need direction to go in

Bike is an 85 xj 700 maxim x. It starts, but every time I apply throttle I get little or no response often resulting in stalled engine. Sometimes I can goose it up to stay running, but once it's back below 3k, it doesn't want to cooperate. Carbs have been cleaned and air intake and jetting is stock. Advice? Please?

 

bueller?

 

carbs way out of sync? Clogged idle ports in the carbs? just a couple ideas off the top of my head

 

thanks, I'll check over the sync. the idle ports... are you talking about issues with the air mixture screws?

 

I would check the plugs.

Get it to idle and take her out for a spin, come back and let it idle for a few minutes.
Let her cool down and pull the plugs.
Sounds like your rich and bogging down.
The carbs should have been bench synced prior to re-installation
Then a YICS-blocked sync while the engine is running.

Then the bike should be running well and the mixture adjustment comes
into play.
We want those plugs to have a "Nice summer Tan" @ idle.

There are other possibilities of problems, but this is where I would start due to time constraints.

 

How does one bench sync?

 

Slice-up a 3X5 Card
Strips. 1/4 Inch wide.
Slip the first one under the 3 Carb Butterfly and adjust the "Drag on it" with the Idle Adjustment Rod.
Get the Buttery holding it but just loose enough to feel the space it captured in.
Make sure it slides tightly beneath that #-3 Butterfly.

Adjust 4 by turning its Sync Screw and duplicate the drag on the 3X5 Sliver captured by 3.

Match 1 to 2 in the same fashion -- adjust the screw on 1
Match Both 1 and 2 to 3 and 4
Adjust the Sync Screw on 2
The 1 Carb is married to 2 and will go along for the ride.

Tweak them all as necessary to obtain the same drag on the slips across the board.

 

What happens when you roll open the throttle?

Does it hesitate a moment; then accelerate?
Do you have to "Rev-it"?

Your might have a few things to check-out.

First, turn the Idle Adjustment Rod (Under the carbs between the middle two) in a little bit. Give it some Air that way in case the Idle Adjustment Rod is not making contact with the linkage.

Pull the Plugs, first, and line them up 1,2 3, 4.
Take a close-up pic of the business-ends so we can judge whats happening at the moment.

Do you have access to the Mixture Screws or are they covered by Anti-tamper Plugs?

If they aren't Plugged ... good.
Adjust the four of them Out.
Three full turns from the bottom ... then, a little bit more.
About the width of a Nickel more beyond 3 turns.

 

It's bad when I roll on the throttle. It bogs and poops out. I've adjusted the idle screw all the way in, and it'll race at 3-4k. When I adjust the screw back out to a respectable rpm, it poops.
Thanks for all the input, guys. I'm looking forward to getting a fresh start with this bike. I'll be trying the bench sync method, and be checking the plugs, and will start fresh with the mixture screw adjustment (which do not have the tamper-proof plugs in place).
RickCoMatic, I also see that you prescribe a new fusepanel. How will that help the bikes' performance?

 

Don't pull the carbs off a running bike just to bench sync.
Put that time into a running sync.
Until you can build or buy a YICS blockoff tool, you can stuff the passage with Marvel Mystery oil soaked strips of Tee-shirt.
Search topics- - Manometer- - carb sync- - pilot adjustment

 

The original Fuse Panels on these bikes are past their time. The Clips that hold the ends of the Glass Fuses become corroded and brittle. They lose their ability to hold the Fuse in tightly.

Many of them are so brittle with being corroded that the Clips break; leaving the Circuit open and causing an electrical power loss.

Replacing the Fuse Panel with a new one guarantees you an electrical trouble-free connection and Circuit protection.
Especially, on the Main Power Circuit where the resistance of the Fuse Holding Clips becomes so high the Bike begins having issues staying running.

Having a better connection at those Fuses is a preventative measure intended to help keep the Bike running and the devices protected by the Fuses working without an intermittent problem of an outright failure of the Circuit they are on.

 

Before we go any further, let's point out that he's working on an X -- you know, the ones WITHOUT a YICS port. Just like mine.

And not to threadjack (okay, I'm threadjacking), but I'm having pretty much the same problem. Came about mine a different way, though; after cleaning and reinstalling the carbs, I got the bike going, and idling good. I thought a couple of float levels might be a bit borderline, but I figured I'd try it.

Shortly after, I started hydrolocking the engine. I pulled the carbs back off, lowered the float levels, and now it bogs down/stutters/stumbles at low RPM, and won't idle. Not having a colortune plug (I swore off the things, but I may have to reconsider), I'm not sure if it's rich, lean, or just being a doodyhead. Mixture screws were initially at 2.5 turns out, now all are sitting at 3 even.

Obviously, I've already done the bench sync, but I'm going to try and tweak that a bit this weekend, or early next week.

 

Well crap. Perhaps I need not only to replace the fuse panel, but go through the entire wire harness. One of the times in prior days, it ran Good. Some time later, I ran it again and it ran Fair, and then I shut it down when I got a whiff of insulation burning. I found the shorting wires and noticed that the copper was looking dingy... old. I put a new cap on (since the old one was melted), and finished with electric tape. Ran better than Fair after that, but not Good. ......... and here I be.

 

BTW, as schmuckaholic pointed out, it is not a YICS model. Not having any experience with those bikes, I always forget to include that footnote.