new battery or something more serious

enrichment circuit but it still says choke on the control seen a manual refer to it as starter lever

 

I can't remember that rally kerrisk, still I didn't have a bike then. The only times I went down to the site was either when the ' Fair was on, or the Rock n Reggae festival every summer. That's long-since gone, in the mid 90's was the last one I can remember.
Did a (successful) vac sync today and when removing tank, discovered a very slight fuel leak from petcock in the 'on' or 'reserve' position. This has happened before post-backfire, especially if one of the cylinders involved in the backfire, was the #3. #3 is the one with the vacuum line linked up to petcock on my bike.
Usually, it just pours out, and the only way to resolve, is the take the petcock apart and either turn the diaphragm back the 'right way', from inside out(!), or completely replace it because it is knackered beyond repair. Anyone else had this issue?
It's not a big problem, and I can still start the bike, til I've got time to drain the tank (just filled up), and take a look at it.
This could be the reason why the bike was even harder to start (after backfire) cos fuel trickling down into carbs, filling them up and too rich when initially turning over to start, AND with the fuel enrichment circuit on!
I get round this at the moment, by just turning the idle control knob clockwise 'in' to open up the butterflies and let more air in for initial start (without FEC on).
The battery is charging up to about 13.4v, and although it's starting almost immediately, I've still sent for another one because I don't think it's at it's best after about 6 years...
Oh yes, the battery I've sent for is a Dynavolt, YTX14-BS Gel, High Cranking Power, 320 CCA. (Ebay, £37, including postage in UK)
I need my bike to be roadworthy because I'm waiting for a call from a specialized fabricator who makes custom stainless silencers, and he is to make me two for £200!
Mine are held together only by steel wool swab patches soaked in cylinder joint compound, and a lot of hope! They are WORKING tho - Lol, and no exhaust leaks hardly (unless I get another backfire again!)
The new ones won't be exactly the same as the stock ones on mine, but what a bargain!
This guy is based in Bilsthorpe, near Newark, and I've got to get the machine over to him and leave it with him whilst he makes them to measure.
Shows how popular he is, because he was booked up from September to this month, and he could be ringing me any time soon...…
Anyway I'll update everyone about that when it has happened....

Kind regards.

 

Just another catch-up (no reply to last thread)
This is the new battery I have just received. (attached)

Regards.
Regards.

 

I think I have that problem with my Xj 550 maxim, I’ve noticed this when I press the starter button it cranks but never start, I check the sparks by removing the caps and they look weak like red and barely can see them, only when I stop pressing the button suddenly one single strong spark appears. It’s very weird. Because I have a brand new battery fully charged. Anyone could tell me what could be happening?
Regards.

 

you get a voltage spike when you let off the starter button t.hats why you get a better spark.

have you ohmed out your ignition coils? you could have bad caps.

hook a meter to your battery and see what the voltage drops to if it gets to low your spark fades and may stop. tci needs 10 volts to work.

you will have to keep the battery charged the 550 spins well even with battery under 10 volts.

even new batterys can be bad.

it could also be a failing starter drawing too much current.

it would be better to start a thread on your bike it will make helping you easier
XJ550 models:

Pick-up coils:
650 ohms +/- 20% = 520 ohms to 780 ohms acceptable range


Ignition Coils:

Primary side (input from main wiring harness):
2.5 ohms +/- 10% = 2.25 ohms - 2.75 ohms acceptable range

Secondary side (spark plug wires, without their end caps):
11K ohms +/- 20% = 8,800 ohms - 13,200 ohms acceptable range


Spark plug caps:
10K +/- 20% = 8,000 to 12,000 ohms per cap acceptable range

Spark plugs:
0 ohms per plug

 

Hello! thanks for the feedback.

Yes I did check the pick up coils and ingition coils resistance, everything is in spec except for one bad ignition coil that has an OL on the multimetter at the secondary coil. I cut a little piece of wire to make sure it make good contact and still the same.

It seems like my bike doesn´t have the original pick up coils because they measure 330 ohms each, and they don't look like the pictures of the original coils. the odd part is that the bike was running perfectly like that before I tooked apart for chroming all the chromable parts.

I let the bike dissasembled in the garage for like 6 months until now.

I check the battery while cranking the voltage drops to 11 volts, it stays very strong.

The spark plug caps are all between 5k ohms.

I´m worried about getting a new pair of ignition coils and the bike could not start yet.

 

To me that wheel with the 19mm wrench fitting on it looks to be interesting. Looks like it has had a hard life. Most of those plates are preteen as they are under a cover for the majority of their lives. I hope it was not bent or that it out of measurement from the pickup? This is IMHO only. Hope you get it settled.

 

They are mostly pre teen?? yes, but if you go down on the ignition pickup side, without crash bars....a lot of damage can ensue.....I've done it, and immediately after fixing all the mess, ordered crash bars, lol !!