Gonna throw in the towel SOON!!!!!!!!!!!!

I bought a 85 700 maxim X (air cooled) with out carbs... After months of seaching and returning wrong ones I finally got them installed tonight. I cant get it to run really. I turns over and kicks and pops and backfires. I replaced plugs, there is fuel in carbs. There is smoke coming outta the #4 cyclender through the carb. I do not have rear boots on yet so there is alot of smoke backfireing outta #4....Any suggestions? oh ya #4 plug is slightly wet and black. PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!

 

Have you cleaned your carbs?? Clunk test? Float Level Check? Colortuned? Synced the carbs? Valve check?

 

First the bike is really designed to run with the restricted air flow of the airbox and filter. Pods or open intake usually requires rejetting to make it run right. Next any dirt gets sucked in and you can really damage your engine so I would be careful running open.

Did you clean the carbs? Anything you get is likely to need a good cleaning, maybe new seals, bench sync and then tune and sync on the bike.

You really can not expect to bolt up carbs to the bike and have it run. Tune and sync is very machine sensitive.

There are plenty of folks here that can guide you through the issues. SO give us some details on your carbs and we can start there BUT I would not expect it to run perfectly with open intakes.

 

If it's an air-cooled, it's not an X.

Did you bench sync the carb rack?
Did you verify that they are actually clean (do a search on cleaning the carbs)
Pass the clunk test...read some of the very detailed instructions for carb cleaning and then tell us they are clean.

You'll need to get the boots on to be able to tune it. These bike are very fussy about the restricted air inlet via the air box.

Tell us what you have done and then we'll be able to give you a lot more direction.

Other guys have also swapped the choke cable and the throttle (which is just a little problem)

 

WOW...everyone else was typing faster than me!

 

happens to me all the time

 

i cleaned the carbs somewhat when I got them. I.E took of caps cleaned everything. Removed bowls and cleaned. Everything looked really clean to me. no visable grime. So I should take them off and have someone knowing what they are doing clean them and then try again? this time attaching airbox???

 

Clean enrichment circuit
http://www.xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=8918.html

Clean carbs
http://www.xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=2908.html

Carb Sync
http://www.xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=2132.html

Bench sync
http://www.xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=6366.html

Fuel filter
http://www.xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=6352.html


Follow these religiously and you should be OK. You can do it yourself but there is no somewhat clean. Think surgically clean.

Take your time, work organized and patiently.

 

Check the coils and make certain that the plug wires are connected to the correct cylinders and all are firing in the correct order.

#4 is burning very rich and is probably fouled. It would seem that some part of the timing is out of sync if you are getting regular back blow from the engine through the carbs, which is why I am suggesting checking the plug wires, or it could be that the cylinder is just igniting late/burning slow for an unrelated cause ...

 

Similarly, if there's a chance the driver sides of the coils have been disconnected, make sure they're not switched. You can check with a timing light, or, just switch the drive wires at the coils (2-pin connections) and see whether things improve. If they don't, switch them back.