Would valve shims cause a bike to not start?

Im still having troubles getting my XJ550 to start. Thanks to the help of others, I finally got the starter motor working. The last thing I have left to try is to change the valve shims. I checked the float bowls on the carbs and there was fuel coming out when I loosened the screw. Would incorrect valve shim sizes cause a bike to not start at all? I could definitely understand running poorly or out of sync, but not to run at all?

 

buy a can of starter fluid and spray it into the hole the air filter covers and try to start the bike. If the bike starts and stays running then the issue might be the starter circuit located in the float bowl.
If the bike doesnt start then it might be your coils. ;p

 

Is your battery good and fully charged. I had a similar problem and found that it was a weak battery. If I charged it fully it started easily, but the next day it would crank but not start. A new AGM battery solved the problem. I guess you could check by jumping it with a good battery. If you use a car I read that you should not have the car running.

 

If you haven't checked the valves yet, you should probably do that ASAP. Yes, bad valve clearances can cause the engine to not wanna start, but more importantly, trying to run on bad valves can wreck stuff. And come on, it takes 20 mins, from opening the garage to cracking the post-wrenching beer.

And just because gas is flowing through the carb drains doesnt mean the carbs are in spec. They been to church? Enrichment bowls cleaned? Carbs slides clunking? Fuel levels in spec? Bench synced?

The beauty will be in the details, I promise.

 

Bryce Matheson---Nice scottish name!! your ancestors obviously had a boat and could sail it west!! ( presume you are in North America.

Ref your question re valve shims some of the founder members in the forum are likely to latch on to your question and give you a dresing down for not having checked these at the start!! Ha !just sit back and wait for it!! Try seaching the forum and you will get a look at what the experienced guys on the forum would refer to as the basics and in which order you should do these checks.
You will see there are no shortcuts or easy routes.

 

why are you thinking valve shims?

and yes you need to check your valve clearance and compression.