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Idle issues

Discussion in 'XJ Technical Chat' started by Ronney L Henderson jr, May 25, 2018.

  1. Ronney L Henderson jr

    Ronney L Henderson jr Member

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    Oh that makes sense
     
  2. Ronney L Henderson jr

    Ronney L Henderson jr Member

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    Ok did some more reading on the throttle shaft seals. So if there wore out. And card still cool it fine after warm up and riding and while riding it ldles up.
    So with all that movement it will re seal then leak. Or the vibration might make a leak or seal.
    Am I understand that correctly??
     
  3. XJ550H

    XJ550H Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    the different metals heating and expanding at different rates cause the seals to leak when hot.the worn seal makes bike run lean and hot and faster rpm bliping throttle floods in fuel , running bike to a rich state then idle drops
    and /or shaft moving around reseals the seal idle returns
     
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  4. Jetfixer

    Jetfixer Well-Known Member

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    If your screws still have the brass plugs over them , and you soaked carbs , there is a small rubber O ring on the tip . The seal is probably shot , from the factory mixture is set lean . You really need to remove screws and replace the O ring .
     
  5. Ronney L Henderson jr

    Ronney L Henderson jr Member

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    That makes a lot sense. Well time to order some thing. Oh 1 question. On top of the carbs is a plug with a hole what is the and what under it
     
  6. Ronney L Henderson jr

    Ronney L Henderson jr Member

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    Is that on top of the carb ? The plug with a small hole?
     
  7. k-moe

    k-moe Pie, Bacon, Bourbon. Moderator Premium Member

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  8. Ronney L Henderson jr

    Ronney L Henderson jr Member

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  9. Jetfixer

    Jetfixer Well-Known Member

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    To get brass plug out take a small drill bit hit trigger a couple of times ,but be very careful you dont want to hit the mixture screw , wiggle the but a little till plug comes out .
     
  10. Ronney L Henderson jr

    Ronney L Henderson jr Member

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    Great cant find the plugs and o ring that came with my kit.
    Where can I order these and throttle seals.
    I also read some where I can replace all carb screws with Allen heads.
     
  11. k-moe

    k-moe Pie, Bacon, Bourbon. Moderator Premium Member

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    Start a conversation with Chacal.
    The aluminum plug can be thrown out. If you want to keep dust out of the idle screw wells, there is a rubber plug that Chacal sells.
     
  12. Ronney L Henderson jr

    Ronney L Henderson jr Member

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    Well if I dont need them . Then I went worry to much . It will never get that dirty. O ring I can get some local hardware shop . But I'll get a colortune . Is the best way to count how many turn in then back out to get it close?
     
  13. k-moe

    k-moe Pie, Bacon, Bourbon. Moderator Premium Member

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    The o-rings for the idle mixture screws cannot be gotten at a local hardware shop. They are a very specific size that were made to spec for Hitachi. I've looked for generic replacements, and failed.

    If you have fine-thread screws the baseline is 2 1/2 turns out from a soft seat.
     
  14. Ronney L Henderson jr

    Ronney L Henderson jr Member

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    Ok today my bike was not wanting to d ok squat. A old bike down the road has watched me work on this for the past 8 months. He stop by to chat and ask me to start my bike . So I did . He notice 2 things. One he said was to adjust my timing chain . Very easy process loosen a nut and a bolt re tighten and to shorten up my fuel line . I have a clear line and he seen air bubbles. So I did . And bamm just l I'm ke that it idles at 1200 no problem at all no high idle at all . Rode it for about 2 hour and no problems. Let it sit for a bit fires right up.
    I might have over think many possibilities. But if it's running great I am not pulling the carbs. Still going t on get the other parts I need for winter make over though or something goes wrong.
    I am still going to sync the carbs better if all this stays running in ng good. And by the way it acts right riding is looking great at the moment.
    I have learned so much with this bike and still learning.
    It's a great starter bike . To get my feet wet after 18 yrs of not ride but I really think I want something bigger. Seen a couple of 750 and 1000 in the area . There xjs h. Might pass this down to my son if he is responsible enough.

    Thank you all for your help.

    Tip of the day!! DONT OVER THINK IT!!
     
  15. joejr2

    joejr2 Active Member Premium Member

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    What kind of fuel are you using. Try switching to premium. I was prepping an xj650 seca to make it run better for sale. It was idling rough
    even after a good colortune adjustment and synching with gauges. I had a brainfart and emptied the regular out of the tank and filled it with premium.
    It didn't just improve, it ran way better. Suddenly it had great passing power and accelerated smoother. It was running like a different bike. At a
    vintage MC show last week where all the bikes were older than "75" one guy told me he had to research which gas brands had no corn licker in
    the premium. I tried Shell and the difference was remarkable. Most of the big Harley geezerglides will only run well on premium.
     
  16. k-moe

    k-moe Pie, Bacon, Bourbon. Moderator Premium Member

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    Our bikes do not need high-test fuel, nor do they benefit from it. If it ran better, then something was wrong with the bike (excessive carbon buildup in the combustion chamber maybe). The only thing that higer octane does is allow an engine to run at higher compression ratios.

    Joe, given that you're in Santa Fe, isn't the range of octane sold there lower due to the altitude?

    Modern HD engines require higher octane by design. More correctly, the engineering that allows the engines to work the way they do, and comply with emissions, reqires that they run on high-test fuel.
     
    Last edited: Jul 4, 2018
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  17. joejr2

    joejr2 Active Member Premium Member

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  18. joejr2

    joejr2 Active Member Premium Member

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    In santa fe regular is 86, plus 88, premium is 91. I was touring through South Dakota on a Honda valkyrie a while ago
    and noticed after a fill up that the bike was using more gas than usual and was running a bit sluggish. I had been told that
    Valkyries were designed around regular gas but my gut told me that some locations must add more ethanol than others.
    I was with a guy riding a HD road king and he suggested I try premium. I did and the performance improved right away.
    Is it true that some brands of premium don't contain ethanol ? Could it be possible that the refiners add different percentages of
    ethanol at different times causing decreases in performance.
     
  19. k-moe

    k-moe Pie, Bacon, Bourbon. Moderator Premium Member

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    There are different amounts of ethanol seasonally, and it will also vary depending on location. If there is any ethanol at all it cannot be more than what is disclosed on the pump (thugh cheating is not unheard of).
    Premium can often contain ethanol, but that will be disclosed on the pump. The thing about ethanol is that while it will lower fuel economy slightly, it also increases the octane of the base fuel. The drawbacks you mainly hear about are the result of letting untreated fuel sit in the tank and carbs for weeks.

    I've never noticed any performance degradation when using E-10, other than a slight decrease in fuel mileage. In fact an engine that's tuned specifically for ethanol will perform better than one running on gas in terms of power output. Indy Cars used to (and might still, I haven't followed the sport in over a decade) run 100% ethanol precisely because of how much horsepower can be developed per liter of displacement when running it.

    As for an XJ, there's no need to either seek-out, or avoid ethanol blends as long as it's not more than 10% (E-10).
     
    Last edited: Jul 4, 2018
  20. Ronney L Henderson jr

    Ronney L Henderson jr Member

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    Well I know theres some tools I need to add to the collection. 1. Colortune but how do I know what size, and is there other adapters? 2nd a vacuum gauge for synching.
    Thought of ordering some gauges, not the kit but just the gauge it self there like 5bucks a piece. But will they ping out is my question.
     

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