persnickety little bitch....

angus67

Welder's penetrate deeper!!
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so ive had my 1980 xs650 on offer up(and here in the classifieds) since summer. i started it once in a while, had one guy come and test drive it, he turned it down because it ran rich.
so in the mean time(great album) ive had alot of low-ballers come and go. it always started when asked.
Today i get a guy responding that wants to see it today.
I dont know if yall have seen our little weather event here in the pnw, but the hood canal region is still very bad. nowhere for the mid-day run off to go, so its been freezing at night. black ice in the mourning.
So, anyways, im chatting with the guy thru offer up, and mention the weather. hes ok with it. I say ok, it may take a moment to start er up. no sweat. i might even have it idling when he gets here.
So i go outside, drag it in, and throw the battery on the charger battery, charged, ready to rock. carb starts pissing gas out the box. well. now that the float bowl is full shut off the petcock.
hit the button, crank, crank, crank, .......nothin.
pull plugs...no spark,flooded
cleaned plugs. let a tad of gas out the bowls.
i now have spark.
throw the plugs back in, wait for the green light on my charger to lite.
a shot of either, hit the button,.....2 count them, 1...2 ...pops.
crank crank, crank....nothin.
Im using ethanol free premium(premium is all this area has)
i did put a shot of seafoam in the tank when i put the gallon in it months ago, so i hoping(sigh) when i pull the carbs again(again...sigh) i dont find jelly in the carbs. but i need to adress the the flooding issue.
I was seriously hoping this pig in a poke would sell. it runs great....when she wants to. im just kind of ranting here.
it just seems when ever i randomly just push the button, she fires right up. but when i need it to run, she dont.
 
How many months was it sitting without a good ride exactly ? Electrical gremlins don't appear out of nowhere. I'd focus on carbs.
 
I never use the electric leg to start a cold XS650. Mine has been developing corrosion issues in the wiring. It won’t fire on the starter, but it always starts on one kick. The starter draws too much of the available energy. Once warmed up, I can use the starter all day.

These bikes seem to run with the carburetors all screwed up. As long as fuel passes, the bike will start and run. I know you have a carburetor issue, but I wouldn’t take the bet on it being your problem.

You’re in the PNW, it’s damp, and you have copper wiring. It’s also 40 years old.
 
How many months was it sitting without a good ride exactly ? Electrical gremlins don't appear out of nowhere. I'd focus on carbs.
Definately carbs. I did kick it a couple times. Im running ap63 plugs.
After the guy turned it down for running rich, i dropped the needle one notch. Never a problem before the drop. So ill put it back the way it was and soda blast these plugs. It cleans plugs very well
 
They always run well... besides this or that. It's a 40 year old bike it's gonna have it's issues. He was just looking for a reason to get out. Maybe he realized he wasn't man enough for these old machines and bought himself a (insert reliable bike here) instead. Or he knew he would be in the doghouse if he brought it home to momma.
 
You can run the bowls dry to keep the float valves from freezing in/around the seats.
 
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