Running bad

[osmosis4b]

Can anyone provide some insight?
I am a new member to the site, and a new XS owner.I picked up a mint condition 79 XS1100 with 3500 miles on it. In 1998 the fuel was drained, and it was covered and put into in storage until last week. I have given it a new battery/oil change and rode ~450 miles on it, it runs like a top. After a 50 mile nighttime ride, I put it away in the garage, the nex morning, it started, but has NO power. It seems like it is only running on 2 cylinders. There is a strong smell of unburned fuel, and alot of sputtering. I have drained the tank and refueled with premium gas, no help. How could it run so smooth and perfectly, then just crap out? Any suggestions?

[wingnut]

Junk in the Tank

Its possible that there is some rust or other junk in the tank from sitting all those years. You filled ti up rode a bunch of miles, shook the juck loose from where ever ti was hiding and now its in your carbs Carb clean time! Id remove the carbs remove tne bowls and start spraying with carb cleaner. Make sure you get flow thru evey jet.

[mro]

Running bad, don't be sad!!!

Welcome to XSive Land

Several things I would do.

As for it firing on only two cylinders, check the headers the first minuet or so after start to see which are getting hot, or pull plug wire one at a time and you will hear rpm stay same or go down as per wether it's firing or not.

May have had some gunk in the fuel system clogging up the works.

Probably going to need to clean carbs, Might check fuel tank for rust. check filter on pet-cocks. Use in-line filter between pet-cock and carbs.

Should check cam chain adjustment too. Old tires can be a safety problem.

Check out tech tips for carbs and recommend checking/flushing brake fluid too.



mro

[TopCatGr58]

Is that a Brita Fuel Filter?

Hey Osmosis,

It also depends on WHICH 2 carbs are running. Use a little spritzer bottle to spray water on the exhaust pipes and find out which ones are hot, which are not!

The fuel supply for the carbs are in linked pairs, 1-2 and 3-4. The ignition is paired in a different pair, 1-4 and 2-3. So, knowing which cylinders are not firing can help steer you in the right troubleshooting direction.

The 78-79 series bikes are more prone to have PickupCoil problems due to the amount of flexing of the wires during accel, and both centrifugal and vacuum advance action!

Hope this helps!?
T.C.

[osmosis4b]

WOW, Thanks for all of the help guys!!
MRO- Forgot to mention, Got new tires, but was not aware of the filters in the petcock, or a cam chain adjustment. I will check out how to on the site.

Topcat- thanks for the help, I found my way here! I took it for a short ride to do some troubleshooting. When shutting off the petcocks one at a time(on the hiway), it died with the left off, no change in performance with the right side off.

Wingnut- I ran the engine with both petcocks off, until it died. Then removed the 10mm carb bowl drain screws from each carb, they were dry. When I turned the petcock on, fuel started flowing out of their respective carbs, so the delivery is making it past the float valves.

Well I drained the tank again today, I refilled it with 91 octane, and some sythethic carb cleaner "Redline", when I passed in front of the bike at the gas station, I noticed the headlight was a little yellow, I put it on a slow charge 10 min ago. I have a Virago that acts similar when the voltage is less than 10.6, (lotsa troubleshooting to figure this out), (like when the aux lights are on for a while). I will report back tomorrow.

[osmosis4b]

ok, the charging was not the problem, the light is the same as before. I did the spray bottle, #1,4 were hot, #2,3 were not. Does this sound familiar?

[trbig]

Yup... sounds familiar to anyone who owns one of these. Back to Wingnut's first post. Off with the carbs. Clean clean clean... Look for the tech tips on it. If it was running right, I wouldn't do any adjusting to the floats... just clean out all the jets. Dont forget the little one in that's actually down in the edge of the bowl when you take it off. Then go to your local bike shop... buy 2 cheap inline filters, and mount them in between your petcocks and your carbs.
Then send us some pictures!!

Tod

[DiverRay]

Sounds like a wire problem. Check the "Tech Tips" on the left, and look for finding the "pick up coil" wire problem. On the early machines, it's usualy the 1&4 wire that breaks.
The fix isn't that bad, if you can splice the wires. I would use heat srink tubing over the splice, and leave the "crimp" at the plate a little loose.
Just keep in touch, and read, as there is a LOT of information on this site.
Welcome, and hang on once the bike is running properly.
Ray

[prometheus578]

"My Gramma's got coil-itis., and so does Osmosis."

Ja sure, could be the carbs, but could also be erecticle, as the Jap engineers would say. (T.C., too) The coil on the left fires #'s 1 and 4. The coil on the right fires #'s 2 and 3.
Arrrhh... cylinders two and three be dead, Matey. Is it carbs or be it coils?
Pull all the plugs, put them back in their night caps, and lay them sleepy-like agin' the fins and crank away. (keeping them away from the plug-holes) Are they all schparkin'?
If jes... then it's the carbo's. If no... then it's anywhere from coil, wire to coil, magic box, pick-up coils, etc.
Now one must work backwards... to filter out the problem. Sort of reverse-osmosis.

Filters... Reverse Osmosis... Semi-permeable Membranes... Oh Geez, somebody help me! Why do I even know this stuff? Is this what I've become... a walking Discovery Channel? Am I destined to a life of spouting trivia and making vague, obscure references?
I need another marguerita. And fast!

[DiverRay]

Prom,
I gave him the answer, your giving him the hang over!!
Ray

[TopCatGr58]

Hey DiverRay,

Normally I would concur with your diagnosis, but with only 3500 miles on the clock, those PU wires haven't been flexed that much? Might be a bad coil as well? Could also be some cold solder joints in the TCI? Or even just corrosion in the plugs for the PU coils or the ignition coils!?

Osmo, there are troubleshooting techniques in the tech tips, as well as Randy's(Electrics Guru) personal web tips for testing the TCI.
T.C.

[prometheus578]

"Correction"

as the Jap engineers would say. (T.C., too)

credit to Ray, also. He piped aboard whilst I was typing.

[prometheus578]

"Hail, hail, the gangs all here"

I type rather slowly... I say we skip this forum stuff, and start a carb/ electrical chat room.
No... I'd still be the slowest typist there, too. Never mind.

[DiverRay]

TC,
As a former Yamaha Mech, in the late 70's, Ive seen the wires break after a very little time. The cause was the crimp on the backing plate, and nothing else. The wires could be bad after just 3500 miles. It's easy to check, and a good first start. If they check out good, on to the next logical place, the connections.
Ray

[osmosis4b]

so , tank off-long plasic filter "bic lighers"out, took apart petcocks, the filters were honey colored, but clean. the petcocks were clear.

step 2, tank scrub
took to work for a NaOH and KOH scrub, followed by dry oven @70C to bake dry for 2 hrs, shook hard, no ratles, re assembled above parts
step 3
plug wire check (I know this should have been step one) 1 and 4= no spark 2 and 3 big mean spark

I am all ears! It my ride to work tomorrow.
Diver, I am checkin ino the wire thing...