No run/ no start/ high rpm run issue

Recently bought this bike cheap and it was running when purchased although hard starting. No biggie. I knew it sat for awhile. Clean carbs I figured and go from there. Did that. Fired up like a dream, took it for a spin. Made it 5 blocks and it died, didn't have enough battery power ( or so I thought) to give it good spark to start again. Before it died there, I noticed I couldn't get any rpm out of it. Anything over idle that is.

Changed battery with new one. Cranks over much faster. Started up great, took it for a ride. Same thing. Let it sit for 10 mins and it made it home again.
I noticed shortly after starting it that it's rpms would go up to 2500-3000 rpm for maybe 5-7 seconds then come back down as well.

So after reading some in here about troublesome tci units, I took mine out and opened the back. Looks good in there. Wasn't about to desolder yet as my soldering skills lack big time.

Took out the headlight and looked in there. Nothing looks too out of the ordinary other than one red wire is snipped on either side of a connector and the wires joined.

I put the tci back in and it's hard to start and idles at 5000 yes 5 thousand rpm.
Any ideas? I am afraid I am chasing an electrical gremlin now.

It's a 1985 700 maxim. Not x

 

i'm no expert, but to me, all signs point to carb synchronization. i'd triple-check that before i started looking at TCI replaement or short circuits. an electrical gremlin shouldn't account for a fast, uneven idle.

when syncing your [presumably spotlessly clean] carbs, make sure you block off the YICS passage with the YICS/R tool (Chacal sells it), and make sure you sync a hot engine, not a cool one.

 

also, post your location. there's a good chace one of us is near you, and willing to help fix this.

 

Location is Lloydminster, SK. Canada. Started it up early this evening for fun. Revved up to 5,000 rpm in seconds. Shut it down right away. Pushed it outside to clean the garage up for a garage sale. Tried it again later when it was colder and it fired up like it should, idled like it should. Lol. I think it was sorry that I threw it outside again! Lol. Have not synced carbs. Did not de rack them when I took them apart to clean.

 

Sounds like a few things going on there....Is the throttle cable getting hung up somewhere?

See also "common causes of high idle":

http://www.xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=27544.html

 

there's a definite process to follow here, without it you're just spinning your wheels.

1) make sure the valves are in spec.
2) clean out the carbs FULLY, including the tiny passages in the float bowls (enrichment circuit). the tiniest passages are, annoyingly, the most crucial ones to getting a steady idle. search the forum for "church of clean" and "whole nine yards".
3) sync the carbs with a warm engine and the YICS passages blocked. these engines are supposed to be tuned to run hot, and *should* require the use of choke to start when cold.

do these things, and i'm certain your problems will disappear. and adrian1 is right, too -- the throttle cable getting stuck is one of the most common causes of high idle, as is a poorly adjusted idle speed screw.