Help! I'm in l.a. And my xs is giving me trouble!

[soccer4m]

pick up wires

Hi, it sounds like a definate check on your pickup wires is needed. There is a ton of info, just go to the search and type in pickup wires....a lot of us have had this exact problem,,runs, warms up, runs like craxxx, little power, then kicks in and repeats the cycle. Anyway, pull off your left side cover,you will see two wires going to the pickup coil,,,,pull on them while its running and if it acts up,,,,voila an easy fix. You can also run your fingers up and down the wires, when not running and feel for a thin spot, stretched spot in the wires. Hope thats it. To fix just cut off the bad section and rejoin the wires.......your battery is probably ok, being new,,,,,,,SO CHECK THESE PICKUP WIRES ASAP AND Keep us informed...........Mike in Sun DIego

[soccer4m]

Here is the link

http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread.php?t=543

HI Joe,,,on the main forum page, scroll down and you will see this under the repair, or modifications in the electrical tab. Look for Ken Talbots pickup wire coil repair and it has pics and advice on how to diagnose and fix..or click on above link.........Mike in S.Diego

[DGXSER]

It is possible that the e-stop switch is causing both.

However, if it feels like it loses two cylinders and then they come back repeatedly. As opposed to feels like the bike entirely dies, then comes back to life. Then the pick-up coil wires are the most likely culprit. I know you would rather ride than fix, but these couple repairs could well keep you on this bike for years let alone however long your gone.

[jwilner]

ok, i will definitely check the pickup wires.
so far I took the kill switch apart, cleaned and put dielectric grease, grease the 4-pin connector to the main wire harness from the kill switch/starter button, took out and greased all the fuses, cheacked and greased the ground and both sides of the battery. Lastly I redid 4 butt to butt connections on the 4 wires from the kill switch/starter button. I redid them with weatherproof connectors instead of the open ones that were on there.
i also greased just about every electrical connection i could find.

I will update after checking the pickup wires, probably tomorrow

[DAVINCI]

Greasing connections won't do a damn thing if they're not cleaned FIRST

DIELECTRIC is, by definition and insulator. The connections must be cleaned and dry (you oiled some??) and then dielectric grease can be used to prevent future corrosion. The grease itself will not improve a bad connection.

[thumperjsa]

As to the loss of engine power, I had a similar issue and turned out to be a kinked fuel line. One way to help diagnose this is when the power loss occurs, see if you can determine which cylinders may not be getting as hot as the others. Spray a little water on the exhaust header pipe coming right out of the cylinder.

If a pair on the left or right don't sizzle like the other 2, then suspect fuel is getting delivered to the tee that connects the pair. If one and four are hot and 2-3 not as much, could be a coil. I think I got the pairing right on that.

If a single cylinder isn't as hot as the other 3, then perhaps something is wrong with the spark or fuel delivery to that single cylinder.

Just some things from experience to check on this. There are some people responding to this thread that have a lot more experience than I do with these bikes, but thought I could share these ideas with you since they helped me fix similar issues to me in the past.

-Jonathan

[skids]

Those are good tips John.

If you want to do a quick check on plug wires and caps, pull a firing pair (ie, 1 and 4) and check the resistance through the high volt coil through the caps. I think you should get something like 15000 ohms plus the value of the caps. For example if your caps are 5Kohm each, you should get a reading of 25 Kohms. The resistors in caps do go bad sometimes. Also, the caps screw into the metal strands of the plug wires and that connection can be corroded. If you have enough length of wire, you can cut the end off for fresher strands of wire and screw the cap back on.

[jwilner]

I checked the pickup wires, I pulled this way and that and could find no soft spots. I ran the bike very hard and through lots of traffic so she got very hot. She ran very well and exhibited no symptoms. It was about an hour and a half trip. I am hoping it is fixed, because i have about 2000 miles to go now.