Need advice, xs down.

[sidekick1975]

I just started it Tuesday and ran it about two blocks and it let out a large cloud of white smoke and choked!!! Damn that bike is heavy up hill. Anyway, any advice will be helpful.

Sidekick
80 XS1100SG

[John]

White smoke = unburned fuel. Your not giving us much to go on. Does it crank over? Does it pop if it does crank? Do any electrics work? Have you checked the main fuse under the left side cover? How about the fuses in the fuse panel? Have you tried wiggling the handlebar kill switch? How about where the wires come out of the ignition switch?

[sidekick1975]

It does start and run just blows white smoke and chokes out. I have noticed what looks like oil and gas coming from the air cleaner. could this just be dirt with a stuck float?

And speaking of stuck floats, I've cleaned these carbs many times last year because of stuck floats and tips on solving that problem.

[TopCatGr58]

Sticky floats can give you a sinking feeling!

Hey Sidekick,

With leaky floats, you may very well have lots of gas contaminating your oil!! You'll want to check your oil for signs of gas, put a metal stick down into the oil filler opening, get some ?oil? on it, and then try to light it with a lighter! IF it lights, then it's not a good sign. You'll want to drain your oil and filter and replace them! Hopefully you haven't burned a bearing or such!

Have a LARGE BUCKET HANDY, you may get much more than 3 quarts of "Gas-oil" out!?

T.C.

[sidekick1975]

Ok Leaky floats it is. Oil has Gas. How can I fix the leaky floats???

[pathfinder]

Drip, Drip, Drip, FLOOD

Not trying to be a smartalec but check all floats for a slow leak. There are plenty of posts on how to do this. When you find which ones are leaking, replace them. No good way to repair and be sure it will never leak again.

[prometheus578]

Quip, quip quip

Ah... T.C. ... you're putting me to shame! Makes me want to quip and write even when I have nothing constructive to add.
Floats do not leak, but the float needles they activate do. (though floats can sometimes get pinholes and fill with fuel changing their bouyancy, this is rather rare.)
Get some chrome polish and Q tips and polish the insides of the float needle seats and then get some new float needles.
Flip the carbs over in a baking pan and hook up a fuel supply and watch the "NEW" float needles to make sure the carb doesn't leak before reinstalling the carbs on the machine.