Honda 1978 XL175

Hey guys. Not sure what im going to do with this little baby. I would kind of like to fix it up but if i sold it, it would help pay for parts for my XJ. Anyways I got it for free and tried fixing it up for a little while bit couldn't find any places better than XJ4Ever for customer service and stock. I did manage to get it to run for about 3 seconds after cleaning the carbs a few times and one final BIG rev before it wouldn't do anything at all. Any ideas? I kind of want to have my self a little dirt bike.

 

Does the motor turn over or did it lock up need more info

 

still turns over the kick feels a little "soft" i guess (compression?). I got spark. Other than some rust on the exhaust and cracked plastic it seems to be in pretty good shape.

 

Checked th tappets/valve adjust. Does th choke work and th cable adjusted properly. For bigger 4 stroke singles starting is easiest if you get it just past tdc on compression stroke then give it a good kick, ah well theres sumthin for you to do....did you really clean th carb may need a 'kit'

And reading and pics, all xl related, i like 'em too..got it for free..lucky bugger
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthre ... 7&t=424841

 

check the timing marks. If it feels like compression is a bit soft the timing chain might have slipped.

 

..later.. an xl in good nick will appreciate in value these days..you will have read about on here valves,compression,carbs, float levels, electrics, etc to get yr xj goin' proper..same thing for xl and at 0 cost so far.. can only be fun

Maybe i need to find an xk to bridge th gap.. aaahhh but that would be a Jag'

 

Well maybe I should fix it THEN sell it. That sounds like a good idea to me. I need more practice working on bikes anyways

 

Well i decided what i was going to do with this bike. Kinda... Im going to get it running as a side project while waiting for parts for my XJ. From there i'll decide whether to keep or sell it.

I started today with it the same way you would with as XJ - Valves. Got them in check. Ive cleaned the carbs out before so i knew they would be good. There is only one carb and piston so there is nothing to sync. I had checked before for spark and i knew that was good. From before i knew the points were not it good shape but i got them in spec too. I adjusted the float as per the manual (not sure if i did it right, pretty sure i did)

Everything is pointing to the bike being in running shape, except its not.

I opened up the carbs again and found a very small amount of stuff in the float bowl. So I cleaned the carbs and jets all out again. Took the air filter out which just crumbled in my hands and cleaned out the airbox.

I dumped all the gas out, rinsed out the tank then filled it with nuts and bolts and some more water. shook that around for about an hour the used a "tire iron" to scrape at the rest of it. After it all dried i used some kind of rust reverser or something my dad had in the shop which seemed to do a pretty good job on the rust in the tank. I put it all back together and tried to fire it. Still nothing.

Everything I could think of that would get the bike running had been done today, except check for spark. And what do you know. NO SPARK! (Never believe something works because you checked it last month) The park of the cable the spark plug clicks into fell off the cable earlier but i put it back on. So its either the points (which I ordered earlier) or the wiring.

I guess I need to check timing and do a compression test too.

Anywhere else i should be looking while im waiting for parts?

 

BTW when i got the bike, it ran with choke on but would die when i shut it off or gave it some gas. after cleaning the carbs, i got it to rev a few times with one REAL BIG one then it died. Thats how it got to the condition its in now. And when it was running before it didn't have a battery so im assuming it still doesn't

 

Some ??-does it have an in tank filter, has it at least got an inline fuel filter, after th cleaning you mentioned i'll bet there's crud floating around in th tank
that has probably got into your cleaned carb..if you don't have filters.
-have you checked for spark by earthing th plug to th engine (easier with 2 people if you gotta kick it) maybe you need to cut about 1/2 an inch off th lead to get a fresher wire contact and th plug cap should screw in
-got a new plug correctly gapped
-adjusted th idle jet on th front bottom of th carb to 2 turns out..in th ballpark but not on th plate/mound yet
-adjusted th throttle idle screw..maybe try turning it in one turn to increase th revs, if you have th carb off you can see th slide move as you turn th screw, should have th slide a smidge above bottomed in th carb throat, can't really set it 'till th engine runs ..or th idle jet
-points can be cleaned up with a smallish grade sandpaper to get a smooth surface, clean off with rag after. New points even better.
-i'm guessing that in you manual it will give a method for setting th timing on a non running bike by using th flywheel marks and marks on th base plate of th points
-only needs battery for turn stop tail lights not starting or running, well thats th typical system, with th headlight switched on does it come on when kicking it over
-if it's got points it's probably earlier than '78
- sometimes they can be a pain at cold start and then it will run like what was your problem with me
....well not all ?? .... but some more clues on th case, hope thats helpful good luck

 

from what i can see there is no tank filter. although i did clean and rinse it out pretty good. I checked for spark with the plug thats in it and with a tester my dad rigged up. both were grounded to the motor and i got nothing. So its not the plug its self. I also cut an inch off the end of the cable and screwed the cap back on and still didn't get anything.

I havn't adjusted the idle screw or jet yet because it wont spark to get it running. This will come once i get it running.

I tried cleaning the points with some sand paper as suggested but still nothing. (new ones have been ordered)

And it says right on the frame that it is a 78.

Well thanks for your suggestions. Now i know what the problem is not. Im thinking that replacing the points will fix all my problems....well maybe not all of them

 

It must be a 78 then. Keep going through th processes you've been reading about here, follow th logic of th internal combustion machine. It is 33 years young, could be assorted dirty wiring connections and/or dirty contacts in th switches.

Did you gap th points when you put them back.. can clean and gap th plug in a similar fashion.

Did th headlight come on when kicking it over, that will tell you at least that circuit is working. Hope i'm not telling you 'how to suck eggs' as they say.

 

I didnt take the points off to clean them but i did set the gap. I havn't set the gap on the plug or clean it but the tester i used didn't spark either. I dont have a battery in it, but it "ran" with out it when i got the bike.

 

Can any one verify for my that my 78 XL175 will run with out a battery?

I changed the points on it and im still not getting a spark. So now it comes down to the ignition coil, ignition circuit or the circuit capacitor.

Any ideas?

 

"Did th headlight come on when kicking it over, that will tell you at least that circuit is working." and that it's making th electrickery.... from my googlin th 78 model does not need a battery to run, earlier models did. If it ran without a battery before it must do again. I still reckon you need to check th circuits/connections/switches/frame earth ...need to find some specs for th components when connected to a multimeter....a handy tool, a basic one is cheap and will do th job.

 

I didn't get any head light while kicking it over. So then i have a short or a broken wire somewhere in the circut? where should i start looking for this? somewhere around the starter?

 

I started looking for problems at the kill switch and followed a wire to a 4 way joiner that connected to the condenser, the points, and the coil. Makes sense right? Well one of the wire kinda pulled right out so i took the whole thing apart and soldered all the wires together. The connecter seems to be doing the same thing. Upon inspection of the coil I found another condenser. Does this make sense to anybody? The first condenser i found mounted to the frame kinda up and to the right of the points.

 

Well i figured since I ordered a few more parts for this I might as well start up the tread again. I found a condenser and another set of points on ebay for $16 bucks. The condenser is from a 76' I dont know if it will work for it because im pretty sure the 76 needed a battery but for $16 i couldn't say no. I can always resell it.