how many kicks does it take you to start up?

sly409

sly409

XS400 Addict
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Hey guys just wondering how many kicks it takes for you to start up and if you noticed a difference in number of kicks required after a thorough carb cleaning? I started my bike up but it took me around 10 kicks on a hot day to start it. Did the test with starting fluid and that helped it start in 1 kick but made the rpms shoot up real high too. Makes me believe I didnt clean my carbs enough so I wanted to see if anyone else noticed a difference after a really good cleaning.
 
Sounds like you didn't put the carbs back properly.If it revs high means it sucks air somewhere..Make sure all screws are tight.Hope this helps...:thumbsup:

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It only revved high when I used starter fluid to start it up. Shot up to around 4-5k and slowly settled down as it burns off the rest of the fluid. Regular rpms are around 1500-2k. I still gotta play with the idle.
 
The revs shooting up is normal when you spray it with starting fluid; it does the same thing on full choke.

Does the bike start in one kick when it is fully warmed?
 
Should be one or two at most. I had the same problem and went through everyone's trouble shooting. In the end really clean carbs and new diaphragms http://jbmindustries.com/Yamaha650.html made all the difference. My diaphragms didn't have holes but they were so brittle they wouldn't let the needle close all the way which meant too much air not enough gas. You can test b4 u take the carbs back off just push up the needle with ur finger and let it drop. If it doesn't slide smoothly get the $20 fix.
 
My sons XS400 starts very very slow, when it's cold - at least 20-30 kicks. When it's warm, it starts at first kick.

When cold it won't accept any choke or throttle at all, and it only comes to live very slowly - little by little it starts to run, and it has to stay at idle for half a minute, before it accepts any throttle. I suppose it needs some sort of adjustment of the carbs ? But no idea which...
 
fuel on, choke on. wait for fuel to fill carb bowls.

1 kick with no ignition
2nd kick with ignition and no throttle and it fires, then reduce choke to 1/2 then let her warm up.
 
drewpy said:
fuel on, choke on. wait for fuel to fill carb bowls.

1 kick with no ignition
2nd kick with ignition and no throttle and it fires, then reduce choke to 1/2 then let her warm up.
Click to expand...

Sounds like what I do.

-With an XS400, all carbs are dirty until proven otherwise.
"But I just cleaned it..."
- does your bike start on 3 or less kicks and idle and run smooth"
"well, no"
- your carbs are dirty.

Assuming the spark is strong and the timing right, the ONLY way you can prove to me your carbs are clean is for the bike to run correctly, stories about cleaning, pictures, whatever, I do not accept.
 
so you guys all noticed the number of kicks required to start changed much after a good carb cleaning? I'm pretty certain mines are still dirty as I only went through them once. I'm hoping after several more cleanings that the number will go down from around 10 kicks to 2-3 kicks.
 
Assuming everything else is right, the carbs are the hardest things to get perfect and they have to be darned near perfect to work well.

I bet you're right.
 
Cleaned my carbs today due to this issue.
I have a points bike and found they were the cause of my annoying sometimes one kick, sometimes 13 kinda bike. (the battery seems to have a bad cell and no longer wants to crank my starter, drops to 3 volts during starter button use, so it's only good for kicking at this point.)

New points will be my solution. Not sure if you guys with later bikes face that issue at all. But oy vey I do.
 
Thanks for pointing that out drewcifer. Actually I havent adjusted my points yet either. I need to do valve clearance also. Maybe both of those combined with a thorough cleaning of the carbs again will fix the issue for me.
 
Oh wow. When I did my valves I didn't even need to fully kick down the starter, it just BOOOM! Started instantly. you'll see what I mean. Do both and you'll see a massive improvement.

However, learn from my mistake. BEFORE you do the points, buy a replacement set and have spares on hand. I cracked one last night since the pivot is made from fiber. You be able to adjust them, but the spares mean you won't have downtime if one is unsalvageable (usually one side wears more than the other side)
 
Drewcifer said:
Oh wow. When I did my valves I didn't even need to fully kick down the starter, it just BOOOM! Started instantly. you'll see what I mean. Do both and you'll see a massive improvement.

However, learn from my mistake. BEFORE you do the points, buy a replacement set and have spares on hand. I cracked one last night since the pivot is made from fiber. You be able to adjust them, but the spares mean you won't have downtime if one is unsalvageable (usually one side wears more than the other side)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice, I havent even taken off my points cover to see how they are. Your response is exactly what I'm looking for. Proof that valves and points adjustment along with cleaned carbs will reduce the number of kicks required to start.
 
Yes, that is a very important adjustment for points guys like us.

New points are replaced with a new condenser at the same time to eliminate guessing. This is also why I harp on the idea that condensers are rarely if ever bad, if properly serviced, they are replaced every two years or life of points. Not long enough to fail!

Good luck, memorize the specs, get your feeler gauges, watch some youtube vids: http://www.youtube.com/user/dawino6260


These guys are a tech school all on their own!

Good luck

Drewcifer
 

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