need carb help asap.

[metricbiker]

all this info in making my brain spin!

im completely clueless on this pickup coil thing. is it a bad wire or pickup coil? how much does one cost if so? i see threads about using a meter but i am clueless about a meter and what to do with it to check. if i find a bad wire that shouldnt be hard, depending on the location of the problem in the wire.

at idle if i just tap the throttle a little black puff comes out of the pipe #3 is connected to. if i hold the throttle at a specific rpm say like 4500 it intermittenly blows white smoke. note its not specifically at 4500 i just used it as an example. #3 plug isnt getting wet, dry black soot.

to adjust the floats on an 81 how does one unscrew the float drain if the screws both face eachother like they do? do i have to do this, or will just measuring them upside down be ok? I dont care about perfect right now i care about good enough to ensure i get to work as this is now my only vehicle and i have to make this happen.

plug wire is very soft and plyable still. not stiff or brittle at all. i could slide the cover off the wire and check it.

i pulled apart the plug cap for #3 and nothing looks bad inside at all. I wouldnt say its new but it dosent look rusty or burnt or anything but normal.

will try and get some new ones.

and lastly idle mixture screws are like 8 turns or more out. i tried screwing one in but it seemed to be going in far but i dont wanna break them, turning them very softly they will let me know when to stop right? i got like 8 turns before i stopped they could be farther out. i just brought it back to where it was for now.

PS

WHY DO PREVIOUS OWNERS HAVE TO BE TOTAL MORONS? im gonna put some drags pipes on and some pods and jet the carbs totally wrong and play with the mixture and when im done this bike is gonna run like ****! and then im gonna get so frustrated i sell it to a guy that gets even more frustrated trying to return everything to as close to factory as possible!

had to get that out

[motoman]

all this info in making my brain spin!

im completely clueless on this pickup coil thing. is it a bad wire or pickup coil? how much does one cost if so? i see threads about using a meter but i am clueless about a meter and what to do with it to check. if i find a bad wire that shouldnt be hard, depending on the location of the problem in the wire.

at idle if i just tap the throttle a little black puff comes out of the pipe #3 is connected to. if i hold the throttle at a specific rpm say like 4500 it intermittenly blows white smoke. note its not specifically at 4500 i just used it as an example. #3 plug isnt getting wet, dry black soot.

to adjust the floats on an 81 how does one unscrew the float drain if the screws both face eachother like they do? do i have to do this, or will just measuring them upside down be ok? I dont care about perfect right now i care about good enough to ensure i get to work as this is now my only vehicle and i have to make this happen.

plug wire is very soft and plyable still. not stiff or brittle at all. i could slide the cover off the wire and check it.

i pulled apart the plug cap for #3 and nothing looks bad inside at all. I wouldnt say its new but it dosent look rusty or burnt or anything but normal.

will try and get some new ones.

and lastly idle mixture screws are like 8 turns or more out. i tried screwing one in but it seemed to be going in far but i dont wanna break them, turning them very softly they will let me know when to stop right? i got like 8 turns before i stopped they could be farther out. i just brought it back to where it was for now.

PS

WHY DO PREVIOUS OWNERS HAVE TO BE TOTAL MORONS? im gonna put some drags pipes on and some pods and jet the carbs totally wrong and play with the mixture and when im done this bike is gonna run like ****! and then im gonna get so frustrated i sell it to a guy that gets even more frustrated trying to return everything to as close to factory as possible!

had to get that out

Well, run those idle mix screws in to 2.5-3 turns out for a start. You can do that after removing the carbs and setting the float levels .906-.944. Bettin those fuel levels are whacked. Make sure bowl gaskets are flush to inside of housing. If not, while in place, with a razor blade or x-acto blade trim flush to housing so floats wont hang up on them. Check the pick-up coil wires under the left side ignition cover. Checking doesn't mean looking either.... grab each wire every inch with both hands and pull. Insulation stretches, you found a break. Bowl drain is where a piece of tygon see thru fuel line is slipped on and run up beside bowl to check fuel level, 3mm+-.5mm while bike is running. That ought to be enough to check back thru....... or throughly confuse you.

[metricbiker]

was just wondering though how people manage to get to the screws on the 81 carbs since the bowl drain screws both face eachother and the outers face inward

[crazy steve]

was just wondering though how people manage to get to the screws on the 81 carbs since the bowl drain screws both face eachother and the outers face inward

Somebody has installed them wrong; the bowl screws are all supposed to face to the outside. Swap 'em around......

[metricbiker]

are you sure?! some one asked me a question about late model carbs and asked if they were facing eachother to identify them. maybe ive just gone crazy at this point.

also would a petcock rebuild kit thats good for a an 81 xs1100 LH work for me. mines and H but i never see anything listes for just the H its always LH or SH

[motoman]

are you sure?! some one asked me a question about late model carbs and asked if they were facing eachother to identify them. maybe ive just gone crazy at this point.

also would a petcock rebuild kit thats good for a an 81 xs1100 LH work for me. mines and H but i never see anything listes for just the H its always LH or SH

Steve is correct..........you've just gone crazy...............LH petcock not same as H. Take them apart carefully without trashing gaskets. Clean internals, smear a film of dielectic grease on the gaskes. Very LIGHTLY stretch the spring for the vacuum diaphram so it seats. Keeping everything clean, put them back together and they should work fine as long as diaphram isn't holed. Put them back on and put gas in tank with petcocks in ON position and look for leaks. Least mine have worked doing this for some seven years now and have never had a kit put in them.

[metricbiker]

dielectic grease or dielectric for spark plugs? no grease on the diaphragm?


saturday will be a big day. gonna get the bike over to a buddies house who is a ike mechanic. has a full shop in his garage. his expertise isnt old yamaha but ive gotten all the info i need from this site for his skills to work thier best and for me to help. as well as the service manual someone posted up, i would like to buy that guy a beer!

gonna set the floats. the idle screws to 2 turns out - has 45 pilot jets installed so i dont wanna be too rich at idle for a smog test if i get it fixed. got a new plug boot for #3 to eliminate the boot as a problem just in case, the plug is new and i have another new plug as well. gonna check the pick up coil wires as directed. gonna slip the heat case off the plug wire and inspect, the wires are nice and plyable and the rubber is soft and they arent brittle or hard anywhere so i doubt but a double sheck never hurts. all connections to coils are solid also gonna do a leak down test to make sure that intermtent white smoke isnt a bigger issue.

is there any thing else i can test regarding this miss while i have everything apart?

also if i do find a break in the plug wire with a tug test is it ok to fix it just like the instructions say to fix a broken pickup coil wire?

im just trying to make saturday a victorious day for all the xs riders around the world haha

[CatatonicBug]

The H is a unique animal, since it has some bits like the Specials, and some like the Standards. The tank is like the Standards, so the petcocks should be as well. They should have a connection to the vacuum ports on the engine intakes. If that is the case, and you want a rebuild kit for them, ANY rebuild kit for ANY year Standard will work.

The carb drain screws ARE supposed to face outward on those. This allows you to connect a piece of clear hose to the drain spouts and view the actual fuel level (not just the float level) from the outside of the bike while it is running. You still have to remove the carbs and adjust the floats if they are off, but its a more accurate view of the fuel level in the bowls than just adjusting the floats themselves. You never know how high an individual float is floating unless its actually in the running fuel.

dielectic grease or dielectric for spark plugs? no grease on the diaphragm?

NO! Don't put dielectric grease on the plugs!! You want to ENCOURAGE a connection there. Use Anti-sieze on the plugs, and on all the frame ground screws.

Plug wires are not made the same as a regular piece of wire. You cannot just splice them together like a pickup coil wire. They get replaced. If you have OEM coils, that is a difficult thing to do.

[motoman]

dielectic grease or dielectric for spark plugs? no grease on the diaphragm?

Just on the petcock gaskets to get them to 'squish' a little tighter seal.

[metricbiker]

yes a spark plug wire splice dosent sound easy, but it should be able to be done as temp fix till a coil can arrive, and if thats the case i guess the only way to go is the dyna coil then.

i know auto plug wire is made of fiberglass and other stuff to be its own resistor and isnt splicaeable but i have the stock steel wires. ill laugh if the plug boot is just bad even tho it dosent look that way. it does happen.

so as far as the pickup coil wires go breaks are usually in the cover not in the deep parts of the harness?

will try this petcock trick thanks for the info.

thanks to everyone for thier info.

if theres anything else i can check regarding this miss dont hold back. tomorrow will be the easiest day for me to perform any checks.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Metric,

You said you were clueless about a meter, but you didn't specifically say whether you had one or not? With regards to the spark plug boot, you say you took it apart, found the internal resistor. Use an Ohmeter and put the test leads on both ends and check to see what the resistance of that resistor is. It should be about 5k ohms. If a lot higher, then you may have found the culprit in the cap, and the new cap should solve that problem.

Look in the tech tips....can't recall if repairs or mods, but find the New Wires in Old COils tip, that's the way you can put a whole new wire on the coil if you see that the corrosion goes far up into the end of the wire where the plug cap fitted...but you said the wires were still pliable and not cracked, so you may not need to do that. BTW, pull the cap off of the other plug wire for that suspect coil, and then put the ohmeter test leads into the ends of both plug wires, and see what the resistance shows, should be ~15k ohms +/- 10 %.

Folks are talking about using the tubing for the float levels, that's NICE, but many of us just measure the height from the gasket surface like Bikerphil said and provided the values. Best to make a jig gauge out of stiff cardboard or plastic so you can check both ends of the floats for evenness/level.

Good luck with the troubleshooting.
T.C.

[metricbiker]

i do have a meter. just dont know how to use it? 15000 ohms? i dont have the little manual so how would i make it read the ohms?

will just set the floats by measure, time is of the essence and i need to ride to work asap. from what i read its from what i read its 23mm with the plastic floats.

[bikerphil]

Multimeter directions....

http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35338

[metricbiker]

awesome thanks guys

[motoman]

so as far as the pickup coil wires go breaks are usually in the cover not in the deep parts of the harness?

Pull that left ignition cover.......you'll see the wires. As I previously stated, a visual won't find a broken wire there. Gotta get physical with each one.....every inch trying to pull it apart.