Stuck Floats???

[RobSwind]

Are you referring to the main ignition pack under the seat?

[aquamantx]

Yes . I'm not sure if this year model is the electronic ignition. But the connections at the boxes have been an area of concern for a lot of the electronic gremlins. Remember they have stuck together for about 30 years.

[MPittma100]

CDI Box

All year xs1100s were electronic ignition.

Common no-start areas are the handle bar kill switch, the pick-up coils wiring (left engine cover), and the factory old-style fuse box fuse holder clips get weak and break causing poor or no conductivity.

[MaximPhil]

To add to Mikes list. The grounding strap for the battery has done that to me.
Also not just the "Kill" switch but also follow the wires leading to it back to the connectors. Cleaning contacts has been a perpetual task with mine.
Phil

[tomcos67]

Take timing cover off left side see what's going on in there.ie moisture,loose wire??

[motoman]

My model doesn't have a choke.

Sounds like the PO may have lost the tenny-tiny index balls and springs, so just left the lever and shaft assembly off carb bank.

[mack]

Rob

what year of XS do you have? If it was turning over with spark before the oil change, nothing much is wrong. Something changed during the oil change so back track all your steps and look for something simple like accidently hitting the kill switch on the right handlebar.
With regard to proper carb jetting, you really need to know if they are early or late carbs and then you need to knowt the jet needles. You need to pull them out of the diaphrams and read the little number on them. That will tell you how the carbs were jetted at the factory. The different year carbs and bike styles used different tapers on the needles and were jetted accordingly. Most are quite similar but specifically the jetting for carbs from an SG or SH is different because they used 5GL-16 needles, it's also interesting to note that the main jet sizes differ between the SG and SH as well, even though they have the same needles. I assume that was because of the ignition and advance changes to the SH and LH.
Once you know what needles you have, then, that will give you the baseline to start factoring in PODS and exhaust requirements for performance jetting if the bike doesn't have the stock airbox and exhaust.

[motoman]

Awsome. Looks like that was exactly the issue.

Like I said, I knew that my petcocks (mostly my left ones) leaked a little when turned off, but in the past, it always leaked out of my pod filter at the first carb.

But since I knew I wasn't going to be riding it for a while, I put it on the center stand. This must have tilted the bike forward enough to cause the fuel to leak into the cylinders and therefore into the crank case.

I'll be changing the oil first thing in the morning.

Centerstand with a shorty piece of 2x4 under front tire....................better yet, fix the damn petcock before we hear of ANOTHER house burnt to the ground, or at best a live blow troch rolling down the road.

[mlew]

Technically all models of the XS 1100 have Enricheners not chokes as they are labled on the thumb lever. Just sayin'

My XJ11 with a thumb lever and my XS11SG with the carb lever both say "choke", just saying... there both the same. If Yamaha calls it a choke I guess I can to, reguardless of how it works.

[Schming]

Call it choke or enrichment, its the same thing.

No, a choke stops most of the air flow by use of a butterfly plate usually at the mouth/filter side of the carb so an enrichened mixture can be pulled from the float bowl.

The Mikuni carbs on the XS 1100 have an enrichener valve on each carb that, when activated, adds raw fuel from the float bowl, by tiny ports, ahead of the throttle plate/butterfly.

My XJ11 with a thumb lever and my XS11SG with the carb lever both say "choke", just saying... there both the same. If Yamaha calls it a choke I guess I can to, reguardless of how it works.

I call it a choke too and yes both models "chokes" are the same at the carb, just activated differently.

There are new owners with all levels of mechanical experience who come here for info from all over the world and most want to learn how to keep or get their bikes running in good order. This forum has helped me and countless others do just that with accurate info and I hope you can see the importance of that aspect.

[motoman]

Carbs may also be dried out having sat that long with petcocks off. May have to turn them to prime to start. Use choke too.

Prime has NOTHING to do with a float housing sticking to a float pin.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Rob,

Well, as folks have explained, leaky petcocks AND more specifically leaky carbs/float needles/seats are problematic and need to be fixed. But they wouldn't keep the bike from starting.

Even though the engine may have cranked with a 6-8 week stored battery, it may have dropped enough charge to allow the CRANKING voltages to the coils to drop below the magic 10.5V level which will cause the bike not to fire. Hopefully you've put the battery on a charger by now. You still need to check both the fuses, holder...if the old GLASS ones, not just LOOK at them, but take them out, pull on the ends to see if they come apart. Ensure that the brass tangs are clean and have enough tension to secure the fuse. Also as stated, the main battery ground to frame, but also the secondary engine to frame ground strap behind the starter.

BTW, if you still have Glass fuses/holder, take a look at this for an alternative:
http://www.xs11.com/forum/showpost.p...5&postcount=10

Good luck with the troubleshooting, hope this doesn't cause you to loose faith or desire in keeping your XS11 vs. the new MotoGuzzi.

T.C.

[motoman]

Check you oil level (while on the center stand) if it is above the sight window you may have the same problem.


On centerstand. front wheel needs to be on a short piece of 2x4 to get bike and motor horizontally level prior to and actual oil level check. From the factory AND as stated in users manual, my Venturers oil level is initially at 4.3quarts. I always associated that with the factory oil cooler on bike.