82 XJ750 ran fine, parked it, now has a hard time starting and stalls at idle.

I rode for a while on Sunday and the bike ran like a charm, parked it, and this Tuesday morning it didn't want to start, but I got it up and running and rode into work.

When I took my cover off this morning there was a prevalent smell of gasoline, what could of been causing that?

The bike stalled at red lights three times on my 10 minute commute, I had to give it constant throttle to keep it from stalling.

I'm pretty new to motorcycles but I do have basic knowledge, and I have no idea as to why it ran like a top on Sunday and now two days later it is acting up.

What could be causing this and how would I go about diagnosing/fixing it?

 

How long have you owned the bike, and what maintenance have you done to it since you got it?
The easy answer is "carbs", but it could be a number of things. You say it smells of gas, is there gas leaking? If you had a cover over it, you could just be smelling accumulated fumes from the fuel tank vent getting trapped by the cover. Or, it could be that one or more of the float needles is sticking and allowing raw gas to leak into the crankcase. Pull the crankcase filler and give it a good sniff, does it smell like gas? If yes, don't ride it until you change the oil and service the carbs. Honestly, if you have not had the bike for a long time, it would be wise to go ahead and rebuild the carbs. It is a little time consuming but not too difficult. Several good tutorials on this forum, read them, follow them to the letter, come back and thank those who have taken the time to figure out all these little problems and made all of our bikes better for the effort.
Good luck!

 

If you find you have a stuck float, dont forget that even with a stuck float no fuel should be supplied to the carburetors when the engine is off. Check the petcock as well. Check for gas in the oil AND the airbox.

 

+1 what Shank said. Truth...all of the unkept scheduled maintenance needs to be brought up to date or you'll just keep having problems. All the help you'll need is on this site. Truth...they're good.

Gary H.

 

How about posting pics of the plugs, labeled 1-4 and tell us your compression ##'s and when's the last time you set your valves?? In miles.

When's the last time you adjusted your Pilot screws or synced ??