1981 XJ650 H - Wont start Cold

My XJ Slept for 3 years with fuel in it (no stable -My Bad! )- I didnt plan to store her this long.

I drained the Tanks, tore down carbs 3 times. Soaked the needles and all small parts as well as the carb bodies in cleaner. Made sure I could see light thru the jets and ran wire thru them. Sandpapered the plugs and made sure i had spark.

She will only start with starter fluid and I must hold about 4500 RPM for 1 min before it will hold a rough idle after throttle released. Once shes warmed up I can kill the motor and restart easy. I think the carbs are Hitachi. I cant help but think i'm missing something. The bike ran great before storage.

Any help or thoughts from the community?

Thank you in Advance
Steve (Illinois)

 

Intake manifolds cracked?
Airbox boots slipped off the back of the carb?
Need new plugs for sure!

 

Intakes are good, bike has been well maintained and i've inspected them.

Plugs I plan to replace as soon as i can.

Preformance does not vary with the boots from carb to air box on or off. I had them off in the garage while trying to diagnose it and put them back on thinking that could be an issue but saw no change at all

Thank Again

 

The presence of the airbox boots should make a very large difference in the starting/running of your bike. You may have found your problem. Is the airfilter installed and reasonably clean?
Remember, these CV carbs need some intake restriction to work correctly. You can run without the filter but it is a pain to start and you have to keep part throttle on all the time to maintain an idle.

 

Did you clean the starter jets in the float bowl, the jets are tiny and can take a lot of cleaning as they cant be removed.

 

Okay well you got me thinking on the issue of the Ait box boots.

I reinstalled them tonight as well as new NGK Plugs. I checked the Mixture screws and they were all over the place. I gotta make a new Yic Stick and balance them agian.

I'll let it sit overnight and see how she starts cold tomorrow.

Thanks Agian for the ideas guys, I really appreciate it.

Steve

 

First I want to say a big Thank You to everyone here!

My cold start issue seems to be fixed, I kept reading post after post about carbs and starting issues and saw a common theme.

Sure enough it was those pesky fuel pickup passages in the bowls. The passage ways were completely blocked in two carbs and slightly impeaded in the other two. So i cleaned em out with some thin yet tough wire and carb cleaner and she starts cold like a champ now.

Next step is borrow or build a Yicks stick and get the old girl's carbs synced.

Thanks Agian everyone!