What exactly happens when u run on pri?

alrite reading some forums i noticed bigfitz said not to run on the pri location on the petcock, well when i bought the bike and since i owned it, and put like 35 miles on it its been on pri, i wasnt sure if it meant primary, or primer, but it ran fine on pri so i left it. any info on this? will it make it run rish? idk. YES I NEED AN OWNERS MANUEL im going to get the xjcd soon, i hope.

Also, i know theres some post on this but i would like some washing tips for my xj. I read that some one used a miricle grow hose siphon with DAWN, will pamolive work? lol, just wondering if something is in DAWN. Umm what towels can i wipe with? my uncle says microfiber for waxing, and jsut a soft cloth for washing. also, uhh, if someone could ckick the link to my bike pics in my sig, look at the picture of my engine close up, where it ,looks all dirty and nasty, well is that an enamel put onto the aluminum by yamaha? if it is its peeling. and i was wondering if spraying aircraft remover will get rid of this, im going to do it on the frame.
Ahem, sorry for the long read but theres some more. Umm i found some steps to polish aluminum. And it mentioned getting some red jewlers rouge and white too, what is that? could someone put A link or pic up? thanksFOR READING ALL THIS STUFF AND REPLYING.

 

That would be PRImer. For when it's sat for a while and the Carbs were Dry to fill them. In this position fuel will run out if it can, like when a float sticks or a fuel line breaks. In the ON position it will only flow if there is vacumm pulling on the diaphram to open the petcock and will allow fuel to flow from the above reserve section in the tank. RES allows it to flow with vacumm from the bottom, Reserve section of the tank.

 

Running on prime won't necessarily hurt the bike if your floats and float needle valve are in perfect working order. The worst that will happen is the float bowls will fill up with gas and will shut off the fuel supply when they reached their capacity. It's good to have a working petcock and run it on 'on' to prevent any unintentional disaster. For example, if the bike is left on prime and for whatever reason, the float needle valve doesn't shut the fuel supply off when the float moves upwards, it will overflow and gas will spill out. Unburned, unnoticed gasoline is a recipe for disaster. It's also nice to be able to pull your tank off and not have gas go spilling everywhere

Terry towels are good for wiping the bike down and microfiber are great for waxing.

As for the picture of your peeling engine - The only thing I can comment on is that it looks like your float bowl gasket is leaking on the number 1 cylinder and possibly even the butterfly shaft seals. No idea if paint remover will take off whatever it is Yamaha put on there, though. Sorry.

 

lol yay more work!

 

but ok thanks, i guess my carbs are in perfect running order, but i think the gasket thing is something i can live with, it mush be a slow leak, and maybe ill get some pray gasket maker, idk black rtv grease, but thanks

 

Yea, it doesn't look too severe. If you want to see badly leaking bowl gaskets, I can take a picture of my XJ650. Just put that on your winter to-do list.

 

well maybe ill jsut like clean it every week, lol im really not into going into any unchartered territory on something i put 1500 into, and my dad didnt want me to get this, so he isnt to inclined to help me.