Newbie...

I have a 85 XJ700 Maxim X. It has 16k. I had a situation a few months back with gas pouring out of cabs. I installed new needles and seats. Ran ok. Now it idles around 3k. I tried adjusting screws but it stays hi. Sprayed carb cleaner around boots did not notice rpm increase. But now I noticed that the old owner must have lost the "duct" that goes behind air filter. Would this cause hi idle. Ebay wants $45. I am not sure if this bike ever had the "duct"

 

according to this yes it has the duct part from airhead700 is the same

https://www.partzilla.com/catalog/yamaha/motorcycle/1985/maxim-x-xj700xn/air-filter

 

The question was could this part missing be causing high idle?
No.
You even answered the question yourself - original problem was gas coming out of the carbs, not high idle. So logically, this bit of filter snorkel has not caused high idle.
My suggestion would be to bin the whole filter and fit some pods, tweak the springs and jets until you get her running right and let us know what numbers you ended up with

 

It can affect the idle because is it a a reducer/restrictor

 

This is joke? How will PODS fix gas coming out of the carbs?! Let's not get drastic here.

 

Ok, I will type this very carefully, without any attempt at humour
The original problem, as posted, was that a previously fine running bike had a problem with gas (petrol) running out of the carbs. New float valves apparently cured this. Then the bike was suffering from high idle.
So how does this missing snorkel now make it idle fast, when it didn't before?
And yes, it might make a difference to inlet vacuum at some point in the rpm range, I accept that, but at idle? No.
As for binning the filter and fitting pods, please ignore my cras attempt at humour, apparently I'm no good at logic either....

 

Phew... For a minute there, I thought I had fallen down a rabbit hole there!
"Logic and proportion have fallen sloppy, dead!"

 

I understood the humor, and laughed for ya.

Now, let's' look at this from a different angle........it COULD be that the bike WANTED to idle high but COULDN'T because of all the gas that was pouring out..........could it have been flooding and the bike was fortunate enough to keep running even though all the gas was swamping it.....and now it's not being swamped, so it idles where it is set at?

Getting the new float valve assemblies installed cured ONE thing.....excessive fuel was flowing. Now, float levels should be checked. And then there's the wet levels, the valve clearances, mixture screws, idle speed screw----etc.....etc.....etc......

 

Hi Boys, thanks for your replies. The stuck needles that caused the gas pouring out has been "fixed", meaning I had to use a pair of pliers to pull the needles out and once I did and replaced the seats as well I no longer had a gas (petrol) leak. Ran good for a while, 200 miles, now idles at 3k. Back out the idle knob, had a slight help but still hi. Some youtube dude said it could be clogged jets? I did clean the jets back when I did the needles and seats but perhaps I missed something? I know it can be a many different things, but I'm ok with a wrench and I don;t mind doing the work but I have basic tools and limited small engine knowledge. I fix lawn tractors as a hobby. That being said please give me the top 3 things I should try.
Thanks again.

 

1. Get the carbs synced, or wait for someone to come along and point you in the right direction.
2. Check the wet float levels with clear tube, set to -3mm at the centreline.
3. Check valve clearances.
4. Buy a set of pods

 

Do you put pods on all your mowers, Too?

 

5. Drive over recently purchased pods with recently repaired lawn tractor.
6. get proper airbox

 

Do you think it'll make it faster?

Now here's something that someone with an xj700 could try, it might even settle this discussion, and even help the original poster...

Assuming not everyone has fitted podfilters, said 700 with original intake owner starts the bike, warms it up, lifts the seat and removes the snorkel.
Then lets us all know the result. Yes I know its a bit of a faff, but we might get an answer?
I wonder who has one of them?

 

which screws did you adjust?
should have been the idle adjustment knob at rear of carbs.

the part would not be there if yamaha did not want it there. get part put on bike and remove it from the equation.

you could put your hand over part of the hole see if your rpm drops

 

I think i'm going into the carbs. Does anyone know the float level. Some mentioned wet 3mm? Not sure what that means. I saw videos, so i gently turn carb so float just touches needle, then set to 3mm from rail to top of bowl?

 

Yes and no. I think you're combining two different steps.

Step 1. Adjust the floats, to get them "in the ballpark." Search around, and you'll find this is the 'angle your carbs until your float tangs just 'rest' on the needle valve without depressing it. Then measure and tweak the tang to get all floats to match up.

Step 2. The fun, stinky, messy job of wet-setting the floats. This is where you refer to the 3mm. with a container of gas (your tank, since it's off the bike?), a couple hoses, a shutoff valve, a screwdriver, and... open air, safe environment. At it's simplest, you screw on the bowls and fill the carburetor with gas. An attached hose will fill with fuel and it's level inside the carb. That level should be 3mm from the top of the bowl.

Reference Chacal's pdf, here: http://www.xj4ever.com/setting fuel levels.pdf
(Step 2 can be seen visually around page 8 - and there are a couple youtube videos that'll help you get the idea. Both steps are also described in the repair manual, if you've gotten one. If you haven't... do.)

 

I should add... If you're going that far, you might as well do a rebuild of the carbs if you haven't - The previous owner is not inspiring confidence that they did things correctly.

 

Setting the fuel levels

 

BTW--if you're gonna reference setting the float levels, you should also reference THIS part of it.......just sayin'