XS2 suddenly acting funky, losing power/lurching at low RPM's - thoughts?

Yourboychrisc

Yourboychrisc

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So i just picked up this beautiful XS2. The owner had it dialed in perfectly, carbs and tank are clean and it was running great.

Suddenly as i was riding it yesterday it started losing power, kind of cutting in and out and lurching, especially in lower rpms and when taking off into 1st gear from a standstill. It also sounds kind of boggy.

My only thought is that the points/timing might have slipped, considering how well it was running before. Is it possibly a transmission problem? My gut feeling says that it's electrical/timing... I know a lot of people like to run the electronic ignitions, is this a common problem with early XS's?

I'd appreciate any input, Thanks!
 
If it is only in the lower rpms you should check a couple of things first. Check your battery voltage and make sure it is up to snuff while everything is off, while it is idling and at about 3000rpm. My gut says that it is probably a plugged pilot jet in one or both of the carbs.
 
Are the lights going wonkey? At least everytime I have charging problems they start showing with headlights that aren't quite right, turn signals that are erratic, etc.
 
if there is a possibility of blocked pilot jets you could try the old trick of removing the air filters,... building the revs to about 3000rpm then shoving the palm of your hand over each of the the inlets in turn completely cutting off the air flow until the engine nearly stalls .
The resultant vacuum usually sucks any detritus out of the jets after 3-4 attempts .

It used to work fine on all the old cars I owned so no reason it shouldn't work on these carbs?
 
Pull the spark plugs out and have a look , see if you are running lean or rich. Peanut's trick has worked for me too if you have a minor clog . And it could be just a low battery or bad voltage regulator. I would replace a lot of the antique stuff on that bike as soon as you can, start with the basics like an electronic ignition with a high output coil and a AGM battery , stuff like that.
 
So i took the carbs off, cleaned them and replaced my inline filters. Everything was flowing well, so i fired it up and it rode perfectly for about 5 minutes, then it started doing the same thing it was doing before, so i'm now positive that it's the battery and I'm pretty sure that i need to upgrade my regulator/rectifier cause i think its just dumping more electricity than it's getting back. I'm thinking of ordering one of these:

http://www.mikesxs.net/product/24-2085.html

Anybody have any feedback on this unit? In the meantime i'm just gonna keep my battery on a tender when I'm not using it...
 
Yourboychrisc said:
So i took the carbs off, cleaned them and replaced my inline filters. Everything was flowing well, so i fired it up and it rode perfectly for about 5 minutes, then it started doing the same thing it was doing before, so i'm now positive that it's the battery and I'm pretty sure that i need to upgrade my regulator/rectifier cause i think its just dumping more electricity than it's getting back. I'm thinking of ordering one of these:

http://www.mikesxs.net/product/24-2085.html

Anybody have any feedback on this unit? In the meantime i'm just gonna keep my battery on a tender when I'm not using it...
Click to expand...
Hey how's it going. I have similar issues - learning to 100% tune my xs2. Runs great once I'm through some bits of mud in 1st n 2nd. Did you find it was electrical? Did you try the block air intake unclog method?

thanks hope to hear back.
 
Yourboychrisc said:
Anybody have any feedback on this unit? In the meantime i'm just gonna keep my battery on a tender when I'm not using it...
Click to expand...

so it took you 3x months to get back to us and then haven't answered anybody's questions ? and you're asking for feedback sheesh!:doh:
 
FB71 said:
did you check to make sure there's no debris in the tank, clogging the petcocks?
Click to expand...
TY -- I'm set to check this because i've noticed my right fuel line is no longer full at all times. I thought it was a vacuum so if it's not pulling fuel (on a near full tank) then this might be causing issues - or there are non vacuum issues like an air leak?

ALSO, the carbs do have lines between them so i also think that they synch once you get the engine going. *pls correct me if I'm wrong.

In the meantime I'm timing the ignition which is a more technical task than i thought but I'll get the hang of it.
 

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