Cold #1 exhaust

[Bartman]

Thanks T. C., I have a little knowledge of electronics and have cleaned every terminal and greazed each one too. Tonight I picked up a three terminal electronic flasher from Auto Zone (Tridon EP34). I checked the book to see which terminal goes to the lamps and to positive, but nothing lights up when I turned on the power. I put the charger on the battery and made sure it has over 11 volts, still nothing.
I don't see me running a lot of power drawing radios, CBs, etc ,but if the XJ would charge better at lower rims then it might be something to consider. I really hate to see two parts bikes at the junk yard 3 miles from home go to waste. I already got the oil cooler ($20), coils and auto chain tensioners ($15), and 4 into 1 exhaust ($20).

[bikerphil]

I picked up a three terminal electronic flasher

The aftermarket 3 prong flashers do not work with our system, the third prong on our OEM flashers is unique and designed to operate the self cancel feature. Not so with automotive 3 prong flashers. A two prong flasher will 100% work fine, leave the third terminal empty, no self cancel though.

[Bartman]

Thanks, I will swap it tomorrow, I have a habit of pushing to turn off my signals anyway.

[bikerphil]

Thanks, I will swap it tomorrow, I have a habit of pushing to turn off my signals anyway.

Yep, no more lethargic flashing with the electronic unit. They will start blinking immediately when you hit the switch. The self-cancel feature is nice, but for me, they cancel too quickly.

[skids]

[QUOTE=bikerphil;400175]The aftermarket 3 prong flashers do not work with our system,

You need to move leads in the plug and run one to ground then it will work. I have 2 xs11's that way.

[bikerphil]

Ok skids, I did not know that.

[Bartman]

If the purpose of the third prong is for the cancelling then I'll just put a 2 prong flasher in. I was reading last night and someone had stated that an additional 6 ohm resistor would help the OEM flasher to pull enough current to trip. I might also dig around in my old box of parts and see if I have a high watt, low ohm resistor to play with. BUT FOR NOW, I want to RIDE IT!

[Bartman]

OK, I didn't return the 3 prong flasher. I thought about what someone had said and when I stopped by Auto Zone, I took a look at the 2 prong schematic and realized that the only diff was that the 3 prong had a ground. The person that had said that it would work with a ground was correct.

I don't like to cut up the wiring harness if not necessary and so I put extenders on the 2 terminals of the flasher that would plug into the harness. (Positive and the lamps) I then made a ground wire to the 3rd terminal and it worked great. See attached photobucket to get an understanding of what I mean by extenders. http://s1339.beta.photobucket.com/us...00138108377166

I then proceded to see if I could adjust my throttle cable. Nope, last year when I was fixing the shorted kill switch I tried to save the cable by putting JB weld on it to hold the small plate in place. I pulled the throttle cable from my other bike and realized that I had JB welded the plate about 1/8" more than I should have. Now I have to try and reset the idle screw and cable to get it to run. It is getting cold out and late so that will be continued tomorrow.

[skids]

If you are talking about the attachment of the "gooseneck" to the throttle sleeve, yep, I broke that piece once also. In my case, I didn't know that it was broken and I got some very strange throttle control (or the lack of it).

[TopCatGr58]

[QUOTE=skids;400185]

The aftermarket 3 prong flashers do not work with our system,

You need to move leads in the plug and run one to ground then it will work. I have 2 xs11's that way.

Hey Skids,

I too, didn't know that either. I had heard about a similar technique for the XJ's, and I did that on one, but still think it was a 2 prong flasher, but the XJ's pinout was different than the XS's requiring the relocating of the wires in the harness plug. This is good to know regarding the 3 prong flasher, but sounds like it does add a bit more work, and a 2 prong WILL WORK without any other work for an XS11.

T.C.

[Bartman]

I feel like I am going backwards.

Good news is that the blinker works!

Bad news is the bike won't crank or if it does and dies you can't restart. I think I am going to wear the starter out, it sounds like it is slowing down.

I have been leaving the charger on to make sure there is plenty of voltage while cranking and running.

So for an update, I put the second set of carbs on and even though hard to start it did dial in and run good until I turned the handlebars. Since then I have changed the throttle cable. Now it won't crank!

I do not have any tension on the cable at the carbs while trying to start now.

After all afternoon of trying to crank I have pulled these carbs off and will try the first set again with the different coils.

But, I don't think they had much of a spark when I checked today. When I have the money I will buy some real coils.

I did pick up a fuse box at the junk yard today. I will go ahead and swap that out even though I don't think that is my problem at the moment.

Any suggestions?

[Bartman]

After reading others, I will also run an additional ground wire. I did clean them all last year when going through the harness but I agree with others that the frame is not the best.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Bart,

You stated that you knew a bit about electronics. You then recently stated that you obtained a replacement OEM style fuseblock. The OEM blocks with their wimpy brass clips and glass fuses are notorious for failing at the most inopportune times! One of the main upgrades "we" recommend is the installation of an ATCO style solid fuse holder and fuses. I resell them to members at COST, see the For Sale Forum, Parts section, parts/services by members sticky thread...10th reply, info is all current.

Next, you've spoken about the use of a charger while running the bike, however I don't recall you stating what condition your battery is in...how old it is....whether you've had it load tested and such.

Also, just wanted to check and confirm that you bypassed the Ballast Resistor when you installed the XJ coils. If not, then that could be contributing to the starting problems!? JAT.

Have you actually charged up the battery with the charger and not just attached it only while trying to start or run the bike? Have you tested the bike's charging system....measured the voltage across the battery both at idle and then again at 2500 rpm to see whether it's close to the 14.5 volts level.... WITHOUT the charger attached of course:?

Just throwing stuff out there that could contribute to hard starting problems.
T.C.

[Bartman]

Hey T.C., I will be buying one of your fuse blocks for my next bike. Today I cut the block off a 96 Kawasaki 600. Tonight I have taken it apart and tomorrow will use it. I didn't realize that the four fuses in that block were tied together until I got it home and ohmed it out. But after unsoldering the terminals I found that I will be able to make this one work. It has solid copper terminals and uses the modern fuses.

My battery is an older gel cell that my brother had. I have drained it several times this last year, and yes I need to buy a new one. I keep charging it so that I can get the bike running. I had wanted to buy a new one when I got it on the road, I didn't want to kill a new battery working through all of these problems. But, being cheap might be my worst problem!

I did take the resister out when i put in the XJ coils.

The next time it runs I will check the charging voltage. I figured that if the bike was idling and not charging the battery while I was "dialing" it in, that with my charger connected to the battery, it would have 12 volts to operate with. If it didn't kill my charging system. Time will tell.

I took a closer look at my first set of carbs and found that the #1 had been drilled out by what looks to be a 1\8" drill bit and there is no way that the needle can shut it off. I had seen that before but Chris had said that it worked for him. Has anyone ever JB welded and drilled it with a 1mm drill bit?

[bikerphil]

On the 78-79 style carbs, if the idle mixture screw hole is larger than normal from drilling the broken tip out, you can shorten the spring on top some so the needle will drop down further. It is ok to let it protrude down into the carb throat some, I have done this on my 79SF with no problems, it is just a bit more sensitive to adjust. I myself would not use JB weld to repair that hole, it will sooner or later dissolve and probably clog up a passage, JMHO