Rpm takes forever to lower after pulling in clutch or letting off throttle

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ChazAWillis

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I was gifted an 83 xs400 for my first bike. The bike ran great(except for a bad starter) for 2 weeks. Now when I try and take it for a ride, the rpm will not lower after pulling in clutch to shift or letting off throttle. I can shift to the next gear and it will still be at the same exact rpm as the last gear. I am also having a problem with the gas not getting to the carb when the peacock is on the on position. Thinking this might have to do with the air intake?
 
Check your vacuum line from the peacock to the carb boot and check the rubber plug in the other carb boot. Make sure all clamps on the intake are tight.
 
Would that be something that would make my rpm stay high also? Not sure if it would. I've tightened everything around the carbs and changed them different ways today. Going to spray some starter fluid around it tomorrow to see if the rpm going up and make sure they don't have cracks or holes.
 
The starting fluid trick is exactly what you need to do. Also make sure your throttle cable is routed correctly
 
The line was off from where I was messing with the tank. Couldn't get it running to test the rpm. Now I need to find out why my starter is only getting 3 volts to it while the rest of the bike is getting 12.8v until I turn the key then they drop to 12.3 because the lights are on. Where does the starter ground? there is only a positive connection on it.
 
I know it's not the ground wire to the battery because I reran new wire and cleaned the area that it was on. Only other thing I can think is the battery? The other starter it had fired up a few time before it went bad(first day I got the battery). I have kept it on a battery maintainer for last week and I've only had the battery for 2-3 weeks. Could a bad battery still show 12.8 volts even if it's not capable of putting that much out?
 
Could have a bad cell. Could be a bad relay or connection. I don't have a dohc bike so I don't know all the electrical ins and outs of them:( There are a few guys that do in the forum. They would know more than me.
 
So I did a battery load test last night at my dads house and the battery was good. I went out just a few minutes ago to do a voltage drop test. The ground is reading 0 res while touching the ground lead of the multimeter to the positive post and the positive lead of the multimeter to the starter positive terminal I get a reading of -12.5v. Does that mean that I have to rewrite the positive side of the system? If so, what is the best way to do this?

Update: I tested all wires and the starter has a resistance of 12.4v does that mean that the starter is bad?
 
Last edited:
You can try to jump the starter by disconnecting the the positive wire from the battery and running a wire to the positive post on the starter motor. If it don't spin over with the direct power it's bad. If it spins, then something is bad in you wiring. Or could be a relay/solenoid.
 
When i take it out for bench test it spins and when i put it back in, it cranks slowly. I'll just stick to bump starting it for now. Does anyone know where I can get a choke cable at? I'm getting tired of having to hold the choke in with my finger in the morning :p
 
With the starter spinning fast on the bench test, and slowly on the motorcycle, it leads me to believe the starter motor circuit is at fault. Two thoughts on this (1) the starter relay is has failed and needs to be replaced or (2) the heavy wire from the starter motor to the battery (or starter relay if that is where it is routed) has become corroded and it needs to be replaced.
 

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