Yeah it is expensive. It should pay off in the end for me. If I stick to my Sketchers and Chuck Taylor's, I can afford it. Haha! I have a few bikes with different carb and filter combos. My approach: 1. Having cam chain, valves, timing set. 2. Weld bungs in the pipes. I'll do this right about where my Triumph O2 sensors are. Seems to make sense. 3. Screw in sensor and hook up to an external 12v battery. Hoping to have two gauges but if not plug one off. I have a capacitor kick start only. 3. I'll have my air/fuel screws set at base stock setting. 4. Start and let idle until warm. I'll have a fan running on the motor and have my infrared temp gun handy. Gauges should read about 15:1. Make adjustments. 5. Adjust the carb idle screw up in 1000k increments while watching the air/fuel ratio. Maybe have a buddy hold the throttle. This might be difficult being we're always drinking beer. Haha! This should tell me exactly where I'm at as far as jetting, float needle adjustments etc. Why wouldn't this work? I need to go visit some guys I know at the drag strip this summer. Hell, they've had boxes with digital readouts that tell them carb adjustments for years now. Same technology minus the MSD boxes. Lol. Hoping this strategy will take all the bullshit out of 2 into 1 exhaust. I have yet to see a chrome 2 into 1 that isn't blued on one side. Seems these are always f$&ked up. Now thinking, with the engine under load and in gear, I might just temp mount the gauges and take a ride.
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How Often Do You Change Plugs and Kicking vs Starter
- Thread starter Yamaha77
- Start date
TimeMachine
SeventyEighte
Aside from all the usual on going rambling bout PO's and PM's & shit.. I say use the Kick Starter ! unless a physical condition of the right leg prevents you.. Who Wouldn't kick start their XS650 ? RT 
write .............only sissies use the starter button
write .............only sissies use the starter button
Thay fellah izat me you're dissin??
Yamaha77
Banned
Oh i know what the issue is: the bike is running lean
Tomterrific
XS650 Junkie
I have a 77. My bike does not start cold with the button. I probably could with a stronger battery but why? It runs fine and if I stall the hot engine it will fire fine with the button.
The carbs might have dirt in the idle Jets again. Pull out the mixture screw and spray carb cleaner inside the hole. Get the little red tube right inside and a quick blast will force the speck of dirt backwards to the float bowl. Don't forget to drain the bowl to get rid of the dirt.
I got tired of pulling the carbs on my old Triumph and figured out I could just blast the dirt right through the mixture hole. Super quick and easy.
Tom
The carbs might have dirt in the idle Jets again. Pull out the mixture screw and spray carb cleaner inside the hole. Get the little red tube right inside and a quick blast will force the speck of dirt backwards to the float bowl. Don't forget to drain the bowl to get rid of the dirt.
I got tired of pulling the carbs on my old Triumph and figured out I could just blast the dirt right through the mixture hole. Super quick and easy.
Tom
I've had the same spark plugs in use for about 8 years now, or about 16,000 kms. I see no wear on the electrodes so I keep on using them. I never use the kick starter......................its electric start for me every time.
If your engine won't start, when cold, using the electric starter, then you have problems on your bike that need to be repaired.
Reasons why:
1) Your charging system is only partially charging the battery. If the charging only gets to 13.6 or 13.7 volts, then the battery is
never fully charged. It must get to 14.1 volts or higher in order to fully charge the battery. I'd say that is the primary reason why a cold engine is hard to start.
2) Cold engine ......................you must use the choke. Cold engine will not start with 14/1 air/fuel ratio, you need about 3/1.
3) Weak spark..................old ignition coils, old spark plug leads, points that have high resistance, fuses and/or kill switch that have high resistance all cause the spark to be a weak yellow colour. Because of item #1, the starter motor pulls the battery voltage down so low that the ignition is also pulled down low.
Hard cold starting...........................don't blame your starter motor, don't blame your spark plugs, but do blame your charging system.
Stop using small batteries.....................use a 14 amp/hr battery.
Would you tolerate your daily driven car or truck, that did not start first time every time?
So why tolerate your bike not starting easily?
If your engine won't start, when cold, using the electric starter, then you have problems on your bike that need to be repaired.
Reasons why:
1) Your charging system is only partially charging the battery. If the charging only gets to 13.6 or 13.7 volts, then the battery is
never fully charged. It must get to 14.1 volts or higher in order to fully charge the battery. I'd say that is the primary reason why a cold engine is hard to start.
2) Cold engine ......................you must use the choke. Cold engine will not start with 14/1 air/fuel ratio, you need about 3/1.
3) Weak spark..................old ignition coils, old spark plug leads, points that have high resistance, fuses and/or kill switch that have high resistance all cause the spark to be a weak yellow colour. Because of item #1, the starter motor pulls the battery voltage down so low that the ignition is also pulled down low.
Hard cold starting...........................don't blame your starter motor, don't blame your spark plugs, but do blame your charging system.
Stop using small batteries.....................use a 14 amp/hr battery.
Would you tolerate your daily driven car or truck, that did not start first time every time?
So why tolerate your bike not starting easily?
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Yamaha77
Banned
Yamaha77
Banned
changing the plugs. Started up with one kick. Here is a pick of the old plugs.
Problem solved.............Well done, well make a mechanic out of you yet
No, the problem is not solved. You have one carb that is rich and one carb that is lean.
Regardless of the carbs not tuned correctly, if everything else is normal on your bike, those plugs would not have caused hard starting.
Your hard starting problem has not been solved, it will return.
Regardless of the carbs not tuned correctly, if everything else is normal on your bike, those plugs would not have caused hard starting.
Your hard starting problem has not been solved, it will return.
Yamaha77
Banned
Well the bike runs well enough for now. I was out and put more than a few miles on it as our weather remains unseasonably warm. Im not panicking. It is what it is. Thanks though!
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To me the left plug is rich due to the soot coating on the porcelain around the center electrode. The right plug is a bit lean due to its very clean appearance on the porcelain over most of its length. At the same time be aware that the plug color reflects the air/fuel mixture prior to the ignition being turned off - perhaps a summary of the last minute or two. So the condition of your plugs may just be telling you that the mixture screws are not quite right at close to idle. It is better to give the bike a good run at specific throttle settings and then kill the ignition and glide to a stop then check the colors. Depending where you set the throttle the color will tell you which jets require attention.
Confession Time: I do not have much experience at ready plugs on four strokes so it would be nice to hear the more expert forum members give their analysis. I rode RD250s for many years and never ever saw a really good plug colour, even after long trips.
Confession Time: I do not have much experience at ready plugs on four strokes so it would be nice to hear the more expert forum members give their analysis. I rode RD250s for many years and never ever saw a really good plug colour, even after long trips.
Plugs are used as a diagnostic tool, (a how to and all of this information and graphs are in the Tech Menu), Tuning your carbs using the plugs as a guide requires some tools and a lot of time, (depending on experience), and somewhere you can run the bike at a constant speed for a period of time (city running wont work), for the engine to be running at its optimum for this purpose. When such time is reached the engine needs to be stopped, (specific process found in the tech menu), and the plugs read. Depending on plug condition, (graphs in Tech menu) the necessary steps are taken to the carb adjustment, (all information in the carb guide - numerous post to this link throughout your threads), for the next run and test...........Repeat till required result is obtained
Yamaha77
Banned
Yeah Im going to fiddle with the mixture screws. At least ive been pointed in the right direction. My bike will be running optimally in no time at all!
Thanks. I need to remember to extrapolate my vintage car building skills over to bikes. its largely the same and i rebuilt the carbs for my 1964 Buick and long ago did that same spark plug test.
This is my Buick captured in 2009 while I was on Grand St in Manhattan
Tomterrific
XS650 Junkie
The dark plug might have a plugged idle jet. Or the float could be leaking a little.
The reason plugs get carbon on them is because the plug does not get hot enough to burn off the carbon. A lean misfire runs cold as does an over rich mixture. It seems counter intuitive but a bike that is so lean it misfires will have carbon on the plug. Go up to my original post and try blasting out the idle jet.
Tom
The reason plugs get carbon on them is because the plug does not get hot enough to burn off the carbon. A lean misfire runs cold as does an over rich mixture. It seems counter intuitive but a bike that is so lean it misfires will have carbon on the plug. Go up to my original post and try blasting out the idle jet.
Tom
No its not the same. You should be reading and following the carb guide and using the information posted and researched, in conjunction with the practical skills needed to acquire the experience to fix your bike................your saying thanks instead of asking and researching the right question/answers
Yamaha77
Banned
Thanks Tom. Will do and your advice is much appreciated!
Yamaha77
Banned
Just saw this Tom. Its going to be near 60 degrees on Saturday. Will try this out then.
