fast enough to keep up with your carbs needs. with the exception of the petcock and fuel line work, none of this pertains to the work done by the shop. Realistically, if it runs fine at start-up and for the first ten minutes, then the petcock and fuel lines are less suspect in my opinion.

The most likely issue is the gas cap vent mentioned. Basically, as gas is pulled from the tank, it needs air to fill the void. After a certain amount of time, if air can not get in, its like holding your thumb over the end of a straw full of fluid, the fluid can not go out, same for your gas.

I agree, with leaving the cap open and take it easy getting to the highway, run it with the cap open, and see what happens. Or just go ahead and pull the cap off, clean it up, and reinstall and see what happens. Cleaning the cap is about a 30 minute job really.

[slow mo]

pick -up coil wires ???just a good guess ,,ride safe slow mo !

[Spookysxs11]

they possibly could have hooked up the fuel lines backwards not reralizing it. try running it in the PRI position and soo what happens. or like everyone else says take it back and say W T F

[TacomaJeepJeff]

Fixed!

I took it back with the aforementioned WTF?

They said the replaced fuel lines were too small and I took it out for a 10 mile, one way ride. http://www.xs11.com/forum/images/smilies/mad.gif

Repeated the step "I took it back with the aforementioned WTF" and added an angry face. I also took she who must be obeyed along as her angry face is much better than mine. She told them last chance or we would require a refund for all the work done. 3 roadside drops after big money repair is 3 too many I think.

Turns out, there is a vacuum cutoff in the octopus that was leaking. Its the single vacuum switch that sits between the vacuum and the vacuum side of the petcocks. After 10 minutes it would turn off the vacuum to the petcocks and riding would cease.

Cost for the work was $1900. I like old things and the XSs a lot, cheaper (way) than an HD. There is a shop in Tacoma that works on these for $79 /hour. I think they are slow , but the work seems OK. I'm not over pissed about the vacuum leak, I can see where that was a tad hard to troubleshoot.