Have to use Instant Start

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