Hard start and extremely poor gas mileage.

Yesterday I went to this gas station a got 2 gallons of gas. This was the good gas without ethanol. I rode out to this place to get the bike inspected. I have 22 miles on the trip meter and no gas in the tank. My bike has YICS on it and that suppose to give you better gas mileage. YICS is like the retarded system on my 1983 Honda Prelude I used to own. Just how can I go 22 miles and be out of gas? I can go about 170 miles on my Honda CM250 Custom.

 

Which bike do you own and what is the model year? New Yamaha to yo you? If you've been riding it for a while, what was performance?

 

Is this a new bike for you, or has this just started? I don't see how it could run if it is burning a gallon every 11 miles. You probably have several things going on to use that much fuel, maybe even a leak somewhere. Have you checked the plugs yet? If you don't find a major leak you are going to have to pull and clean the carbs and check all the jets, pilot screws, slides, float settings, float valves, etc. Get all that right and then check the valves and sync the carbs and your fuel consumption should improve. If you have pods there's a good chance the jets have been drilled or replaced. If you have the stock air filter make sure it is clean. In any case, I would not ride it until you figure out what's going on.

 

Altland, I've been following your posts on various threads, and I totally get the frustration.... but we need some information, not just bitching on how your XJ isn't like your (whatever, fill in the blank here ).... You are completely right, you XJ isn't like your whatever.... I know you are having carb problems based on your other posts... but we need info to help!

*How long have you had it?
*has it recently come out of "retirement"?
*what have you done to it?/what did the PO do to it?
*have you touched the carbs? (I'm assuming yes based on other posts)
*stock or mods? especially, rejetting, pods or exhaust that has removed the collector box
*have you checked valve shim clearances?

Also, I'm gonna give you a quick rundown on where gas usually ends up with mileage that poor....

*check tank/fuel line for leaks
*check your oil for gas. - if so park it. you WILL blow that engine

 

I'm betting it's got a sump full of gas by now...

All solid advice.

You need to properly clean and service the carbs, wet-set the floats, get the valve clearances in spec and then adjust the freshly-serviced carbs.

Let's start with the basics, as outlined above. Do you have a service manual yet?

What bike?

Mileage on it?

Your history with it?

Any mods, either by you or a previous owner?

What has been done so far?

 

Notice how we're all asking the same questions?

 

Altland. feel free to hit me up sevenoneseven 87seven 2two78.

We want to help.

Myself and several very knowledgeable members live within an hour of you....

 

Just how can gas get in the oil pan? By the way I have more than 4 cans of carb cleaner to clean the carbs. I had those pieces of junk off 2 times. I have those worthless hitachis. I got 4 bowls and labeled them. I took all of them apart. I must have used two cans on the fuel bowls alone. That worthless jet in the bowl. The thing that goes in the that jet in the fuel bowl was cleaned. I sprayed carb cleaner in that thing and it shoots out the starter (what they call choke thing)area. Every where there was a jet I cleaned it. And still it refuses to start without starter fluid and gets crappy gas mileage. Oh YICS is suppose to give you increased fuel mileage. It's the same mickey mouse crap that Honda had in their 83 Honda Prelude. They had that in those cars for a half a year and dropped it. This is my second and last Yamaha. I had the one they used at Harley for the course used to get your license. I have NEVER worked on something that's so poorly designed. I can take a Honda CM250 and pull the motor and get it running. But I can't understand this bike. I am sorry I make some of you guys mad. This bike is so annoying.

 

hmm...didn't answer any questions asked by people trying to help. Seems familiar....sounds quite like a fellow who drilled holes in his crankshaft to make his bike faster...

If I was you, and hated my bike this much, I would sell it and get on with my life.

No sense it being totally aggravated, life is to short for that..

good luck

 

If you had a good factory manual - a lot of your guesswork and tears would have been avoided.

What did you expect - instant results? lol

 

I'll say this once more: because YOU can't wrap your head around properly servicing Hitachi carbs and Yamaha XJs does NOT make them "junk" in anyone's view but yours.

This is a forum for HELP getting your XJ running.

It is an enthusiasts site. That's us, the enthusiasts. Quit insulting the equipment if you want help with it. We like XJs here. We know the bikes aren't junk, we ride ours.

Gas gets in the oil if your floats aren't working properly or have been mis-adjusted. You need to service your carbs. PROPERLY. Not just carb cleaner but properly service, and for that you need a manual.

GET A MANUAL AND GET SERIOUS ABOUT FIXING THE BIKE and we'll help. Just keep ragging on how poorly you think they were made and I, for one, will be all done trying to help. Calm down, ask questions and follow the advice given.

If all you want to do is rant and rave about how poorly made they are, then stick to single-cylinder Hondas. This whole "XJ thing" seems to be a tad beyond your skillset anyway. We haven't even begun to talk brakes.

 

Hey bigfitz for your info the last time I had the carbs off I checked the floats every time I let a float go gas flowed from that carb. When I pulled the carb up the gas flow stopped. I did this too all the carbs over and over again. Bigfiz you need to stop talking the way you are. I am almost 45 and NEVER NEVER had this much trouble getting a bike to run the right way. I started riding when I was just 13. If you read the articles on this website you will see that these carbs are junk. I would enjoy hearing about the company that makes these carbs getting hit by a hurricane and leveled with all the workers in the plant. My skill set has nothing to do with these bikes being junk. How do you get the air cleaner out? What they did was build the bike around the engine.

 

Dude, seriously?

First off, I'm way older than you are. Way.

Because YOU can't get a bike running right doesn't make it junk and it doesn't disqualify me. I've been riding (and repairing) street bikes since I was 13 years old too. Successfully. And I've had no problem understanding and properly recommissioning two XJs and am working on my third. I also have an original Norton Commando that, go figure, also runs fine.

I ride my XJs, and they run fine (although the 550s do have Mikuni carbs.) A LOT of others on this site have managed to understand and properly service Hitachi carbs. Because they were serious about it and wanted to actually learn something.

If you would like to understand your carbs, and learn how to fix your bike, then quit acting like YOU are the standard by which all things mechanical be judged. You don't have a clue. So---

Welcome to the clue store. Guess what? They're FREE but you can't continue to act like a butthead and expect us to help you.

Because the floats turn off and on doesn't mean they are doing it within the 2MM specified range necessary. There's a tad more to wet-setting float levels than that.

LAST CHANCE:

ANSWER THE FOLLOWING:

And your skillset has everything to do with it. These bikes ARE NOT JUNK just because you don't understand how they work, and are apparently not interested in learning.

When you are, we can help you enhance your skillset. Until then,

Fitz out.

 

You will find people use the term "junk" about their carbs when they can't get them to run properly. A good set of running carbs is a properly set up and tuned set.
You said you verified that the float valves work but did you wet set them to verify the fuel level in the bowl? The float can't shut off the fuel if it is not set right.
To get them to run right you also need to bench sync , set idle mixture and make sure the valves are in spec. If you skip any steps you will have to start over.
We can't really give any advice unless we know all the steps have been covered. Mulit carb bikes can be a pain to get running that's why we tell you these things.
Fitz is one of our experts, he does know what he is talking about.
There are some members in your area, PM one of them and see if they can lend another set of eyes. Maybe you missed something.

 

Hitachi carbs 1
altlandf 0

 

Really?! Age and maturity have nothing in common. You need to slow down, and grow up. Sell the bike before you ruin it.

I took a 2,500 mile trip over the summer, averaging 42 MPG. I commute 2-5 times per week, depending on how much stuff I need to carry with me. I take a 2 hour "therapy" ride every Sunday. All on a 32 year old motorcycle with "crappy" Hitachi carbs.

 

2 cents... Stevo32 in disquise

 

I dunno, man--- doesn't seem like a crankshaft-driller to me.

I wonder if the Hitachi factory from 30 years ago did survive the tsunami, maybe not?

 

man.... I don't know why I'm doing it.... my offer STILL stands.... my number is in a previous post.

Now, I'll be blunt. Our bikes all run. Scary, shit crazy, blow the shit out of your Honda CM250, cruise at the speed limit + still have the whole throttle to go crazy.... Yours does not. You can:

a. stop being a dick, listen, end up with a fantastic bike (and expand your mechanical knowledge too)
b. keep being a dick and have a shitty bike
c. sell the bike to me

Anytime you want, I'm here bro.

 

I've tried hard not to jump on this post cause I'm a fence sitter generally BUT the H carbs on my 30 year old bike are perfect and you need to listen to all the Wizards on this site or sell your bike, simple!!! These bikes are awesome if looked after and maintained.

 

I just told my Maxim he was "junk". He got so mad, he went off and kicked the s**t out three H/D's. That old boy gets madder than my wife.

 

When Yammie ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.

Chewin' up Harleys is fun, isn't it? It's just too easy, even with "only" a 550! (They have to shift, I don't... 10K redline and all...) I just can't resist.

I love my XJ.

 

I'm a good bit older than you also, and have been working on engines since about 14. These engines and carbs are high performance and therefore need more precision tuning than some more basic set-ups. But it's worth it when its right. I'm still working on my XJ700N and to tell you the truth half the fun is the challenge of figuring out what's wrong and getting it perfect.

From my experience with my bike I have come to the following conclusions:
1. Follow the carb cleaning instructions found on this site completely--no short cuts.
2. Work slowly and deliberately. Patience is a virtue.
3. Clean means really clean.
4. If in doubt, replace the part.
5. Build or buy a sync instrument
6. Buy or borrow a colortune plug.
7. Valves, valves, valves.
8. When done correctly, it will run great, and you will like it.
9. The guys on this forum really want to help, and they have an incredible amount of experience with these bikes, and have probably encountered and corrected any problem you will come up with.
10. In almost all cases Chacal is the best source for parts.

The rest is up to you. Good luck.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Art-Motorcycl ... 0060589469

 

Good idea Jock but don't forget the companion volume

http://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-I ... 0671723650