Before attempting a start, you'll need to at least look inside the float bowls. If they're clean then go for it. If they're full of muck, a carb cleaning/overhaul will be needed before trying to start it.
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Hello I'm Jeremy new to the motorcycle life.i just bought and old 78 xs650 and it needs a lot of work.
- Thread starter Josey90
- Start date
Josey90
XS650 Member
All right I'll check that out today the guy got the bike from told me that he has had the car rebuilt this last year and then just never did anything else with the bike and supposedly he had it started up four or five months ago I'm guessing it was to test the rebuilt carbs
Keep in mind the PO was nothing more than a used bike salesman. Ignoring everything he said is prolly your best bet.
Well, even if the carbs were recently rebuilt, if they've been sitting 4 or 5 months with gas in them, much of it may have evaporated away leaving behind varnish. That's what you'll be needing to check for. The float bowls may need to be cleaned out. If you try to start it with gummed up float bowls, you'll suck that junk into the carbs and plug stuff up big time. You can drop the bowls with the carbs still in place using a stubby screwdriver. What you find inside will determine if you need to go further, pull the carbs and totally clean them.
Hello Jeremy and welcome from Virginia
What you don't want to see when you drop the float bowls is something like this, lol. This is from a set I'm working on now that was parked with gas in it and sat for many, many years ......
The floats were shot and needed replacing. The gas varnish had eaten holes in them and they leaked.
The floats were shot and needed replacing. The gas varnish had eaten holes in them and they leaked.
To quote my friend Cleveland Brown "Oh Peter, That's Naaasty"
