Starting issues

[Nubian]

For the last the last two weeks I have been having trouble starting my 11H. Starts fine in the morning (garage kept) but after sitting out all day after a hard 1 1/2 hr ride I nearly drain the battery getting it started again. Tried with choke in different positions same result. Then I thought vapor lock, nope that was not it. After warming up start issue goes away. Did not check plugs because I figured if fouled it would do that all the time not just after being parked for 7 hrs. I will pull the plugs when I get home to see what they look like. Also it progressively got harder to start. I thought maybe I had weak battery when it started having starting issues but that wasn't it.
Any ideas?

[skids]

I have had that trouble with all three of my xs11s after the engine gets good and hot and the bike is off during a meal. I don't know if the gas in the carbs evaporates, or shrinks, but I can tell you, if I apply the choke, the bikes will all start. You know, the choke pulls from the bottom of the bowls. I suppose you could switch over to prime to fill the carbs and try that...

[BA80]

It's just something you have to deal with when your riding a carbureted bike.

Skids has it with the evaporating fuel. It's been over 100º here for like a month now and my bike always starts easy........unless it's hot out.

I'm not sure if it's as skids says or if it's just when the fuel evaporates it saturates the air in the airbox and causes a flooding type issue. I'll try turning it to prime next time but what I've been doing is open the throttle a bit like when it's flooded and it will start after a bit of cranking.

[DGXSER]

Lifetime (of the bike) owner Steppenwolf always calls it the Yamaha start. After the bike is warmed up, but left to cool for an hour or so, have to use a little choke, or open the throttle a touch, or both to get it to start. And I do not have the Octy, so On is Prime.

[BA80]

Does it make a difference Don, or is it the same without the octy?

[DGXSER]

Same way without the Octy as Steppenwolf's that has it

[BA80]

That Kinda makes me lean even more towards what I was thinking, the gas saturating the air in the airbox.

I wonder if it does the same thing with pods.

[TopCatGr58]

Another good point for PODS!

Hey Greg,

I've been running Pods since my rebuild in 2000, first with the OEM coils, then later with MikesBlack H.O., and finally with the Dyna's H.O., and I've been on many rallies over the years, we'd stop for lunch for a hour or so, and could come out and hit the start button and it would crank/start right up. If we stopped for fuel, only 15 minutes or so, no choke, but would use it for right after long lunch stop. Usually just a couple of cranks and Vroom!

T.C.

[BA80]

It only seems to be a problem when the ambient temps are high as far as I can tell. When it's 80 or below........no prob.

[bikerphil]

I have hot temps most of the year here in FL and I am very familiar with the hot start problem with both my Standard and Special. Since I started using a fuel additive like Lucas/Seafoam mix at every fill up, the problem has for the most part disappeared.