More FJ600 carb help

I posted about a year and a half ago about my girls FJ600 (thread here: http://www.xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic ... carbs.html)

After finding nothing wrong with the carbs and putting it all back together, it ran great! BUT, this bike has ALWAYS been a royal bitch to start if it's not ridden regularly. And I mean daily.

The battery was weak, but if we push started it or used starter fluid, it would always crank and run fine.
We replaced the battery and the next time I rode it (after it sat for a few weeks), it ran fine but didn't want to idle. I tried to adjust the idle and it wouldn't respond. Once the bike cranked and warmed up, the idle wanted to stay at ~2-3K. I was at wits end (and elbows deep in a CB500 and an XS650 projects), so I told her to take it to a local shop.

The local shop said the carbs were filthy, which I find hard to believe. The tank is spotless and I installed an inline filter last time I worked on it. The clear fuel lines and filter showed no signs of dirt or trash. But, anyway...
They also, said two of the plugs were in bad shape, which I can believe, as bad as it had been running.
However, after cleaning the carbs and main jets, it did the old "I ain't gonna start for YOU either!" routine for the shop. They
re now checking some circuits in the float bowls. The pick-ups, I guess?

What would make this bike such a bitch to start and keep running well unless it's used CONSTANTLY?
I'm still thinking it's a carb issue but wanted to make sure I'm not overlooking something obvious; timing or ignition, etc.

The bike is 100% stock, BTW. Airbox/filter, exhaust, etc.

 

Oh, and I know one obvious answer is to just ride the bike more often....

However, her work schedule doesn't always allow it. She's in love with the bike but finds the reach to the bars a tad uncomfortable on long trips. It fits me perfectly, though.
We purchased the bike from the original owner with a folder full of documentation, service records, owners manual, service manual and even factory Yamaha saddle bags. We'd like to keep the bike if possible, but need to find a way to make it more dependable.

 

Keep the bike on a battery tender to have a 100% charge.
Try running a 0.027 gap.
If these bikes crank for any length of time, they won't start due to no spark. The effort of cranking takes the power away from the TCI.
Crank in really short 1/2 sec bursts works for me - - the bike fires up exactly when you let off the starter button.

Then there's the meticulously CLEAN carb advise.
Re-read the looong carb threads. Don't miss a single trick.

 

Found the carb/hard start thread when I went to the XJ board. (See reply on other thread)
Battery is new and we have a couple of tenders in the garage that we move around from bike to bike. It'll crank over like gangbusters at first. After a couple of minutes we can kill the battery.

 

My XJ 600 was like this (The Euro name for an FJ600), although it wasn't too much of a problem as I used it fairly regularly. I put its reluctance to start down to the Chinese battery as the PO had fitted it but even though it was only 6 months old you only got 30 seconds of decent cranking then it would fade. I got around it by trickle charging, or if I forgot, I would turn it over on the starter for a few seconds then bump start it.

The only things I can think of are dirty choke enrichment paths or air leaks around the carb to head boots.

 

I don't think it's the carb to head boots, but where can one find those? I can find the air box boots, but not manifolds.

 

The shop just called and said it's ready. They've gone in the last several mornings and started it up with no problems.
Essentially, it was what I thought and what many of you have experienced. Varnish and deposits in the carbs and the enrichment circuit.

I think we'll start running some Seafoam and draining the bowls when we KNOW it will be sitting for a while.

 

Well, we didn't even get 100 miles out of the old girl before she started acting up again.

My GF took the FJ to a local bike night last week and a friend of ours emailed me to tell me it sounded like it was dropping a cylinder as she left. This is maybe 75 miles since the local shop went through the carbs.

I tried to crank it the other day so I could listen to it and I bet I turned it over 50 times before she fired. He's right, it doesn't sound quite right. I've been trying off an on today to crank it and she'll make one or two little rumbles, but won't crank.

I noticed that the shop replaced a vacuum line to the petcock and it's sorta loose. I'll replace that with the proper size line.
But, I also noticed that the fuel line isn't full. When I put the petcock on prime I don't see fuel coming out. I wonder if the poor running and hard starting could be due to a petcock (and hence, fuel level in the bowls) problem?
I can see the vacuum petcock not operating properly if that line is loose fitting, but why can't I see fuel flow when I have it on prime. And, yes, there's plenty of gas in the tank.

 

Fuel should come out all the time on prime. There are internal filters built into the petcock - they could be blocked with rust, or the petcock could be faulty and not working on prime?

 

That vacuum line is the one that tees off the #1 and #4 manifolds. If it's sucking air, the petcock won't operate properly (low fuel level in bowls possibly causing issues?). It also would/could create a vacuum leak on those cylinders.

I also found loose hose clamp on the #3 manifold. Needless to say, the shop got an ear full. I can repair all of these things myself, but I'm taking the bike back up there out of principle. Gonna point these things out and make THEM fix it properly.

 

Yes, drawing in air will make the bike very hard to start.

It sounds like you need to do the work on your bike yourself!

On my 600, inlet manifolds 2 and 3 were linked together with the same bore hose as the vacuum line.

 

I usually do all my own work. I'm knee deep in two other projects and THOUGHT this shop knew what they were doing.

Like I said, I could remedy these problems and see how she runs, but I paid good money to have this repaired. THEY need to make it right.