just purchased new o e m replacement intake rubber boots

Hope to get smoother response from carburators . have cleaned and tuned but rubber boots weathered and cracked . Finally shelled out the $$ to buy new O>E>M replacement boots , gaskets . its been years since i removed seca carbs . i dont remember it being too bad . any thoughts would be appreciated

 

Have your "cursing jar" and a roll of quarters handy, just in case. It's also helpful to warm the boots with a hair dryer so they will be a little more pliable.

 

Quite often, as horrible as the cracks are, they don't go all the way through.

One of the primary reasons people fight with "carb" issues is because they have neglected or are putting off checking their valve clearances. They need to be checked every 5000 miles. How many miles on your bike?

Be careful removing the intake manifolds; soak everything in Kroil for a few days beforehand, you don't want to break a bolt off in the head.

Once the carbs are truly clean (do NOT submerge them unless you're fully stripping to replace throttle shaft seals) you need to be sure you've accurately WET set the float levels. Again, a very important and often glossed-over step.

Then, with your valve clearances in spec, you'll be able to do a good running vacuum sync (with the YICS blocked) once the carbs go back on the bike.

Anything less than doing it right will simply result in continued frustration.

 

thank you

 

Just bought the bike it appears the previous owner was in the carbs , to what extent not sure . it took forever to warm up and would not idle . i filled tank up half way and put in a double dose of sta bil ethanol treatment . ran bike for 5 min and let sit a week . repeated process filling float bowls up with fresh treatment every other day for another week by starting it , now i start it right up . use choke for 20 seconds and it warms right up and idles fine . just an occasional sputter but i found that other owner also had a very poor air filter installed ( paper ) that had got gas saturated . installed new k/n in factory air box running great now

 

been in the low 30's here past few weeks but i will try to take it out on the road this weekend and see how she runs

 

Good. However---

The valve clearances were supposed to have been checked at 3000 miles. Then again every 5000 miles. If neglected, they will tighten up to the point that you will eventually burn a valve. Meanwhile, the performance of the bike slowly deteriorates.

Don't ignore it because the bike "seems fine." It will, until it's too late.

WATCH YOUR PLUGS with the K&N. They will tend to make the bike run lean, and XJs LOVE lean--- right until they blow up.

BUT-- before anything else, read this and go take a look at yours before something bad happens: http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=15874.html be sure to read all the responses and the guys it happened to.

 

Oh, and if the air filter got gas-saturated it may indicate a sticky/stuck float or float level issue.

Which means you could also have quite a bit of gas in your oil.

Before you ride the bike, pop open the oil filler cap. Stick your nose in and have a whiff. If you smell gasoline, you have carb float (and possibly petcock) issues. And you need another oil and filter change.

 

when i went to purchase the bike the owner put a little gas in the tank because it was empty (made me suspicious ) when he started it the quart he put in was not enough to run it in the on position so he put it on reserve so he thought soi i could hear it run . it was on prime and filled the crank case full of gas . i only took it about a block on a wet stormy night to check gears ect and put it in the trailer for the trip home . in the morning i figured out what he had done and proceeded to drain oil,filter , fouled plugs and now air cleaner along with the sta bil . plugs were black and wet when i pulled them . found all of this the next morning after purchased . so all is good now i hope . this is my second seca bought first one new in 1981 and rode it for 15 years until it was stolen . makes it easier this time around to diagnose and work on the old girl . hope to put fairing back on soon . first ride after repairs was a bit chilly

 

bigfitz
You mentioned the wet setting of the float levels. This is something i.d like to learn about. Do you have a link to a previous thread or could you give me a detailed explanation please?

 

Welcome aboard my friend, I'm from Sherbrooke!

Salutations :wink:

 

Salut camarade et merci pour le mot de bienvenue, je vois que tu es ici depuis 2010. Très intéressant comme forum, n'est-ce pas?