1982 XJ650 Maxim Starting Issues

As the title suggests, I have been having some issues with getting my XJ650 started. Most of the time, the bike starts with only a couple cranks and runs wonderfully. Sometimes, typically after sitting for a couple days, the bike will start for a couple seconds and than die. I will have to sit and crank it for a couple minutes before it eventually starts. Over winter, I had the float bowls drained and the gas tank disconnected. Yesterday we had some good weather, so I hooked everything back up, filled up the float bowls, and it started with very little effort. I spent most of yesterday riding and it ran perfectly. Today, I had my starting issue and after cranking for a good while, I pulled the plugs to see if they were wet, and they were bone dry. I switched the petcock to prime and gave it 30 seconds to maybe refill the float bowls if they were low, it didn't seem to make a difference. I switched between on and prime while cranking and out of nowhere it just started right up. I am wondering if this could be a petcock issue and something is getting stuck, not allowing fuel through the valve and into the float bowls. I cleaned and rebuilt the carbs according to the church of clean two years ago, and have used exclusively ethanol free fuel the entire time I've owned it, so I don't think its an issue with the carbs. It could potentially be sticking floats, but I feel like its unlikely that all of the floats would be stuck at the same time. If you have any advice I would greatly appreciate it.

 

You don't mention whether you're using the enrichment circuit. Check your battery for voltage when starting, low voltage will spin the starter without enough oomph to fire it up.

 

I do use the enrichment circuit for a cold start, and the battery was fully charged the previous day. I just went out to start it and it started right up, but died after a couple seconds. Cranked it over a bit more, and it didn't start. I gave the carbs a few good smacks with the palm of my hand, it started right away and kept running. So I guess now, all indications are pointing to sticky floats. I'll try the lazy man's fix first with some seafoam in the gas, if that doesn't work, I suppose I'll have to take the floats out again.

 

sticky float needles or binding floats

chacal sells shims for the floats if they are binding little tiny washers