Weak Spark?

[GTXS1100]

Well i wish i could say ive been riding in this awesome weather that we have been having here, but i cant my bike is still messed up. I have been working on it every spare min i can. I keep having the same problem. As i am going down the road she cuts out above 3grand. I have changed my jets a dozen times and mess with the timing with no luck. The only way i can think to discribe whats going on is to tell you that its like having a bad throtle position sensor on a fuel injected car. It feels like there is a dead spot in my throtle like it is loosing spark, or i have weak spark maybe and when the main jets open up its flooding out. My next thing i was going to try was to get newer coils since mine are oem, does any one know of a good site to get some and about how much they are?

[BA80]

I don't know your history so I gotta ask. Have you checked the pickup coil wires?

[crazy steve]

Not to rag on you, but you need to determine just exactly what the problem is and quit throwing parts at it. If you're having problems with the ignition system, every bit of that can be tested and eliminated as the problem before moving on to the carbs...

[DGXSER]

If your getting spark to run it at low RPM, with the way these bikes work, I doubt your weak enough to loose power that badly at 3k. Now, it might be pick up coils as the vac advance does come in around there, which will move the wires and could casue the loss of spark.

[GTXS1100]

I can tell im starting to irritate everyone, so ill just take it somewhere and pay whatever it takes to get it running.

[barrelguy]

Save your money!

I can tell im starting to irritate everyone, so ill just take it somewhere and pay whatever it takes to get it running.

I've had nothing but positive help from this site whenever I needed help. These gurus LOVE to get irritated but mainly with each other

I had similar issues last year (losing power in mid-range) and once I fixed the pick up coil wires everything was golden. If I can fix that, anybody can.

[motoman]

I can tell im starting to irritate everyone, so ill just take it somewhere and pay whatever it takes to get it running.

None of that seen. On your part, with second part of statement kinda bait sounding, do as you see fit. Maybe later, having a better 'hair day' you'll ask here for some constructive help in order to correct your scoots issue. Ride safe...have a great day!

[crazy steve]

I can tell im starting to irritate everyone, so ill just take it somewhere and pay whatever it takes to get it running.

The problem is not that you're irritating us, but by not specifically saying what you've done......
"I have changed my jets a dozen times and mess with the timing with no luck."
.... that doesn't tell us what you've really done and we can't tell where to direct you to next for troubleshooting. One thing I've learned, there's very few 'shortcuts' to troubleshooting and the best (and in the end, usually the easiest) path to fixing one of these is to be methodical in your work and eliminating/fixing each possibility one by one.

You may be able to find somebody who can fix this for you, but unless they're very familar with the XS and it's foibles, you be paying them to learn on your bike and it can get extremely expensive...

[Joab]

Thick skin my friend, thick skin. You have alot of old men on here, so you have to take them with a grain of salt

Good info to be had though, I know through my PO's experience, with these old bikes, sometimes taking it to a shop can actually make things worse, as opposed to better.

And if you really want to see them get irritated, start talking about chopping up an old XS2 for the fun of it

[SFerinTEXAS]

I can tell im starting to irritate everyone, so ill just take it somewhere and pay whatever it takes to get it running.

Didn't really see any irritation here either. P/U coils are prime suspects. What have you done to test? If unsure how to then ask.

Or bring it to me, I'll take your money. Just kidding.

[natemoen]

I can tell im starting to irritate everyone, so ill just take it somewhere and pay whatever it takes to get it running.

I agree with steve. You are not being super specific to help us and you are not always listening to us. We want to help, but we nees your help to help

Don't take it somewhere, it never ends well...

[TopCatGr58]

If I remember correctly, yours is the bike that is also running open headers or straight pipes with little to no backpressure, and that's been addressed in another thread, that you WILL have a very difficult time tuning the bike to be able to run adequately with no or very little backpressure in the exhaust system!

As Steve stated, we are trying to figure out what your bike is doing and not doing from your descriptions. The more info we have, the better our educated GUESSES can be. This is why we also recommend keeping your replies and posts WITHIN the same thread/topic when going thru a troubleshooting process, so that we can see what you have done, have tried, what others have suggested, etc. without having to go thru several separate threads and such. We are dealing with many folks, and with our collective age related CRS we can't keep track of all of the details of your specific problem when they're are spread out all over the forum in several threads and such!

It's your money, you can do with it what you want, but we've seen this type of situation over and over again, and it's very rare to find a mechanic old enough to be familiar with our bikes, carbs, and such.

Cutting out at ~3k as has been pointed out is very possibly the pick up coil wires, a known FAULT and weak link with these machines, but it has also been mentioned that trying to tune this engine without any back pressure is also very difficult, and can be a lengthy and costly TRIAL and ERROR process of varying jet sizes and carb settings.

We are willing to try to help you get it running right, but you've got to work with us, and heed what we've informed you about.

Okay, the ball's back in your court.
T.C.

[skids]

If I remember correctly, yours is the bike that is also running open headers or straight pipes with little to no backpressure, and that's been addressed in another thread, that you WILL have a very difficult time tuning the bike to be able to run adequately with no or very little backpressure in the exhaust system! T.C.

I went through the same faulty process of monkeying with my carbs when I had worn-out stock baffles. My bike's issues were right around 3000 rpms.

[GTXS1100]

The Problem was my floats were all smashed down making it flood the engine when i opened her up. Ajusted them up to about an inch an she ran much better. Still stumbels a little bit but with some fine tuneing i think i can get her rideable. I plan to try and get everything needed for making the vacuum set up for syncing the carbs this week. Also getting longer exhaust made will post pics when im done. Thanks for all the help.

[James England]

I can tell im starting to irritate everyone, so ill just take it somewhere and pay whatever it takes to get it running.

Take a chill pill, kiddo. You appear out of the blue, ask a question and the combined might of the forum contributors ask you for more data so that they can help you. Then, completely incorrectly, you say that everyone is finding you irritating. Try going to the doctors and saying "I feel ill"... he'll ask lots of questions. It's not anything to do with age, although, as Joab realises,some of us rode XS1100's brand new...... whilst he was still in his mother's ovary..... so, age does have some benefits

As TopCat has said, fault diagnosis means a logical look at things. Parts are often not needed and as Crazy Steve has said, most mechanics don't know a thing about these bikes and are often incapable of fixing them. They often make them worse. You'll get more help, experience and expertise here, with no egos and no irritation, than you'll get from a motorbike shop.