want an xs650

[marp68]

Great news!

I went to Do it yourself-place and washed the bike with kinds of stuff and then used compressed water to really get it off, rubbed again and so on. It went clean and nice. And guess what, after driving home, there was no sign of leaks. So it could have been just old oil that went hot and the outer layer started dripping.

Regarding the petcock, I noticed now that there was one on the right side as well Before I had the Kawasaki z650 with only one petcock and before that bikes with no ones at all. So when I now switched also this one off there is no gas drippin neither.

Fantastic! I'm happy. And the bike starts on the first kick. The starter doesn't work, but this i already knew, so maybe i will look into this this winter.

Now I can focus on driving, fix small things and modify it.

/Martin

 

[XSLeo]

From what you said about fuel leaks, it sounds like the carbs need to be cleaned. The float valves are not sealing well. With the petcocks in the on position your carbs shouldn't leak. It's best to shut the petcocks off when the bike isn't running.
The floats are a metering device not a fuel shut off.

 

[marp68]

Just in case, I turned the overfloading tubes upwards and above the level of the float valves. And now I noticed that there was gas in these tubes. So I guess the float valves are not completely sealing.

If the float valves don't leak directly after switching the engine off, can the leak be so small that the valves start to leak after some hours? Or, could the fact that I turned the overflooding tubes upwards and above the level of the float valves cause them to leak, to even out the level so to speak???

Regarding the petcock, can it leak even though it's switched off?

/Martin

 

[XSLeo]

Yes, a petcock can leak when shut off. Inside is a rubber washer with holes in it. When you turn the handle it covers or uncovers these holes to let the fuel flow or to stop the flow. If this rubber piece gets worn or torn it can let fuel flow past.
The float valves can have a build up of crud from old gas, rust, or just worn. Any of these will keep the valve from closing. It may be just a small amount or a large amount.
Bending the over flow tubes up may help for a few minutes or maybe an hour or two, depending on how bad the float valves or petcocks leak.
If you have a repair manual, downloads at biker.net, Knucklebuster.com. It will tell a bit about how to clean your carbs. The carb guide at the Gargage is very comprehensive. Covers the tricky spots the manuals don't cover.
Most every bike someone gets needs a good carb cleaning.
Right up there with new plugs and changing the oil.

 

[marp68]

Okej.

So, to check the petcocks I could just unloose the tubes from the petcocks and see if they leak. If they do, I would have to change the rubber washer, right?

And the float valves obvisiously leak, right? And the leak can't be caused by the petcocks switched to ON, OFF or RES, or the upward bended overflooding tubes, right? Beside crud, they can also leak due to bad adjusting, right?

To scrap off crud or adjusting float valve level, is it possible to just take off the house (and not the whole carb from the cylinder) to inspect and scrap off crud or adjust the floating valve, even though they're upside down? And the float valve level should be 24mm +/-1mm, right? Never done this before so, I'm abit nervous to fiddle with the carbs...

I got the Clymer manual with the bike, but I will check out the carb cleaning recommendations you specified, and that others have done as well at this site.

I saw that you have the same year as mine and with some mods. Any pictures somewhere?

/M

 

[XSLeo]

I put some pics in the show the 650's thread. Had a bunch at the old 650rider site. Lost most when my old computer crashed, got a recovery cd found a bunch of things. 35,000 pics to go through.

 

[marp68]

Computer crash is not fun. Had one to before. Since that I always make backups once in a while.

Adn , what do you think about working on the float valves up side down, just removing the float valve cover?

/M