Idle woes

[cuda_phish1]

I am having troubles keeping my XS11 idling after this past winter. I always have to have the choke on to maintain some kind of idle. Even then the bike doesnt want to idle consistantly.

First I did find a mouse nest in my air horn. It was partially blocking air from coming in. I cleaned that out and replaced my air filter. I STILL doesnt want to idle right until I have it choked.

Any ideas? clogged jets? vacuum leak?

Cuda_phish1
A Happy Barracuda on Nitrous

[randy]

Old gas? Gum in the bowls?. First drain the gas using all four bowl drains, do a little though each one till you drain all of it. Replace the gas with new. Then see how she runs. Hopefully you won't have to go any further.

HTH

Randy

[TopCatGr58]

Hey there Cuda,

Like Randy said, if it still has the same gas from Winter, but I would think you would have already burned thru that and filled it with fresh new by now!? Put some seafoam in the tank and run that for a tank ful! But, yes, you can also check your vacuum lines, your intakes, your idle set screw. Lots of things could apply, what do your plugs look like? Have you done a decent tear down and cleaning of your carbs EVER? I didn't check your profile, what year/model? Are your pilot adjusting screws still sealed in with those brass caps on the top of the carbs, if so, then that's a good place to start to be able adjust as well as more properly clean out the pilot/idle circuit.
T.C.

[cuda_phish1]

woes

OK, first my bike is a '79 XS11 standard. I've had the bike since spring of '03 and haven't done a thing to the carbs. I know my fuel is good because I've burnt a more than a few tanks since the weather was fine to ride (IE 50 degrees of so and clear).

The idle issue started last year when my tank sprung a rust hole leak. I had to modify things alittle things a little and use an '80 special tank until I got another tank. I haven't checked my plugs and see no brass caps on the tops of the carbs.

I don't know much here as far these bikes go. I do have the CD for it and I am mechanicly inclined. I guess I'll get some new plugs for it and see if that helps.

I do know i need to rebuild one of my petcocks. It leaks from the vavle handle when you turn it. This might be part of my problem, not sure though. I did find alot of fuel in my breather when I replaced the filter.

Cuda_phish1,
A happy Barracuda on nitrous!

[TopCatGr58]

Hey there again Cuda-Phish1,

Okay, leaky petcocks and gas in the air box is not good. You will want to immediately check your oil for presence of gas which could have easily leaked past the rings and gotten down into the oil!!!! Also, if gas in airbox, then float valves or floats are not working properly either. If you didn't have any inline fuel filters on, then you could have gotten some rust and crud down into the carbs from EITHER tank, and they could be causing the idle circuit to be clogged as well.

The earlier models didn't have the brass sealing caps, they had the idle/pilot adjusting screws where you could get to them, on top of the carbs where they connect to the intakes. Look it up on your CD!!! I would think it would also tell you how to adjust them, usually 1 & 1/4 to1/2 turns out from a GENTLE seat of these screws, the tips are fragile and get stuck and break off easily!!!!

Yes, pulling the carbs, just don't separate them from the bracket, you can pull the bowls and tops off to clean almost everything you need to get to without separating them, that way you have less chance of loosing the bench synch....alignment of the butterflies across all four carbs. You may want to order just the needle valve/seat combos and bowl gaskets from Partsnmore, vs. getting the entire rebuild kits.....they have been known to provide the wrong size jets, and after cleaning, you can easily reuse the OEM pilot and main jets. Don't soak the carb bodies in carb cleaner, will damage the rubber butterfly seals and choke seals!!! Just pull the other jets and emulsion tubes out, and even the needle valves if they are solid metal vs. rubber tipped, and soak them in a can of cleaner. Tear only 1 carb body down at a time, so that you can use the others for a reassembly guide!

After you clean your carbs, and check the bench synch/breadstick tie method, and put them back on WITH INLINE FILTERS, you'll probably find that it WILL idle!!!!
T.C.