Hard Kick Start/Won't Start

[xs650special]

Ok so when I bought my 81 xs650 special the previous owner had no fuel filter, only a hose from the tank to the carbs. I bought an inline filter from eBay and installed it. The bike ran for a little while and then would die if I turned the throttle. So I then put the previous set up on and it will hard start and only run if I am turning the throttle. Also while kick starting it, the kicking pressure was getting high and hard to even make it go all the way down. I know that there is a lot of issues here but any ideas?

 

[jayel]

650's are easy kickers, pull your oil filler cap and check the oil level ... if it overflowed gas into the crank it will kick hard

 

[gggGary]

Also if a pool of gas is sitting in a cylinder on compression it can bend a rod, or some other part of the starting system will break, you cannot compress a liquid. That would be my best guess of the very hard to kick thing.
Sounds like both a petcock and carb overhaul is needed. Running without doing that can be the end of your engine.
Maybe a can of Stops Leak liquid carb repair will help.

Many believe in extra fuel filters, if all the components of the fuel system are clean and working properly they aren't needed.

 

[xs650special]

Earlier today I flushed out the tank, cleaned out the petcock and sprayed out the carbs. Put it together and its running just fine, better even than when I got it. The petcock is leaking a little bit now; gonna get a rebuild kit for it. I did check the oil for gas in it though I really couldn't tell if there was any. Didn't see any spotting so I guess its ok. Thanks for the tips everyone.