silas
XS400 New Member
I have been having some trouble with my XS400 recently.
anyone who lives in the Northeast States will know we had an amazing Saturday (over 60 degrees here, unheard of in January), so it was a good time to go out and get the motorcycle running after some inactivity. I had just charged the battery up, so I popped that back in and pulled it out
the starter button didn't work, but it tends not to when it's cold, so I gave it a kick. the first thing I noticed was that the kick starter just didn't have the normal resistance, and it didn't turn the engine over. I will say that sometimes it takes a second to come back up to the top, but this thing was essentially limp
I also found that in first gear the motorcycle moves around even when the clutch is out. this is definitely not normal.
someone saw me trying to run and jump, and helped me fiddle with it, and eventually we were actually able to get it running. I took it for a spin, and it ran fairly well, but when I tried to really accelerate quickly, the RPMs shot up, but minimal power was transferred to the wheels. I could barely get it up to 50 mph
I tried to run it the next day with no luck.
I'm not sure if this is related, but before I had this problem, I noticed a problem developing: when I was sitting at a traffic light in first gear with the clutch in, I would feel the clutch slowly lose resistance, and then eventually the motorcycle would either start creeping forwards or the engine would stall.
if anyone has any thoughts about this, it would be greatly appreciated!
right now I'm living in Brooklyn, NY, but I may have to bring it back up to Portland, ME where my dad has the tools to work on it.
other background info:
my old man and I picked this motorcycle up a number of years ago. I think the guy who owned it stored it for a while and tried to start it up with the old gas, clogging up the carburetor. we attached a fuel filter and cleaned the carburetor out a number of times until it started running pretty well. it still would sometimes not fire with both cylinders, but eventually it usually gets running pretty smoothly
thanks!
anyone who lives in the Northeast States will know we had an amazing Saturday (over 60 degrees here, unheard of in January), so it was a good time to go out and get the motorcycle running after some inactivity. I had just charged the battery up, so I popped that back in and pulled it out
the starter button didn't work, but it tends not to when it's cold, so I gave it a kick. the first thing I noticed was that the kick starter just didn't have the normal resistance, and it didn't turn the engine over. I will say that sometimes it takes a second to come back up to the top, but this thing was essentially limp
I also found that in first gear the motorcycle moves around even when the clutch is out. this is definitely not normal.
someone saw me trying to run and jump, and helped me fiddle with it, and eventually we were actually able to get it running. I took it for a spin, and it ran fairly well, but when I tried to really accelerate quickly, the RPMs shot up, but minimal power was transferred to the wheels. I could barely get it up to 50 mph
I tried to run it the next day with no luck.
I'm not sure if this is related, but before I had this problem, I noticed a problem developing: when I was sitting at a traffic light in first gear with the clutch in, I would feel the clutch slowly lose resistance, and then eventually the motorcycle would either start creeping forwards or the engine would stall.
if anyone has any thoughts about this, it would be greatly appreciated!
right now I'm living in Brooklyn, NY, but I may have to bring it back up to Portland, ME where my dad has the tools to work on it.
other background info:
my old man and I picked this motorcycle up a number of years ago. I think the guy who owned it stored it for a while and tried to start it up with the old gas, clogging up the carburetor. we attached a fuel filter and cleaned the carburetor out a number of times until it started running pretty well. it still would sometimes not fire with both cylinders, but eventually it usually gets running pretty smoothly
thanks!