Starting the bike

[Bigdog]

What is the best way to start this bike when it is cold? Why is prime on there. Can someone help me please?
Thnks
Bigdog

[TopCatGr58]

Hello again,

Well, first of all, we wonder if the bike has been run at all in the last year or so?? If not, then you will want to go to the tech tips and read about what to look for in a used XS/XJ, and what you will want to do to get it road worthy and prep the engine before attempting to turn it over, to protect the cylinders, rings, etc!!

The Prime on the petcock is to supply fuel directly to the carbs bypassing the Octopus, an engine vacuum controlled valve that only allows fuel to flow to the carbs when the engine is running with the petcocks to ON, when the engine turns off, it stops the flow so that in case the float valves are not working properly, it will prevent it from overflowing and possibly running into the throat of the carb, into the intake, and into the cylinder if that intake valve is open, then oozing down around the rings into your oil, and thinning out your oil so much that if you then ran the engine you could essentially burn up the bearings and engine!!!!!

So, if the bike has sat for perhaps several days/weeks, the carb bowls might have lost some of their fuel, so you turn the petcock to PRIME to ensure they get full, then of course you pull the choke lever on the handlebars to full, then hit the starter button, perhaps slightly twisting the throttle, and after it lights, you can then turn the petcocks to ON, then let it idle until the revs start to climb, then you can put the choke half way in, the idle should drop, let it idle some more, then when it revs again, you should then be able to put the choke in almost all the way, and it should then be warmed up enough to ride. Although waiting that long can be a pain, so many folks take off just after a minute or so with the choke partially still pulled, and then after driving a few miles will put it all the way in, you just don't want to ride it and forget about the choke still being engaged! ! ! !

PS, there are more topics than what shows in the first page of topics/threads so do lots of searches, you'll find old threads with lots of info!!
T.C.

[wildbill]

Re: Starting the bike

Originally posted by Bigdog
What is the best way to start this bike when it is cold? Why is prime on there. Can someone help me please?
Thnks
Bigdog

Well you pull the choke out all the way and press start button without touching the gas.The bike I have if real cold or hasn`t been started in a while I have to give it a little gas and then close the choke and blip the gas to keep it running.Each bike is a little bit different so you need to see which way works best for you. The prime I think you are talking about is on the fuel petcocks,you only use prime when you run out of gas and want to refill the carbs.If you run out turn both petcocks to prime and count to 10 and then turn back to on.Don`t leave it on prime will flood engine because gas runs can not cut it off unless turn to on or reserve,the other two runs off of vacum. Hope this helps

[wildbill]

Topcat. You did a better job explaining it than I did. Good luck

[Bikeboy]

Re: Starting the bike

Originally posted by Bigdog
What is the best way to start this bike when it is cold? Why is prime on there. Can someone help me please?
Thnks
Bigdog

Hey there Bigdog, the answer to your question's are, start your bike with the choke all the way out, let it run a minute or two then push in the choke half way, you should feel a little notch that it clicks into, let it run a few more minutes or until the engines idol starts to rise, then push the choke the rest of the way in. As for the prime position on the fuel shutoff valve, it's used if you run out of gas, to fill the carb bowls back up with gas, or if your working on your carbs and drain the gas for any reason from the bowls use this setting to fill the bowls back up then turn the valve back to on position.

[Ron Moss]

cold starting

My '79 special never fails to amaze me. I ride it to work everyday
no mater how cold and it starts with in a nano second of touching the starter button. The old gal set for a week in single digit temps and started as always. ( It set because I was off work with a minor injury) The XS is 24 years old with 44 thousand miles and runs like it did new.