Ideas?

Hello everyone, I recently purchased an 82 xj650 that had not been run in a couple years the battery was bad and the guy said the carbs needed to be cleaned, so i took it to a mech to look at it and to my surprise was told it would 900 to fix it...
1.New plugs BP7ES 4
2.Oil filter
3.Intake boots 4
4.Carb kits 4
5.Battery
6.Slow Jet?<--
Any way i got it back took it for a ride and it was good but over the next couple days it fouled out and died. Thinking i flooded her i just pulled the plugs and they were black<-- so i bought new ones and she fired right up took a 30 minute ride and it seemed like it was starving abit so i brought it home and now it back fires and i need to have it wide open to keep it running.. Sorry for long post...

 

Did you pay the $900 to fix it?
If so>>>I would go directly to that shop! And make sure they don't expect you to pay any more $$

 

Sounds like a fuel delivery issue to me; which could mean carbs, petcock or even needing a valve adjustment.

It also sounds like yet another example of a shop that has no "XJ knowledge" taking your money and not fixing the bike.

Highly doubtful these guys have the necessary skillset to do the job right, even if they wanted to. You're probably going to have to do most of it yourself if you want it right.

 

Sigh, this is what i feared. I will be changing out the petcock myself and be calling shop. Although I'm afraid nothing will save me from my wifes clutches.. if i survive i will keep u updated.. Thanks for the quick response.

 

When i bought the bike i did notice it had Jardine pipes....Rejet? or a work around?

 

Jardine makes a nice exhaust for this bike. The shop should have accounted for them when it did the "Carb Kit."

 

Did they do the FIRST STEP ??
Chapter 1, Verse 1
Check and adjust valve clearance - then re-sync and tune w/ ColorTune.

 

Hey Dragon, look under the avatars of the people that have replied so far, put up your info like that and you never know a fellow XJ'r may live within "help out a brother" distance from you.

 

I am assuming that they DID not account for the Jardine's. I took the bike out for a 30 minute jaunt today and she was missing and 20 minutes in i noticed the sound change<----when i returned home i checked the pipes and the right side has a huge blue blemish halfway back at the passenger peg and the freaking baffle was trying to come out<--- 8O there is no bluing at the juggs but plugg 3+4 keep fouling out..

 

Ugh...you'll have to pull your own carbs and figure out why you are running so rich on 3 and 4. I'm willing to bet they have the wrong jets in the wrong places, or the float level are too high, or they didn't screw them in enough, so it fell out (happened to me, very disturbing!).

Bike shops are pretty stupid when it comes to 30 y/o bikes, unless you get one that specializes in them. Even then, you paid more to NOT fix your bike than most did to buy it and get it able to ride everyday.

Take off your carbs, open them up, and look at the jets. They should have little numbers stamped on them, like 110, 205, 40, or 50.

Also, if you can get to your pilot screws, GENTLY turn them in (clockwise) all the way, then turn them out about 3 turns.

Oh...and the other advice above too....that's all important.

 

So i went to locate pilot screws and their accessibility i notice the boots on carbs 3 & 4 on both sides of the carbs the clamps were off and boots pinched, so grumbling under my breath i loosened & repositioned the clamps and checked carbs 1 &2 for same. I then fired up the bike and she revved up to 3500 and backed off to 2500 so i readjusted the Main throttle<----knob in the middle--->so it was idling at 1500, revved it a couple times and shut it down. I did notice an air bubble in the fuel filter though.

 

You'll get an air bubble, hard to not have. Shouldn't matter if your float needles are ok. Idle should be around 1000.

How were the pilot screws?

 

Will physically do that check 2morrow after work and post then & had to secure fuel tank also because guys at the shop didnt....Sigh

 

Post the name of the shop so that others that come here can see and not go there. I know most people on here do most of their own work, but if we get a new guy looking to get work done and they live near you they'll know who not to take it to.

 

Reading this has inspired me to NEVER take my bike to a shop, no matter how fed up I get.

 

Hey everybody, So i took the bike out for a 20 mile run today and it ran decent although there was a lack of power all the way around but 18 miles in she acted just like i ran out of fuel blahhh blahh bla dead....2 miles from home on the back roads no less, so fighting the urge to panic i cranked her-putt putt dead-so i switched to reserve<---which is a lie cause i just filled the tank today, then in desperation i switched it to prime and she started? I took off for home and she had sooo much power she felt like she was gonna run out from under me... I took it up to 70 for a mile or so switched to"ON" on the fly and started to dog out then back to "prime" and it was like wacking her with stick on fire...Petcock issue? Your suggestions are welcome.

SIDE NOTE=My pilot screws are not accessible they are as you say Brassed.
SIDE NOTE=Baffle problem- The rivets were missing that held the baffle in place so i took some small bolts and lock washers and bolted that sucker back in....HA!!

 

I have had that happen. It's usually a petcock issue. It happened to we when my vacuum line had come off of the back of the petcock, so it got starved for fuel. This could probably also happen if you needed a petcock rebuild. Check this out:

http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=2 ... build.html

 

I replaced my petcock with an aftermaket manual petcock.
It works great! I don't regret the change one bit.
The only thing left to fail, is if I fail to remember to shut it off!!

 

Why was my post deleted?

I was first the reply to this...


EDIT: Nevermind, I found my reply in a duplicate post...

http://www.xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=32685.html

 

Check to see the put the vacuum line back onto the petcock.

It should have 2 nipples and two lines off of it, a fuel line and a vacuum line.

The vacuum line can go to any of the intake boots...I forget which one is stock, I have mine going to the #2 cylinder, not stock.