XJ1100 carb problems?

[gigagilgamesh]

I've read through several carburetor threads, but I'm hoping my problem has a very specific solution, so I can know what I'm looking for.

My '82 XJ1100 hasn't been ridden in probably 3 years. I started it a few times a year and never had problems, it ran fine as recently as last Fall. Now, after finally getting the leaking forks and brakes all fixed up, it won't run right. I put lots of fresh fuel in it, but it made little/no difference.

It fires right up but seems to be running very lean. After warming up, it won't idle without a little bit of choke. Hitting the throttle will either kill it or, if I baby it, I can work it up to 4-5000 rpms after several seconds of rpm drop, and I get a lot of popping out of the right side only. The PO said he'd had the carbs gone through (7+ years ago) so I've never messed with them. I replaced the intake boots and rebuilt the petcocks/fuel diaphragm several years ago, all with no problems. The only thing that has happened on the right side, but not the left, is the fuel inlet recently sat open for probably a month or two on that side, waiting on me to put a new line on, so the #3/4 bowls may have dried out with old gas in them. After adding new gas and fighting with it for a while, I drained the bowls, all had fuel in them and it looked clean. Before the bike went into storage, I was riding it regularly for a couple years and it ran great, so improper sync/jetting/parts shouldn't be an issue. The bike is entirely stock, as far as I know, and only has 17K on it.

I'm guessing my next step is to pull the carbs out and tear them apart, since it's completely unrideable like this. I'm just wondering if there is anything obvious I might be missing or what to look for when I tear into the carbs, or if anyone has seen a bike behave like this before. I pulled the #4 diaphragm and it looks good, I'm guessing these were all replaced by the PO when he had the carbs rebuilt. This is very drastic problem, so I would THINK it would be something pretty simple that is not functioning at all, either letting in way too much air or way too little fuel.

Any input is appreciated, I'd like to have this thing rideable in the next couple weeks, either to ride or sell, haven't decided yet... I'm sure if I could get it running, it would be a lot easier to keep

[BigRed]

Sounds like you need to clean your carbs. I'm sure you'll be shocked that it ever ran when you see how dirty and plugged your jets are.

Good luck!

[DGXSER]

If you let it sit wihtout running for 6 months or so (even a few months) with fuel in the bowls, that fuel probably dried out and has clogged some of th jets and ports inside the carbs. So it may well be time for a good cleaning.

As an attempt to void pulling them and cleaning, you could put some seafoam in the tank, run the for ten minutes or so, enough to get the seafoam in the carbs. Then let it sit overnight so the seafoam can work on the old gas. Run it the next day and see if it improved. May not work, but it has been known to offer some improvement.

[Wouldstalk]

Sounds like they need a good cleaning, make sure you use some small wire (like guitar string) and get all the small tunnel holes and everything clean. check float needle valves etc etc.

If it still seems to run choppy and require choke you might wanna check for air leaks in the air box and carb mounts. Mist some starter fluid around (away from the intake on the airbox) and see if the engine revs up.

[mjpxs11sh]

2

sounds like what i went thru in Jan. i pulled the carbs without separating them, bought a can of carb cleaner and an air compressor with a blow gun attatchment and cleaned ALL the passages. make sure u count the # of turns of the mixture screws when u remove them so you have a good place to start when reassembling. when i put it back together, it ran great. now im lookin into buying a sync guage just to make sure the carbs are at thier optimum. good luck. almost everyone here has been thru the carbs or about to.