Fuel Petcock

Hey everyone, I am finally an owner of an XJ! Picked up an 81 650 this evening for $400. I started tearing it apart tonight since it wouldn't start. First of all it needs a battery. Who has the best deal on one? Or is the dealer my only choice?

I took the tank off and I was playing with the petcock and I'm not sure if it's working correctly or not. I know its hooked up to a vacuum line, but should gas come out without it running? No gas comes out with it on reserve or on, but it flows great on prime. How are you supposed to start it- prime, then start the bike, then turn it to the on position? Thanks for any help guys.

 

Ok, Prime does let fuel flow when the bike isnt running. Otherwise there needs to be a vacuum for it to work in the other positions.

You can start and run it in Prime to see if it will start....

 

So, the purpose of prime is?

 

Filling of the Fuel Bowls after Carb Cleaning
Filling the Carbs after a Seasonal Lay-up
Substituting for Reserve when you run-out of Gas and turn the Lever the wrong way!

 

prime is for filling the carb bowls back up when you've drained them for whatever reason. if you're bowls are empty, and the petrock is on "on" or "reserve" it will take a LOT of cranking to get enough gas into the carbs to start your bike.

 

Do you have a BatteriesPlus close to you?

http://www.batteriesplus.com/p-32688-xt ... ttery.aspx

or try here

http://search.apexbattery.com/?catalog= ... IMAGE.y=12

ab

 

Thank you. There is one a few miles from my house.

Got the carbs all cleaned up today, so I will get a battery and some plugs tomorrow and hopefully have it running tomorrow night with a little luck! Can I get plugs for it at a regular parts store?