I can't seem to get xs11 to start

[ScottS]

Here is a little history to start.

Bike had new head Put on 5 years ago. Everything checked out good. Bike had no issues after that. 1 year later a Diaphram got a hole in it when the carb was taken apart to get cleaned. Bike sat for four years. I replaced the slide yesterday and Re cleaned the carbs even thought they apeared to be cleaned. I have 78-79 carbs on a 81 xs. I took the air box out for it was pluged when i started. Looks like mice lived in it. I can get one hit when i put ether in the intake. And it just explodes once and thats it. So I took the exhaust off to make sure it wasn't in habited as well while I work on the bike. It seems like Air flow is not an issue. The carbs are taking in gass just fine and I can make my plugs get wet if i play with the throttle too much. I have a good Blue Spark across all of my plugs. All the plugs apear to be good. I have cleaned them again and checked gaps every thing is kosher. The ignition timing should be dead on from when it was parked. we did try to advance and retartd it a little bit just to make sure. So hear is my delima.


I have Air
I have Fuel
I have Spark
I have no running bike. Can't even get it to hit twice

Seems like it only hits on the ether off a compression stroke only do to compression of the ether.


Any tips or advise?

[ratbyk]

No Start

Compression test time. If you have fuel and spark all that is left to make engine run is compression. Maybe cam chain slipped and bent some valves.
Ken/Sooke

[randy]

Stupid question:

Old gas?

[ScottS]

Re: No Start

Originally posted by ratbyk
Compression test time. If you have fuel and spark all that is left to make engine run is compression. Maybe cam chain slipped and bent some valves.
Ken/Sooke

Seems like the compression is good like i said I have not turned it over in 4 years. And the start still has a tough time turning the motor over. Also when in 1st gear I can't push the bike cause the rear tire is damn hard to move.







As far as old gas??? no Its all new gas. I am using a test tank while I have the OEM tank off

[Ken Talbot]

If you have 78-79 carbs, they have both an upper and a lower set of nipples between carbs 1-2 and 3-4. The bottom set of nipples is for fuel supply. The upper set of nipples is for an atmospheric vent for the fuel bowls and shold be connected to two nipples on the upper half of the airbox. The '81 airbox has these niupples, but they are sealed, will need to be drilled out to allow the floats to work properly.

[ScottS]

I Actually have no hoses on them at this time They are just open untill I can get the bike to run. Is that ok?

[randy]

Ok, so the gas is new.

Stupid question #2:

Are you using the choke?

[pggg]

Reluctor in advance unit installed back to front? Plug leads, coil connecters mixed up?

[ScottS]

Originally posted by randy
Ok, so the gas is new.

Stupid question #2:

Are you using the choke?

Trying choke on and choke off

[ScottS]

Originally posted by pggg
Reluctor in advance unit installed back to front? Plug leads, coil connecters mixed up?

Now I have yet to check that I will first thing tomarrow morning

[James L]

FWIW, I had the same symptoms coupla weeks ago.
Quite aggravating... Was using brand new Bosch Platinum plugs, spark looked good, still no start. After trying everything else, I installed the old spark plugs (Champion) and holy cow I've got a running machine... After fine tuning the carbs a bit I was able to put the Bosch Platinums in and now it runs fine.
I know it makes no sense, and YMMV, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it...

Good Luck!

James

[graybird78]

no start

what about the kill switch or the tip over switch.

[ScottS]

Well After much trouble finding the fireing order and replacing spark plugs and carbs and cleaning starter and cussing and kicking and getting frustraited. I Decided to start trouble shooting the electrical system. I tested the Coils first. The primary coil is reading a 1.5 and a 1.6 ohm Which is noted in the clymer book to be good. I then checked the secondarys and one reads 34.6k and 35.2k Clymer says its supposed to be reading 15k +- 10% so I belive I found my problem. Anyone know where to get coils for cheap?

[randy]

Scott,

Unscrew each plug cap, clip off 1/4" from the end of the wire and screw it back in. let us know if that helps. Common point of corrosion.

[pggg]

Scott maybe these old coils do crap out - just being curious I've rummaged thru my boxes of junk and found 4 spare OEM coils. I've just tested them (without plugcaps) and 2 were 16K, one was 38K and the other one hovered between 100 - 200K.