fullercameron
XS650 Addict
I pulled the bike into the shop a couple of weeks ago so I could take care of a few things that I felt needed attention after the first season of riding the bike. It had been running really great. There were a couple of small oil leaks and it would pop a bit on deceleration, but otherwise rode very well since August.
In order to fix the oil leaks, I retorqued the head (had a small weep between head and cylinders on left side), removed ATU and housing to replace camshaft seal gasket and o-ring, and replaced sprockets and retorqued countershaft sprocket and replaced the locktab to fix leak.
I removed my starter which didn't function as well as the starter solenoid. Removed associated gears under the cover and use a freeze plug to seal the opening.
I wanted to remove the decompressor cover since the bike was now kick only, so I replace the cover with a later 4-hole cover and cut the decompressor lever off of the RH switch and massaged it out with a file so it looks like stock only without the lever and switch wiring.
Last, to work on the popping on deceleration, I replaced the throttle seals (the outboard seal on each carb was essentially brittle plastic) and replaced the carb holders with new units from JBM.
Got the bike back together and it won't start. So I started going through the steps.
I have checked:
camchain adjustment - set flush while cold
valve adjustment - .003 intake, .006 exhaust
Point gap - LS .015, RS .013
Static Timing - Both sets of points checked w/ ohm meter for points to open between [f] marks.
Advance rod lubed and springs checked for proper snap back
Carbs - rechecked and cleaned all passages, double checked that throttle plates were centered by loosening throttle plate screws slightly and snapping throttle spring a few times to double check that it is centered, then retightened. Both carbs are filling with gas and floats are set correctly. Rechecked mixture settings (3/4 turn out)
I am running a 45 pilot jet and 130 main (both were working great before all of this). I was one up on the pilot because I have pods and open exhaust and it seemed to run better this way (May have also been compensating for the air leak at the throttle seals).
I replaced the gaskets when I put on the new carb holders and all surfaces were clean and smooth.
I thought it might be possible that I unhooked something in the shuffle, so I double checked all of the wiring connections - all were ok. I was worried that removing something in the starter solenoid or switch wiring did something, but I have checked and I have spark on both sides (looks pretty blue to me), so I believe that all of the wiring is fine.
Just as a precaution I ohm'd out both coils and they were within specs (I am still running stock style replacement coils).
Checked voltage at the points with the ignition on and kill switch open and was getting 11.8 volts at the points with a full battery at 12.9 volts. Charged the battery last night.
If I sit there kicking it for a half hour, It will pop every once in a while. Sounded like it was coming out of the exhaust. Pulled the plugs and it appears that after a lot of kicking they are getting wet - which I expected. The left plug gets wetter, but the bike it on the side stand so this seems to seem like it makes sense to me with gravity and everything(I am open to this being an issue if someone thinks it is).
Also, as a precaution, I thought that there was some possibility that I had somehow switched the coil wiring around or put the advance rod in 180 degrees out, so I switched the plug wires to see if it would fire the other way - nothing.
Tomorrow I will be grabbing a new set of plugs and a compression tester so I can check the compression.
Does anyone have any ideas?
Could I have put the disk in the middle of the ATU in wrong? Could this be causing this problem? I am going to double check the index mark on the disk and ATU to make sure they line up tomorrow as well.
Could this be a carb problem related to the new throttle shaft seals?
This is a giant pain in the ass. I was totally stoked all season that I had managed to rebuild this engine and get everything going with so few glitches - somehow in my quest to get one step closer to perfection, I have undone something vital.
Sorry for the exceptionally long post, but I am trying to be as thorough as possible. I have tried to use as many of the fine resources here to solve my own problems, but I am about one step shy of stuck. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I'll post compression numbers, etc. as soon as I get them.
In order to fix the oil leaks, I retorqued the head (had a small weep between head and cylinders on left side), removed ATU and housing to replace camshaft seal gasket and o-ring, and replaced sprockets and retorqued countershaft sprocket and replaced the locktab to fix leak.
I removed my starter which didn't function as well as the starter solenoid. Removed associated gears under the cover and use a freeze plug to seal the opening.
I wanted to remove the decompressor cover since the bike was now kick only, so I replace the cover with a later 4-hole cover and cut the decompressor lever off of the RH switch and massaged it out with a file so it looks like stock only without the lever and switch wiring.
Last, to work on the popping on deceleration, I replaced the throttle seals (the outboard seal on each carb was essentially brittle plastic) and replaced the carb holders with new units from JBM.
Got the bike back together and it won't start. So I started going through the steps.
I have checked:
camchain adjustment - set flush while cold
valve adjustment - .003 intake, .006 exhaust
Point gap - LS .015, RS .013
Static Timing - Both sets of points checked w/ ohm meter for points to open between [f] marks.
Advance rod lubed and springs checked for proper snap back
Carbs - rechecked and cleaned all passages, double checked that throttle plates were centered by loosening throttle plate screws slightly and snapping throttle spring a few times to double check that it is centered, then retightened. Both carbs are filling with gas and floats are set correctly. Rechecked mixture settings (3/4 turn out)
I am running a 45 pilot jet and 130 main (both were working great before all of this). I was one up on the pilot because I have pods and open exhaust and it seemed to run better this way (May have also been compensating for the air leak at the throttle seals).
I replaced the gaskets when I put on the new carb holders and all surfaces were clean and smooth.
I thought it might be possible that I unhooked something in the shuffle, so I double checked all of the wiring connections - all were ok. I was worried that removing something in the starter solenoid or switch wiring did something, but I have checked and I have spark on both sides (looks pretty blue to me), so I believe that all of the wiring is fine.
Just as a precaution I ohm'd out both coils and they were within specs (I am still running stock style replacement coils).
Checked voltage at the points with the ignition on and kill switch open and was getting 11.8 volts at the points with a full battery at 12.9 volts. Charged the battery last night.
If I sit there kicking it for a half hour, It will pop every once in a while. Sounded like it was coming out of the exhaust. Pulled the plugs and it appears that after a lot of kicking they are getting wet - which I expected. The left plug gets wetter, but the bike it on the side stand so this seems to seem like it makes sense to me with gravity and everything(I am open to this being an issue if someone thinks it is).
Also, as a precaution, I thought that there was some possibility that I had somehow switched the coil wiring around or put the advance rod in 180 degrees out, so I switched the plug wires to see if it would fire the other way - nothing.
Tomorrow I will be grabbing a new set of plugs and a compression tester so I can check the compression.
Does anyone have any ideas?
Could I have put the disk in the middle of the ATU in wrong? Could this be causing this problem? I am going to double check the index mark on the disk and ATU to make sure they line up tomorrow as well.
Could this be a carb problem related to the new throttle shaft seals?
This is a giant pain in the ass. I was totally stoked all season that I had managed to rebuild this engine and get everything going with so few glitches - somehow in my quest to get one step closer to perfection, I have undone something vital.
Sorry for the exceptionally long post, but I am trying to be as thorough as possible. I have tried to use as many of the fine resources here to solve my own problems, but I am about one step shy of stuck. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I'll post compression numbers, etc. as soon as I get them.
