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XJ550 Maxim flooding problem

Discussion in 'Hangout Lounge' started by Labradorian_XJ550, Jun 22, 2008.

  1. Labradorian_XJ550

    Labradorian_XJ550 Member

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    Hey everyone,

    I am new to the XJ community as well as new to street bikes, I have a 1983 Maxim XJ550k (my 2nd bike ever), got it for a good price and had a local garage install new front tire, both brakes, redo the front suspension seals and reseal the petcock. Got it home, started it up, took it for a spin around the block, parked it in the garage, the next day I was gone all day, got home and opened the garage to discover a small puddle of gas on the floor. Did some investigation to find gas coming from the #4 carb @ the air intake, pulled the rubber from between the carb and airbox and the gas was a constant dribble, just before this I syphoned the tank. After a couple of hours the gas finally stopped dribbling from the carb. All 4 spark plugs are black, crankcase & oil is now full of gas. Opened the side cover to the airbox to find the filter has a sticky liquid all over it that smells like gas. I was maybe thinking that the petcock was still allowing fuel to flow, which is a vacuum type, put gas in the tank (which is removed) and turned tank over and fuel poured out the petcock, I thought that with the vacuum system, this should not happen (petcock set to ON), or does the gas cap act as a vent? Just before testing this I tried sucking air from the fuel port of the petcock, that seem fine, then i tried to blow and suck air from the vacuum port, nothing happened.
    I am not familiar with the history of this bike, I know there were to female owners and 1 male in the past 15 yrs, my guess is that the carbs were never touched. Someone told me it sounds that I may have to pull the carbs and clean.
    What would be the best route to start checking, any info will help. Sorry for the long winded version of my story........[/size][/size]
     
  2. stereomind

    stereomind Active Member

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    Welcome to the forum!

    Your bike has some very common symptoms of neglect... All pretty minor, though :-D

    You are correct on the petcock. In ON or RES positions, fuel should not flow unless vacuum is present on the vacuum line. You might have to go through it again. There's a spring inside that might have gone weak, or the membrane assembly is damaged. Some folks have completely replaced the vacuum petcock with a on/off type... But you can still get all the parts for yours from our resident parts guru, Chacal.

    The carbs will probably need to be cleaned. That job is sort of like rite of passage for XJ owners... Look for RickCoMatic's carb cleaning guide under the FAQ suggestions section. It applies mostly to Hitachi carbs, while your bike has Mikuni's.. But the basics are all the same.

    a few things that may cause leaking of gas into the airbox:
    -float level way out of adjustment
    -stuck float
    -damaged, worn or dirty float valve assembly

    Before you do any more riding though, change the oil! by now some of that gas has probably found its way into the crank case.

    Hope that helps... also, keep in mind that technical posts should go to the XJ Chat forum, and don't forget to put yourself on the map!
     

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