Please calm my nervers, again

Well today is the official start of riding my xj legally, and well i havent ridden it much but when i was riding it started to sound funkey, mini backfiring, somesound like that not sure if it was actually backfiring, and then it stalled, wouldn't start, and then i rememberd it was kinda low on gas, so i put it on reserve, it started up again, ran poorley, so i got a big mix of anger and fear, started shaking lol, and decided to get it home even if it blew up the engine, got going, started to run fine, is that just what normally happens once u run out of gas and have to go to reserve? cuz it scared the piss outta me cuz i put all that money into licensing, insurance, etc, and i just imagined it all burinng up. so ya, it runs fine and stuff now, but i was jsut curious

 

yup thats pretty normal. youre lucky the bad running went away. after i ran out of gas i had to clean the carbs to get it to run smooth again.

 

schooter, this would be a great time to install an inline fuel filter, if you haven't already.. that way, if you do pull some crud in from the bottom of the tank, it won't get to the carbs.

 

ya, kinda a winter thing, cuz i would have to pull off the tank rite? cuz i would LOVE to hear a way i could dothis without pulling off the tank, idk about looks really.

 

Looks?
Schooter ... wake-up, Man.
We're here to HELP you!
Installing an inline fuel filter is a necessity!
Not an option.
A 25-year old tank can send some rust-dust right down to the Carbs and foul all four of your Pilot Fuel Jets in a minute.
Less than a minute.

It doesn't look funny.
It looks like you care!
Get the filter on there as insurance against having to pull and start cleaning your carbs.

 

The inline fuel filter "looks" like a fairly quick project. http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=6352.html I say looks because so far not a whole lot has been a quick project on mine. lol Good luck man =)

 

Schooter; There is only one bolt holding the fuel tank on, and you have to disconnect the two lines. That's it. Then you set the whole thng aside on a soft landing zone you have prepared ahead of time, propped up at the rear so it's not sitting on the petcock. Pulling the tank off is so easy because it's required for a lot of maintenance tasks. Until you do fit an inline filter, keep the tank full. The guys are right, hopefully you dodged the bullet (or don't have much rust to worry about.) Either way, there most likely IS crud in the bottom of your fuel tank that you DO NOT want sucked into your carbs. The fuel "filter" in the tank is just a fine mesh plastic screen, it doesn't work all that well. An in-line filter is quick and easy insurance against bigger problems.

 

mmk well its harvest time so ill see if i get a chance to do this

 

If you've got time to ride your bike, you have time to do this. Seriously... you NEED to spend 15 minutes putting this on because you *don't* want to rebuild your carbs. Then you're talking hours and expense if you can do it at all. I just tore down my engine and put it back together, but touching carbs by myself is something I don't even want to think about doing. For now, I'm going to leave that to the pros, but hopefully one day if I get to attend a carb clinic I might feel comfortable enough to do it myself.

It's simple. Remove the seat (simply unlatch). Remove the gas tank (remove two hoses and take off one bolt, lift up and set aside). Split the line and install filter. That's all there is to it. Since you're low on gas, I'd personally swirl the tank around and dump the gas that's in there in a bucket and dispose of it properly anyway to get rid of any loose crud in your tank then put fresh gas in.

I know that you've got a new to you bike and it's exciting and you hate seeing it just sitting there in your driveway or garage or whatever. You got the bike to ride, not to wrench on. However, keep in mind that the preventive easy stuff you do now keeps you going down the road later and prevents you having to do the major things sooner. Anytime I buy anything used, I assume that the PO did absolutely *nothing* to the vehicle (whether it be a car, motorcycle or boat) as far as upkeep and that's never failed me. 220,000+ miles on my Jeep Wrangler, 250K+ miles on my Cherokee and a perfectly running older Bayliner open bow proves doing a little now keeps you going.