Have to use Instant Start

If the Plugs are Wet ... you are Flooding-out. You'll have to make an adjustment to the Carbs to control the Fuel being sent-in during startup to lessen the amount of Fuel for a good start.

Eithat that or youi are relying on the Enrichment Circuit to try and start a bike that has a problem other than Fuel Supply and are inadverently flooding-out the Cylinders waiting for Spark.

We'll help you get to the bottom of it.

 

I have faith! And TIME! Thank God for the weekend. I'm out riding another kind of horse on Saturday morning, but I'll call you Saturday afternoon. After work I'm going out to pick up a compression tester, fresh oil and filter since it needs a change (found out last night), fresh sparks cuz it's good to have them around and a can of fuel. If there is anything else you recommend, let me know. I'd rather have the gear that I need to hand than have to stop mid go to pick up misc items. I'm still very tempted to buy a new battery, especially with a battery shop right next door, but I don't want to spend the cash I don't need to.

 

I buy a Battery Charger before going out and buying a New Battery,
A Battery Charger that will put some real charge on the Battery is going to be a whole lot better than trying to have a Trickle Charger do the job of deep cycling a Bike Battery.

The SEARS 3-Way is a very good investment. It will do 2-Amp, 10-Amp and 50-Amp Boost. Plus, it's an Automatic Charger that won't harm the Battery of Component Parts if hooked-up backward.

You can leave the Battery on Charge while working on the Bike and know that there;s going to be some Amps available when you get around to trying to start the Bike.

The Trickle Charger only keeps the specific gravity constant. It won't deep cycle the Battery and provide cranking amps when you turn-on the Ignition Switch.

 

Okay! I'll have a look for a charger while I'm out too! Thanks Rick!

 

You won't regret having a Battery Charger handy. You'll get use from it outside of working on your bike.

I'm forever "Loaning-out" mine to people nearby who have dead car batteries due to the cold we have much of the Winter.

 

I'm going to post at length tomorrow, telling you how these guys helped me solve my problems, but right now I'm too tired as I was out all day riding around in the glorious nearly summer weather (24 celsius). All I wanted to say just quickly is THANK YOU!!!!! Rick especially. What a guy! The bike is humming along beautifully and I'll be checking the sparks for final tuning tomorrow and during the next week. She's idling beautifully now.

TIPS FOR NOOBS:
1) You do not know what you're doing. That's okay.
2) Listen to these guys. They do know what they're doing, and if they don't they'll point you in the direction of someone who does.
3) Tips on these forums, or theories, are just that. PLEASE: Start with the simplest possible fix first and save yourself the hassle. It doesn't matter what the last owner said he did or didn't do. Do it yourself and you know for sure.

I learned that last one the hard way, but was VERY lucky to have a bike's worth of spare parts in a filing cabinet in my basement. I still don't know whether to file that set of pipes we have under P for pipes or E for exhaust...M for muffler? huh. G'nite all, and thanks again.

 

I'm really curious to hear what it was!!! Glad you got out to ride....um, what is 24 Celsius in Fahrenheit? Are you in Canada?

 

Canada.
British Columbia.

That made me put-out an A-P-B for a BC Tuner to help Julie. But, I had no idea how big British Columbia was until someone got back to me with the details.

All is well that ends well.
Julie is running after a Carb Claenning.
Good work to her and Happy Cruising this Summer!

 

It's like 75 in your temperature scale!

 

Wanted to add to this that enrichment circuit well could also be a problem with having to use instant start as well. Mine had the same problem including after taking off the starter and cleaning it out (it was nasty and will need new brushes before spring). Quick easy winter project. Starts easier after cleaning out the starter, but still issues with starting after letting her sit overnight.

Anyway, cleaned out the enrichment circuit well and went outside to the garage just now and she fired up immediately. That has never happened before.

Link to the FAQ.

http://www.xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=8918.html

Wealth of knowledge on these forums.

 

I can't begin to tell you how long I have been searching for this answer... That is exactly what my xj650 is doing... I have been told to do so many things and nothing has worked... And it starts or tries to start when I take my finger off the button... Oh yay! Thank you for the post

 

If your bike has been sitting for even one winter without being started then you have gas evaporating which leaves a sludge in the carbs. If it will not start without attention the the starter jet is most likely clogged. The starter jet is pressed into the float bowl of each carb on my Hitachis, cannot be removed. If you pull the bowl you'll see a small brass tube hanging down from the carb,it goes into a recess in the bowl, that is where the jet is. Clean them both.If that is clogged no amount of choke will help. Dont go sticking wires or welding tip cleaners in there as it will be a tiny opening #40 on many. Patience,air blow off tool and cleaning solution are your best bet. If you have a mechanic friend ask if he can soak the float bowls for you. A good long day should do the trick but make sure his solution will not harm your bowls(shouldn't).

 

If it starts when you add "easy start" (more fuel), check your choke opperation, or, check for air leaks between carb and cylinder head.
Also, try jumping it with a car battery (this may rule out a poor battery or a power ineffiency as mentioned). I find that mine is hard to start if the battery is not 100% (it cranks but does not fire).
Good luck.

 

When it gets cool, ... even a Bike on the hairy-edge of fine tuning becomes a stubborn son-uh-muh-bidge to start.

Remove the seat.
Run a small diameter hose down into the airbox opening and run it to the Seat rail by the shock absorber.
Tape it.
Replace seat.

Now, ... you don't have to remove the seat to goose the cold start.
Shoot some Starting Fluid in the Hose when you are cranking it.
Carb Cleaner works, too.

Badda-bing; badda-boom.
Bup-bup-bup zah-roooooom!

 

Can anyone give me a link to where I can buy new starter brushes ? Canada prefered - thanks

 

The information produced in the site regarding the instant start is worthy as well as very useful for many of us. I would like to have the complete details regarding the task. Please produce some more attachments regarding my request.

 

where do you get the brushes from and about how much do they cost?

 

Hey Pensacola !! Welcome !!

Click on the "XJ4EVER" link in the upper right of this page for an extensive list of replacement parts.

 

I am having the same issues and it's driving me nuts. Just how can someone not have come up with a replacement to these worthless hitachi carbs. The people that engineered them need to be beat with them. This is a weak link of these motorcycle. I feel that Yamaha needs to go back to making musical instrements. Yamaha has no clue it how to make motorcycles. They should lose their licenses to manufacture them. Just makes no sense. I just purchased new gas that has no ethanol. It has spark. fuel but it just will not start worth a damn. The people that designed this bike need to be arrested as they have clue how to engineer anything. I can take a Honda CM250 and pull the motor and get it going. But I can't figure this out.

 

So now you dragged up a seven year old thread to lay down the same tired rant about your own inability to service your carbs.

Trust me, Yamaha kinda knows what they're doing, and there are a large number of members here who have successfully recommissioned their XJs and ride them regularly without issue.

These bikes are 30+ years old; and were truly state of the art at the time they were built.

This forum exists to help people resurrect and maintain their XJs, and solve problems that they may have doing so.

All we've heard from you is a rant about how Yamaha doesn't know what they're doing. More than once, usually in response to a really old thread.

It falls on deaf ears here. We know better.

If you'd like some help getting your bike running, then start a thread of your own, give us some real information and ask questions. But don't just keep throwing up posts about how poorly engineered the bikes were. Like I said, we know better. You can't blame Yamaha or Hitachi for your failure to understand how to successfully service their product.

If you want to fix it, you can. But first you need to fix your attitude. Just going off about how badly built you think they are to a group of people who don't agree isn't going to get your bike running.

 

Altland. I live probably 1/2 hour from you. I have offered several times to help you with your bike and your carbs, and I will offer again. I've sent you another PM.

A properly tuned XJ with clean carbs will absolutely destroy a Honda CM250 or most other bikes in the same class.

And Fitz is right too. Please start your own thread with info regarding your bike and what you have/haven't done, and stop complaining - it won't solve a thing. It kinda irritates all of us - especially those who are most qualified to help you.

 

I have the same issue. It doesn't matter that I have spark. The backwards petcock works, and the compression is uniform at 150 psi. But still no start. I NEVER had a motorcycle that I couldn't get to work. I tried to get the bike to start today as it's nice out. It's 55 degrees out but I don't even get a backfire. Nothing. I have cleaned the carbs two times. I must have used 5 cans of carb cleaner. But still no start. I had the carb cleaner coming from every hole. It makes no sense. Yamaha needs to be shutdown. The engineers that came up with YICS or CCIV need to go to jail. That crap doesn't work.

 

Have you bothered to do any of the other maintenance and troubleshooting procedures that we have collectively recommended to you? I know the answer because your XJ still won't start. You keep making the same assumption about what the problem is, instead of thoroughly investigating to find out what the actual cause of your no-start issue is.

If you are sure the carbs are clean, and the floats are wet-set properly, idle jets set to 2 1/2 turns out, and you have no vacuum leaks, and you have good compression, and your valves are in spec, and you still aren't getting any fire then you missed something along the way. Have you even bothered to check that a PO didn't mess up the ignition timing, or that the cam timing is correct? Are the colis connected to the correct spark plugs?

 

Guys this altlandf guy isn't interested in getting a bike running. I would be willing to bet that he doesn't even have a yamaha. If he does he will always stay in first gear..... If you read some of his other posts you will see that this guy isn't really interested in yamaha bikes. I say to ignore the guy completely at this point.

 

"altlandf" claims to have 2 XJ650's and he's going to go all "Micro-Squirt" on us, but I wonder if he ever got his VIN problem cleared up, and a title??

You can't ride without a tag.

 

I'd love to buy new brushes from our forum vendor, but I can't make heads or tails frrom his vendor list. If I go to babbits, I can find any part I need in seconds. He really needs to setup a website so we can order from him.

 

Send him a message, or e-mail, with your needs and he'll give you a price, and his paypal info. Ordering from a catalog isn't that hard.

 

For what it's worth, wading through Chacal's parts list can be...tedious. That being said I still really appreciate the effort he put into creating it.

 

Have an 82 XJ 650...42 K 120 PSI compression. Is it possible to remove only carb bottoms and clean out choke circuit if bike runs good once started?

 

Be sure to have your battery tested for cranking amps. Mine was toast. I didn't need to rebuild starter, just needed a good battery

 

It's possible to take any shortcuts you want. Whether or not you'll achieve the desired result is a different story.

Start a new thread of your very own, and we'll be happy to help. You're probably going to find out that you've got a bit more to do than just cleaning your enrichment wells. When did you last check your valve clearances?

 

you could take the outside bowls off while on the bike, the inner ones would be really tight. if you found a screw you couldn't get out, your pulling the rack anyhow.
when you order from Chacal, tell him what you have and what your doing and he may have advice on something you didn't know you needed to get the job done, that might save you time and money in the long run.

 

I know this sounds simple, but was overlooked by me.
same kind of situation, bike sat, was resurected, and ran, then had issues develop. the culpret was the mounging gaskets for the carburator mounts. small paper that goes between the rubber carb mounts and the intake mount. the only gasket that was "solid" was the one on the fuel vacume draw for the pet cock. once it got running it was fine. Not enough draw to pull enough air fuel into the other carbs

 

Mine was exactly the same... Clear the enrichment wells in the carb bowl with a needle or small wire and do the valve check.. Completely brought my starter fluid sucking 750 back to life!