GuytheBrave
XS650 Member
Ok, here's the deal...
I'm relatively new to the world of XS's I bought mine last summer and rode it until inclement weather forced me to garage it. I decided to take this as an opportunity to do a little maintenance over the winter. I winterized the bike, and a couple months later pulled the carbs off the engine. I purchased a couple simple rebuild kits from Mike's and replaced the float assembly and gasket in both carbs. I also replaced the stock air-filter (which was so horribly worn out, I have to believe it wasn't helping at all..) with two of the pod filters and a separate filter for the crank case breather.
So far so good, but when it was all assembled, it would not start. I tried everything I could think of; new (premium rated) gas, different settings for the idling screw... The best i got was a weak idle for about 6 seconds before it died. By this point I gave up, mostly because my electric start was out of commission and my leg hurt extremely bad from the relentless kicking(needless to say I ordered a new starting relay that night).
A couple months later when spring just began I, pulled the bike out onto the driveway and started messing around again. Still, no luck starting... I thought that maybe my sparkplugs had failed me, so I decided to check those. That's where something interesting happened.
I pulled both plugs and checked for a spark, and both were still working. I then hand tightened the left side plug in and hit the starter as a last-ditch-effort and sure enough the left cylinder fired up! I immediately killed the engine because it was not fully torqued down... After I wrenched both plugs back in I kicked the engine to life in a single try, and, after a long boring winter, I immediately took the beast out for the first ride of the year!
So, if you have stuck with me through my long story, I have a couple questions...
First; any ideas of what caused it to suddenly start... (maybe moisture in the cylinders?)?
Second; anything you would suggest I do next to continue maintenance on the bike?
I'm relatively new to the world of XS's I bought mine last summer and rode it until inclement weather forced me to garage it. I decided to take this as an opportunity to do a little maintenance over the winter. I winterized the bike, and a couple months later pulled the carbs off the engine. I purchased a couple simple rebuild kits from Mike's and replaced the float assembly and gasket in both carbs. I also replaced the stock air-filter (which was so horribly worn out, I have to believe it wasn't helping at all..) with two of the pod filters and a separate filter for the crank case breather.
So far so good, but when it was all assembled, it would not start. I tried everything I could think of; new (premium rated) gas, different settings for the idling screw... The best i got was a weak idle for about 6 seconds before it died. By this point I gave up, mostly because my electric start was out of commission and my leg hurt extremely bad from the relentless kicking(needless to say I ordered a new starting relay that night).
A couple months later when spring just began I, pulled the bike out onto the driveway and started messing around again. Still, no luck starting... I thought that maybe my sparkplugs had failed me, so I decided to check those. That's where something interesting happened.
I pulled both plugs and checked for a spark, and both were still working. I then hand tightened the left side plug in and hit the starter as a last-ditch-effort and sure enough the left cylinder fired up! I immediately killed the engine because it was not fully torqued down... After I wrenched both plugs back in I kicked the engine to life in a single try, and, after a long boring winter, I immediately took the beast out for the first ride of the year!
So, if you have stuck with me through my long story, I have a couple questions...
First; any ideas of what caused it to suddenly start... (maybe moisture in the cylinders?)?
Second; anything you would suggest I do next to continue maintenance on the bike?
