MFJustin
Welcome to Thunderdome
Ahhhh where to begin. Gentlemen I come to you as a complete noob to the XS650 world. I'm a transplant from the 4x4/off-road/Jeep community. Many months ago while making my usual forum rounds, I saw a thread on Pirate 4x4 created by none other than Punkskalar detailing a bike he was building and ever since then I have been hooked on owning a Yamaha. After a year of searching I finally found the right one, a '79 that had the majority of the work already completed by the current owner at the time. Unfortunately I'm a huge do-it-yourselfer and wanted to build one of my own but I couldnt pass it up for the price.
Fast forward to the present, I've ridden the bike for the past 3 months that I've owned it and thus far it had been problem free for the most part. Until now....
Here's a quick synopsis of my current debacle, and bear with me and my noobiness....I know how forums work and I've read read read as much tech as I could and searched my butt off so please no "search noob" responses. Several weeks ago I took the bike on a multi hour trip away from home. Usually I would just ride around town and plug it into a battery maintainer at night just because. While out on this extended trip my bike started bogging down in the middle of the highway and eventually just died as I coasted to the shoulder. Went to turn it back on and there was absolutely no juice in the battery so I figured it was a bad charging system. Got it towed home and a new battery later I was on my way again vowing to ride it until winter when I could fix the charging system.
Unfortunately I didnt make it that far....
While riding home the other day the bike again started having the same bogging problems. I figured it was once again the charging system not charging the battery so upon stalling out and pulling to the shoulder I looked and the headlight was still as bright as could be and the electric starter was still working. I almost always kick start it and could get it up and running for a few seconds before it would die out again. I noticed while doing this that there was a bit of white smoke coming out of the air filter. I got the bike back home and read as much as I possibly could on here but still didnt really know where to start in diagnosing this problem. Here is what I have done thus far to try and figure it out but unfortunately I know that I am jumping around because I dont really know where to start and evening reading the "Bike Running Rough?" tech thread still had me jumping around because I wasn't satisfied with what I was finding.
- First thing I did was run a compression test, both spark plugs removed, throttle rolled all the way out. One cylinder came back with 90 while the other cylinder read 150. I dont know for sure if I did this test correctly but I kicked it over for the test and did not use the electric start. Those results would indicate a problem based on what I've read but once again I didnt know if I did the test correctly to get accurate results.
- Second thing I did on a hunch was check for spark. Pulled a blug and while it still connected I grounded it against the engine block and turned the ignition. No spark was to be seen so I figured I had found my not running problem. Instead of trying to mess with the points ignition because the previous owner had stripped the crap out of the adjustment screws I simply opted to get the Pamco kit from MikesXS. I ordered a kit that came with a new high performance coil, wires, the works. I checked and double checked all of my connections to make sure that it was wired up properly and also so I wouldnt fry the system as I read about how it easy it was to do so if you didnt put it in correctly. The moment of truth came and I went to fire it up hoping it would work and still nothing.
At this point in time I am sort of lost on where to go next, it will crank and crank and crank but not fire. I'm not sure if it could be the fuel system, something internal on the motor given what my compression test results were or what. Also if this helps serve as any sort of clue, over the 3 months that it was running there was almost always a constant popping from the exhaust on deceleration or when not on the throttle. Also occasionally it would idle really high when the clutch was in or while sitting idle at a stoplight, I just shrugged it off and eventually it went away.
Sorry for the write a book guys, sometimes I spend way too much time typing out a full explanation of my problems. Any guidance would be awesome, I was really hoping to get it running so I could at least finish out the season but at this point in time I'm convinced its going to have to sit for awhile. I'm excited as all hell to be a member of this forum though, I've been a member of many great forums in the 4x4 world and from what Ive seen of this place so far there are a lot of helpful people. Glad to be aboard.
Fast forward to the present, I've ridden the bike for the past 3 months that I've owned it and thus far it had been problem free for the most part. Until now....
Here's a quick synopsis of my current debacle, and bear with me and my noobiness....I know how forums work and I've read read read as much tech as I could and searched my butt off so please no "search noob" responses. Several weeks ago I took the bike on a multi hour trip away from home. Usually I would just ride around town and plug it into a battery maintainer at night just because. While out on this extended trip my bike started bogging down in the middle of the highway and eventually just died as I coasted to the shoulder. Went to turn it back on and there was absolutely no juice in the battery so I figured it was a bad charging system. Got it towed home and a new battery later I was on my way again vowing to ride it until winter when I could fix the charging system.
Unfortunately I didnt make it that far....
While riding home the other day the bike again started having the same bogging problems. I figured it was once again the charging system not charging the battery so upon stalling out and pulling to the shoulder I looked and the headlight was still as bright as could be and the electric starter was still working. I almost always kick start it and could get it up and running for a few seconds before it would die out again. I noticed while doing this that there was a bit of white smoke coming out of the air filter. I got the bike back home and read as much as I possibly could on here but still didnt really know where to start in diagnosing this problem. Here is what I have done thus far to try and figure it out but unfortunately I know that I am jumping around because I dont really know where to start and evening reading the "Bike Running Rough?" tech thread still had me jumping around because I wasn't satisfied with what I was finding.
- First thing I did was run a compression test, both spark plugs removed, throttle rolled all the way out. One cylinder came back with 90 while the other cylinder read 150. I dont know for sure if I did this test correctly but I kicked it over for the test and did not use the electric start. Those results would indicate a problem based on what I've read but once again I didnt know if I did the test correctly to get accurate results.
- Second thing I did on a hunch was check for spark. Pulled a blug and while it still connected I grounded it against the engine block and turned the ignition. No spark was to be seen so I figured I had found my not running problem. Instead of trying to mess with the points ignition because the previous owner had stripped the crap out of the adjustment screws I simply opted to get the Pamco kit from MikesXS. I ordered a kit that came with a new high performance coil, wires, the works. I checked and double checked all of my connections to make sure that it was wired up properly and also so I wouldnt fry the system as I read about how it easy it was to do so if you didnt put it in correctly. The moment of truth came and I went to fire it up hoping it would work and still nothing.
At this point in time I am sort of lost on where to go next, it will crank and crank and crank but not fire. I'm not sure if it could be the fuel system, something internal on the motor given what my compression test results were or what. Also if this helps serve as any sort of clue, over the 3 months that it was running there was almost always a constant popping from the exhaust on deceleration or when not on the throttle. Also occasionally it would idle really high when the clutch was in or while sitting idle at a stoplight, I just shrugged it off and eventually it went away.
Sorry for the write a book guys, sometimes I spend way too much time typing out a full explanation of my problems. Any guidance would be awesome, I was really hoping to get it running so I could at least finish out the season but at this point in time I'm convinced its going to have to sit for awhile. I'm excited as all hell to be a member of this forum though, I've been a member of many great forums in the 4x4 world and from what Ive seen of this place so far there are a lot of helpful people. Glad to be aboard.