EbonHawk
XS650 New Member
Hey all,
I've been a fan of the XS650 and this site for years. Probably about 8 years ago or so now I had my first xs project and was a member on this site. Life happened and I had to sell my project and can't remember my log in and have a different email. Fast forward to a couple months ago and I decided I was going to have another xs and it was going to be my daily driver. I was either going to find an unmolested classic, running but needing some touching up, mint condition that I could maintain and take care of, or a bobber similar to the vision I had for my own. After missing out on the first 3 or 4 I liked online and continuing to put every penny I could aside, I came across a bobber the day it was posted that intrigued me. I contacted the seller and met up with him to take a look. He had it parked in his front yard and as I pulled up closer to the house my eyes lit up. The pic he had posted didn't come close to doing it justice. It had so many similarities to what I had envisioned mine would look like. It was love at first site! Trying to contain my excitement I was asking him some general questions about the bike. He said "you wanna take it on a test ride?" Absolutely!! He told me the electric start didn't work well unless the bike was already warm and on the 3rd kick she was purring. I rode it around the block shifting through the gears and it ran great. I pulled back in the yard and cut it off. As I got off he came around to the petcock and closed it saying it leaked a little if you left it open when the bike was off. I told him I had to talk to my better half, but I was very interested. The next evening I got back in touch saying I could be there in a couple days to pick it up.I was so smitten I didn't even ask if there was wiggle room on the asking price which was a little higher than what I had put aside so far.
I went to pick it up a few days later and we were signing paperwork and all and I remember him saying that his dad recommended I run non ethanol gas in it because of the age. I don't recall ever hearing or reading that anywhere, but it was something to keep in mind and look into. She fired up on the 3rd kick again and I was off. I got about 2 miles down the road when it started sputtering and backfiring. I made it another maybe half of mile and it cut off. I got off and noticed there was gas all over the bottom half of the engine. I opened the gas cap and she was bone dry. I pushed her probably a quarter mile to the nearest gas station and filled it up. About 50 kicks later she fired up and I was off. She ran "ok" for the 35 mile trip home. She sputtered here and there and I had to roll on the throttle at stop signs to keep her from choking off. I got her home in the garage and within minutes there were 2 puddles. One small puddle of oil and a larger puddle of gas. I checked the oil the next day and the level was good so I fired it up again and took off down the street. It spit and sputtered and cut off a mile down the rode. I couldn't get it fired back up and felt like it was getting flooded so I cut the fuel off and let it sit for 10 minutes. I got it fired back up and got it home.
Skipping ahead 2-3 weeks, refueling it once, and more of the same between gas leaking, sputtering, backfiring and choking off and I decided today was going to be the day I took the carbs off, figured out the leaking issue, and obviously what the other fuel issue was if not related. A few minutes in to removing the carbs I noticed one of the lines leading from the petcock to my left carb was not connected. Thinking this was my entire problem I buttoned everything back up and fired it up and took off down the road. Nope! leaking stopped, but still running like crap. I pulled her back in the garage and after several YouTube videos I had the carbs off and apart. I didn't find anything wrong. Resonating in my head at this point was the afterthought the guy told me about his dad preferring non ethanol gas and I concluded I had fixed the leak, the carbs looked clean, and that was the only logical solution. I drained every drop of gas out the tank and took off to the nearest store that had a non ethanol pump. I refilled her and on about the 5th kick she fired up and sounded strong. Optimistically I hopped on and took off down the street. She spit and sputtered as I told myself it was just the remaining ethanol gas going through and I would be good in a minute. A minute later she completely choked out and I was in the middle of the rode. I kicked and kicked it to no avail. I pushed her uphill home and back in the garage. Leak is gone, but if anything, running worse. I'm at a loss. HELP!
I've been a fan of the XS650 and this site for years. Probably about 8 years ago or so now I had my first xs project and was a member on this site. Life happened and I had to sell my project and can't remember my log in and have a different email. Fast forward to a couple months ago and I decided I was going to have another xs and it was going to be my daily driver. I was either going to find an unmolested classic, running but needing some touching up, mint condition that I could maintain and take care of, or a bobber similar to the vision I had for my own. After missing out on the first 3 or 4 I liked online and continuing to put every penny I could aside, I came across a bobber the day it was posted that intrigued me. I contacted the seller and met up with him to take a look. He had it parked in his front yard and as I pulled up closer to the house my eyes lit up. The pic he had posted didn't come close to doing it justice. It had so many similarities to what I had envisioned mine would look like. It was love at first site! Trying to contain my excitement I was asking him some general questions about the bike. He said "you wanna take it on a test ride?" Absolutely!! He told me the electric start didn't work well unless the bike was already warm and on the 3rd kick she was purring. I rode it around the block shifting through the gears and it ran great. I pulled back in the yard and cut it off. As I got off he came around to the petcock and closed it saying it leaked a little if you left it open when the bike was off. I told him I had to talk to my better half, but I was very interested. The next evening I got back in touch saying I could be there in a couple days to pick it up.I was so smitten I didn't even ask if there was wiggle room on the asking price which was a little higher than what I had put aside so far.
I went to pick it up a few days later and we were signing paperwork and all and I remember him saying that his dad recommended I run non ethanol gas in it because of the age. I don't recall ever hearing or reading that anywhere, but it was something to keep in mind and look into. She fired up on the 3rd kick again and I was off. I got about 2 miles down the road when it started sputtering and backfiring. I made it another maybe half of mile and it cut off. I got off and noticed there was gas all over the bottom half of the engine. I opened the gas cap and she was bone dry. I pushed her probably a quarter mile to the nearest gas station and filled it up. About 50 kicks later she fired up and I was off. She ran "ok" for the 35 mile trip home. She sputtered here and there and I had to roll on the throttle at stop signs to keep her from choking off. I got her home in the garage and within minutes there were 2 puddles. One small puddle of oil and a larger puddle of gas. I checked the oil the next day and the level was good so I fired it up again and took off down the street. It spit and sputtered and cut off a mile down the rode. I couldn't get it fired back up and felt like it was getting flooded so I cut the fuel off and let it sit for 10 minutes. I got it fired back up and got it home.
Skipping ahead 2-3 weeks, refueling it once, and more of the same between gas leaking, sputtering, backfiring and choking off and I decided today was going to be the day I took the carbs off, figured out the leaking issue, and obviously what the other fuel issue was if not related. A few minutes in to removing the carbs I noticed one of the lines leading from the petcock to my left carb was not connected. Thinking this was my entire problem I buttoned everything back up and fired it up and took off down the road. Nope! leaking stopped, but still running like crap. I pulled her back in the garage and after several YouTube videos I had the carbs off and apart. I didn't find anything wrong. Resonating in my head at this point was the afterthought the guy told me about his dad preferring non ethanol gas and I concluded I had fixed the leak, the carbs looked clean, and that was the only logical solution. I drained every drop of gas out the tank and took off to the nearest store that had a non ethanol pump. I refilled her and on about the 5th kick she fired up and sounded strong. Optimistically I hopped on and took off down the street. She spit and sputtered as I told myself it was just the remaining ethanol gas going through and I would be good in a minute. A minute later she completely choked out and I was in the middle of the rode. I kicked and kicked it to no avail. I pushed her uphill home and back in the garage. Leak is gone, but if anything, running worse. I'm at a loss. HELP!
