Carb Help needed. 1985 xj700 maxim air cooled

I just got the carbs back on the bike, and got her fired up. Carbs are hitachi hs33's

now for the issues. Will start on choke, but die the second you touch the throttle, and dies when shutting the choke off.

the #4 carb wont fill the bowl with fuel. i have to look thru it, clean all passages, anything specific to look out for?


what is a good setting for the pilot screws when going to start re4-tuning the carbs? 3 turns out, 2.5? 1?

 

A few questions come to mind, How cold is it there outside and are you trying to open the throttle right after starting it, or is this when it has been running a minute or 2. Often, and if it's really cold outside, a bike may only run on the choke and die if you touch the throttle, sometimes it takes several minutes running just on the choke in cold weather before you can finally open the throttle and rev freely.

Also, often when people think they just cleaned the carbs, they didn't get all the passages and the immulsion tube and everything cleaned out as good as they needed. The idle circuit requires that immulsion "brass" tube clear for that cylinder to idle as that's what pulls the fuel up threw to the top of the carb and past the mixture screw. Set the mixture screws generally about 3 turns backed out is a general rule of thumb for a starting point depending on if you have to test for emissions.

If you have a good fuel supply to the #4, yet the bowl isn't filling, very likely you have a stuck float needle, stuck to it's seat. Very possibly if it's hardened the rubber tip, once you pop it loose, it may not reseat again and you'll have to replace it.

 

all the float needles are free moving. all valves are brand new. the carbs are CLEAN, i got everything. i was having the problem with the bike very warm, and it was about 55 degrees and sunny out.

i still ahve to pull apart the the 4th carb to check i think there is something clogging the crossover tube

 

Does anyone know the proper starting position fo rthe pilot screws when retuning a hitachi carb? i will have a colortune to use when i go through it, but i would like a good base first.

 

It's a starting point!

 

Factory = 2.5 Out Set there for the bike to Pass random emissions testing.
(Idle's Hunt and Hesitation issues very common. The idea was to err on the side off passing 48 State testing.

New Bike 500 Mile Dealer Service. Set with EGA at the Dealer for best gas analysis. Many, many bikes NOT done. Those done often had no Anti-Tamper Plug replaced. Owners tweaked screws thinking they were High-speed jets.

EGA Dies. Machines fail and Dealers can't get them fixed. EGA Exhaust Bolts seize.

The 2.75 Out Decade begins.

ColorTune Invented.
The Colortune Method solves the Pilot Mix Mystery.
3.0 becomes the new threshold for best idle mixture.

3.0 is Ball Park. But, not just at the Ball Park ... Inside the Ball Park.
Which ain't a bad place to be ...
But ... you're still just in the ball park. A spectator.

To get ... "Right in the batter's box" ... you need to run the bike, watch the flame color change as you tweak.
You need the Tool!

For a really nice place to start ... Come-OUT -- 3 Turns. Then, with that screw being the hand on a stopwatch ... back-in ... 3 or 4 seconds.

There's another saying used, on the shop floor, for describing the short distance that tweaking that screw just a few "seconds" would be.
That much.

I'm sure you know it.
It ain't Rocket Science.
Let's not start splitting hairs.

 

thank you sir. i will go out three and plug in my colortune!!!

 

I had same problem after winter tear down, thought had carbs clean. 1 cylinder not fire when cold but fired when warm , if I touched throttle it would die, when you first start feel exhaust pipes and will tell you which one is not fireing. My problem when removed and checked was in float bowl , little hole to emulsion tube was plugged , fuel not getting into emulsion tube area. Also bench synched the carbs , figured I was running way lean on 1 or 2 cylinders and rich on other 2, do search on this forum for bench synch , IT WORKS ! 3 turns out was pretty darn close on air screw. Good luck

 

Thanks Yakahop, it's funny how sometimes people almost seem offended by the mention that after they cleaned the carbs, that they may not have gotten everything good enough.
We only mention this, as most of us have made that mistake before, myself included before I resolved a problem with mine running right.

We offer our suggestions for assist and helping purposes only, all caps in text are taken by most people as something you want to come across definitive, or shouting, I do.
All the experienced people on something in any forum helping out, aren't getting paid or anything for their time spent sifting through ongoing questions, other then to help others with common interests in something that serves the purpose of spreading the wealth of information to those in need.

This should always be remembered, as many people mention "it's nice to find this forum as it's hard to find information on these bikes."

Try to remember our help isn't meant as an insult even though you'd just cleaned your carbs, and the experienced guys like RickOmatic, robert, bluemaxim, myself and capkirk and some others, really are trying to pin point the issue you may be having.

 

And some people actually DO get their bikes running better than they ever have before ... which is AMAZING ... considering:

We NEVER see, hear, touch or are otherwise allowed to do any testing on the bikes ... because we rely completely on the descriptions of the problems that the owners write-in.

And, we do all this ... without any of us being clairvoyant or having paranormal skills.

Imagine that!

 

I know this is an old thread but you guys are a huge help to us who want to clean adjust and get our bikes running better than they ever have. Thanks guys, you're a huge blessing.
Turbobob