XJ HELL!! Fouls Plugs, Can't Ride More Than 5 Minutes Ever!

Dude, sorry if i offended you. But here's the thing...

We have all told you what to do multiple times. YOU JUST DIDN'T DO IT. I really hope those jets + valve shims were the problem, + now you can continue with getting a nice finely tuned bike. Trust me... We REALLY do want to see you succeed.

However, Every year, we get one or two people on here that just won't listen to what we have to say. Then they get pissy and one of three things happen:

1. they disappear
2. they realize we were right and apologize
3. they realize we were right and come back with a new username

Do what you want to do. THE DIFFERENCE IS THAT WE'RE RIDING OUR BIKES and you spent countless hours accomplishing NOTHING.

PS. Polock and I are sarcastic as hell.

PSS. I went through the same thing you did. I "pulled and cleaned" my carbs 8 times, before doing it the way Fitz and Rick told me to do it (including valve shims). Suprise - their way works.

 

You forgot:

"They sell the bike rather than adjust the valves." (It's happened more than once.)

 

Doesn't that usually correspond with disappearing from the forum?

 

you could be like me & hang on to your bike for 30+ years......& keep working on it until you get it right......I will admit.....I have neglected my own bike over the years......only to go back to it years later & find that I have to do all the work that is mentioned in these posts...brakes, lines, carbs, tires, valves.....etc.....

At least, I know who the previous owner was ( me )......& what he did or mostly didn't do.....

 

Or be the third owner of a bike. And know that neither of the two previous owners took care of it.

Grandpa purchased it in 1981
Father acquired it from him in 1993
I acquired it from him in 2007 with only 3257 miles on it.

It had never had the valve adjusted prior to my ownership (not that the bike had that many miles on it requiring new shims)

now the bike has over 17k on the odo. And it runs better than I received it.

Trust these guys. They know what they're talking about. (for the most part) Rick and Fitz really know their XJ's. Their information has helped me out alot in the past. And you can't beat Len's available stock for parts on these machines. This site is THE XJ knowledge base. No other place compares.

 

3257 miles on it.....probably no need to adjust shims......but probably needed a good carb clean thou ......you are fortunate to know the previous owners...ALL IN THE FAMILY

I know my bike pretty well after having this long.....since I have neglected it...it is time to put the money back in it & the time as well.....repair manuals speak for themselves.... everyone who has one of these bikes should have one & follow it along with forum advice......hands down......

Problem is is that people buy these bikes on the cheap expecting not to have problems but don't realize the true cost of keeping them running correctly....

 

OK so I'm back actually I did not go anywhere just waiting for parts.
I know you guys probably assume Im going to disappear but I am not , I hate people that do that.. Thanks for the words of reconciliation, I appreciate it

Soooo.......

I got new main fuel jets , pilot fuel jets, and pilot air jets, just cause I found something else this idiot did to the bike..

He took the 40 pilot fuel drilled it out to like 150 and put it in the main fuel spot gouging the numbers off , then took the main fuel put it in the pilot fuel spot and also gouged through the numbers! When I initially looked at it I thought hey big hole, main jet, small hole, pilot jet, done....WRONG

Yes, My eyes are damaged from years of grinding and getting nitro methane sprayed in them, long story good excuse..

Ok so jets are in, my carb bowl is leaking cause of bad gasket, wet set float height, bench synched carbs, 2.5 turns out on pilot screws and.....


Starts and Idles good but sputters backfires through carb, intake area, during idle and full range, Plugs are bare no soot nothing, Im guessing way to lean?

My air filter looks lightly dirty...

After i got the parts installed I only had about 20 Mins to tune it...
Tonight is the night...unless someone calls the cops on me for noise....

Looks like my problem from HELL is almost solved...Thanks

 

FUEL Jets: O Large Main
FUEL Jets: o Small Pilot

AIR Jets: O Large Pilot ... (The LARGE Air Jet is Pilot)
AIR Jets: o Small Main ... (The SMALL Air Jet is Main)

Preset the Mixture Screws BEYOND 2.5 Turns Out.

Go the 3 Full Turns Out.
TWEAK back IN ... 3 "seconds"

A stopwatch has 60 Seconds for a Full Turn
15 Seconds would be a Quarter Turn.

After you get the Pilot Mixture Screws 3 Turns Out.
Tweak back-in ... 3 ~ 4 SECONDS.
About the width of a Nickel.

If it Backfires ... you're too Lean.
Add a couple of seconds out.
"Boggs-out" too Rich.

Once you arrive at where the Mixture needs to be ... the Fine Tuning will only be a matter of within <--- 3 ~ 5 --->.

A quarter turn will go right beyond it.

 

Well done...welcome back! You make a change from all the vanilla players

 

Re: XJ HELL!! Fouls Plugs, Can't Ride More Than 5 Minutes Ev

Hmm. wow, makes me wonder if I pissed y'all off and that's why I get no response. Or maybe you were just too busy helping the tenderfoot. Just kidding!SpiderI hope that u gain wisdom as a mechanic from this thread before I die on an unsafe bike or something. :lol: Thanks guys for your undying dedication in keeping us on the road. Getting a new battery tomorrow ,so I wont have to waste your time with dumb questions about regulators, I hope. goodnight. :wink:

 

I think your float levels are still out. Carry out wet set and report back pls.

 

I got $5 (USD, sorry) that says he STILL HASN'T CHECKED THE VALVE CLEARANCES. (I see no mention.)

Are your valves in spec yet???

 

Right after i installed the new jets I double checked and then wet set the floats...

Re adjusted mixture, tweaked idle screw a bit and bam..

Fires right up every time, barley need to touch the gas, idles at about 950, on the road mucho balls feels like the front end s gonna lift off in first when you pin it...Its f@#kin great..

Still gotta shim the valves as they are in fact tight, as you could see in my previous post....

plugs look faded paper bag brown on ceramic, clean tip though..

Thank You, Thank You, Thank All Of You....Your persistence paid off for me.

Is it just me or was this bike built for a asian?

The damn seat is too far forward!

Any seat options? That still fit two?

 

Sculpt a "solo" seat for yourself.
Get another seat pan off Ebay or make a plywood base.
Shape foam with a bread knife - $1.00 at the thrift store
Look for a discarded black sofa and razor the back material off.
use a $10 staple gun to assemble. You could even use the sofa foam for extra softness, but seat foam is about 2X stiffer.

 

so??? did you ever get your bike going? im going through this exact same rat race with my 81 650

 

not to beat a dead horse
but you spent all this money and did all this work, however
the main thing that needs to be done is still not done?
all this time.. all this time and the shims are still tight?
are you aware that Hogfiddles runs a shim pool?
you figure out which ones you need and send him the ones
you have.. bingo bango you get them fixed
Fitz is not kidding.. tight valves burn out and then the engine is
toast
you are driving a time bomb

congrats on the other work, however I think it would have been
easier to buy a used set of carbs off Ebay

just my 2 cents
coming from a guy who followed everyone' advice

 

Valves
Carbs
Sync
Colortune
Sync
Colortune
Ride

In that order

 

I don't know what bike you have but I have a xj700 and I had the same problem come to find out the two air jets at the top of the carb under the top had were reversed. Engine ran fine just fouled plugs emediantly and went though a ton of gas. The bigger air jet is the one closer to the engine that's the pilot air jet the main is actually the smaller of the two and it's farther away from the engine.

 

this is exactly what I was thinking when I read the first post.

CN

 

Dude,

I am glad you got your bike running, before you burn a valve or worse get your valve shims within specification. You do not need the tool, all you need are some zip ties.



Like people have mentioned before, stop wasting your time trying to fine tune the carbs. Once you replace valve shims you will have to do it all over again anyways.

Best wishes.

 

If, after your valves are back in spec, and the carbs have all the correct jets in the correct places, and they have been synced/colortuned.............the problem persists---then I'd say that I'd next start suspecting the TCI.

Dave Fox

 

that would be the pilot jet mixture screw . ontop of the carb ?

pilot fuel jets reside in the carb bowl area with the main fuel jet.
air jets are under the diaphram under the carb hats

 

bf advice your doomed. lol. then he will get pissed when your right.