New Problem

[HawkeyeSpecial]

Pulling out what hair I have left. Went out riding last monday. Everything was working so perfect. Left for work this afternoon (saturday) and had a hellava time starting up. Gotter Goin and down the road. Everything seemed fine until i got about a mile down the road at a stop sign. She dropped and would not idle at all. Stalled at the intersection and she did not want to start up again. Finally after a couple of minutes she started up and she sputtered until I hit about 4k and then took off. Surprised me none the less and i was airborne. Traveled down the road just fine at hwy speeds about 5k for 10 miles to work. Came into town and she died again at a turn and then an intersection. Same thing again. Gotter going and luckily into work. Dont know quite what the problem could be. Everything was fine 5 days ago and now this..... Im giving her full throttle when taking off from a stop just to get going a little and praying at 4k. Any suggestions guys?


Go Hawks!

[tfm3]

Haven't had the problem yet but at 35k I'm expecting it soon. Lots of good info here about pickup wires and coils.Not to mention one of my faves- corroded connectors and battery cables.

[rover]

First and most likely: pick up coil wires, they are under the cover on the front left side of the engine, right ahead of where you put your feet. Second: Fuse holders. four are under the right side cover, the plastic one right below the seat. Third: Electrical connecters, located in the headlight housing, under the gas tank, and behind the fuse panel. In the left column, click on TECH TIPS, MAINTENANCE, and look for pick up coil wire fix. Depending on what model of XS you have, there are either four or five fuses, one model has the fifth under the left side cover. In tech tips, fuse block replacement is also covered. As for the electrical connectors, they are scattered in the places I mentioned. Clean them all with contact cleaner and a toothbrush, put die electric grease on them and re-assemble. Also check the battery connections, and clean them all, especially the grounds. Good luck

[Dragonrider]

Also...if you have a standard...check the fuel vent hose...if a special, check the vent in the cap.

[HawkeyeSpecial]

I have the 1980 Midnight Special. Vent cap seems fine and I cannot figure the sudden change in 4 days. I guess they dont like to sit too much do they?

Tomarrow I will play with some wires as noted in previous posts. Though I dont think this is the problem but Im wrong alot too.

I appreciate all the help, thanks!

[HawkeyeSpecial]

Was wondering where i could find a new set of coils and wires?

[dragxs11]

If your talking about ignition coils and sparkplug wires, the universal non-cdi accell kit is popular(I'm using)....but you have to make little brackets for them to mount. As far as pick-up coil wires, I and I think most people just solder them back together. I'll be doing this shortly on a special with only 7800 miles on it. Point being that unless you pay out the butt to Yamaha(If the're available) there really is no better alternative. Salvage yard sets are likely just as bad as yours. Someone said they we're going to make it a yearly check.....I'd say thats a good plan. Resoldering only means that it will break again, just in a different place...Unfortunately

[xssiveone]

Some people have replaced all the pickup wiring with multi-meter test lead wires. They are designed to flex so are less likely to break.

[rover]

If you need pick-up coils and wires, Bike Bandit has them, very pricey, $110.00 delivered. This includes pulser coils, wires, harness, and plug all the way to the connector behind the fuse panel. However, I would read the maintenance tip and try to repair what you have, and see for sure if that is your problem. This repair is temporary, but I would feel bad if you bought the coils and that did not fix your problem. Go through ALL the connectors, especially the ones on the TCI box. Randy can repair many ills with the TCI, send him a PM, or read his posts. After many headaches, I bought the coils, and my problems disappeared. Wish you luck, these bikes are worth it.

[Pat Kelly]

If the bike is lacking power under 4k RPM I would think pilot jets/circut. The carbs transition from pilot jets to main jets around 42k RPM (at least my 78 does). I had a bad pilot jet and I was running on 3 cylinders till 4k RPM.
Maybe some junk worked it's way into the carbs.
Just a thought.

[HawkeyeSpecial]

Well I found nothing wrong with the pickup wires as shown in the Tech Tips. I did find however that some screws were missing from the airbox and it was not sealed correctly. Temp. taped the holes and around the seal of the airbox. Dont quite have the same problem now but still slow off the start.

[thumperjsa]

Interesting about how plugging up holes helped.

I was having a similiar problem to yours after I hooked up the hose from the crankcase to the air box. I thought it was from too much blowby causing a problem. My airbox has a lot of extra holes from screws missing and (I know this is bad) no air filter. I recently discovered the missing air filter issue and have not been riding till the airbox I bought off of Ebay and filter arrive. I will try hooking up the hose again then and see if that makes a difference on mine.