Please help this old dawg - she won't run!!!

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billymac

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I'm new to the forum, but have 50 amateur years working on 46 different bikes that I've owned. Just bought a nice xs400h street tracker from reputable builder in MN. It just won't start. I've checked every possible thing I can think of; electrical, ignition, carbs, etc., and fuel tap seems to be most likely culprit - either feast or famine. Who developed this fool tap? Whatever happened to on/off/reserve. This stock item is nightmarish. Anyone have any ideas for me to make a switch to another type, or, God forbid, does anyone have a NOS tap? This thing has been driving me crazy for 4 days. Even went so far as to order a (shame) Haynes Manual, and an owner's manual. Previous owner said bike was a cold starter, but it's sitting in 70 degree, climate-controlled shed. Only change I denote from stock is that it does have K&N type individual pod air filters. I never had this much problem rebuilding a Heath Manx from junk. Thank you. BillyMac
 
Billy, if you do a search on this forum, you will have all the manuals and information you need!

your not on your own with issues, but they are all doable!
 
Billy,

If you just run fuel into the bike thru an auxiliary tank does it run? If so, get the new petcock. They're to be had on ebay for next to nothing.

We also note that certain mechanics with many years of experience complain about the stock parts on the bike, which confuses those of us whose unmolested bikes with 36 plus years of life still run like new....

so as we told an angry mechanic in florida who insisted, absolutely insisted on running pods....get it to run with some mikunis first to eliminate that problem.

best of luck

Drewcifer
 
Drewcifer said:
so as we told an angry mechanic in florida who insisted, absolutely insisted on running pods....get it to run with some mikunis first to eliminate that problem.
Click to expand...

Bwahaha. I remember that ordeal. Hilarious. He was so hell bent on not listening to us that he ended up switching to Keihin carbs from a Honda if I recall. Silly pride :)
 
bcware said:
Bwahaha. I remember that ordeal. Hilarious. He was so hell bent on not listening to us that he ended up switching to Keihin carbs from a Honda if I recall. Silly pride :)
Click to expand...

How about the more recent member who told us our Mikuni carbs are junk!I dont remember what his handle was but it should have been BadAttitude:laugh:
 
Billy,

Can you tell us exactly what the bike is doing? What do you see, hear, and smell? The more info you can provide, the better.

Then tell us what you have checked and/or replaced. I'm sure that one of us here has been where you are and fixed it!

Dave
 
Dave; thank you for your response. I've had flu and acute bronchitis, and have not actually done more than run the battery down repeatedly trying to start the bike. I have not been thinking straight! When feeling better, I intend to see if the petcock is properly distributing the fuel (although I did pay $100. For a new one), install NGK Iridium plugs, and try to crank it. Then I'm stumped. Not sure how much Super Trapps and KN pod filters would hinder starting. Builder of bike is extremely reputable and he told me bike was not a good cold starter. Maybe a slightly warmer plug may help starting, but I have yet to hear even a chug out of the pipes indicating that it might be trying to start. Your advice solicited. This damn flu and bronchitis completely destroyed the holidays for my family and I. Thank you. Billy
 
Billy, I had a lingering dry cough for three weeks. I've gone through two entire bottles of nyquil to get sleep, so i can relate.

Make sure that your coils are hooked up correct and not reversed. Check the air filters arent' oil saturated and full of dusties/crusties, try to fuel the bike with a spare/auxilliary tank and make sure the fuel is ample, not just filling the bowls. There's a lot of little tweaks to the old AIR GAS SPARK trio.

Another reason the bike might be starting poorly is the timing. Is it points? If not, make sure all the wires are correctly fitted etc.

The beauty of the xs bikes is their simplicity. Two weeks getting to know her and she'll be your mule. Reliable, hard working, and runs on a few treats a week.

Best of luck

Drewcifer
 
Coils hooked up correctly?.. No comprehended! Pod filters are in place of stockers; also has Super Trappes. Not sure any mods done to compensate for these. Have sprayed ether in left side carb several times. Don't even know where points are yet, let alone correct setting. Thank you for help. Billy
 
billymac said:
Coils hooked up correctly?.. No comprehended! Pod filters are in place of stockers; also has Super Trappes. Not sure any mods done to compensate for these. Have sprayed ether in left side carb several times. Don't even know where points are yet, let alone correct setting. Thank you for help. Billy
Click to expand...

If your bike is similair to my 360 enduro it will be underneith driverside side cover which should have some allen screws that hold it in place.
 
billymac said:
You're speaking of the coils? Throttle side or clutch side? Thank you. Billy
Click to expand...

Your coils are underneith the gas tank one one each side.
Your points are underneith the side cover on the bottom left of the engine.Someone can correct me on this if im wrong but I could start on your point settings should be ..-.025-035 you can use feeler guages to measure the opening.
 
If I am not mistaken, yours is a 80 or 81, since you ID it as a 400h. So its a SOHC, with electronic ignition. Something all of us have in common, is among the first things we do is "Never believe the PO", 2, get a fuel filter, pull the carbs off and validate that its clean. Blow everything out every opening etc.

Clean Gas is invaluable. Spark is a really necessary. so the Coil check is really important, its in the on-line manual. Click Tech on top of the page for most important walk though's. http://www.xs400.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4503 (manual here)

Okay something that is special with our bikes (400sh) yours 400h is that the petcock needs a vacum to go on. So worst case you need to flush fuel down via the prime. Prime is is the same as valve open. So in theory you can unplug the fuel line from the carb, and if its on "on" or "reserve" it will only dribble out, till the line is dry. So put it in prime on the initial run. I suspect that with the fuel in the bowl, there is enough fuel to normally be available for any of the XS400's to run well enough for the tap to receive the vacuum and open up the valve.

With that said, is the vacuum line plugged in right? its usually plugged into the right side carb boot motor mount. Then it goes up and over, to the fuel tap.

Something I would also recommend, is to connect up a fuel line (Clear, see though tubing) to the Fuel bowl, and then open up, run some fuel into a can or something, just to get the Fuel floats some work. (Check the fuel float since your here.) If you go back into the history of these blogs, you will find most of us have had something wrong here, for me it was one bad float. I would get it to run one day,then next day it would not start up at all. then I would start up again with removing the Carbs.

Good luck
 
If you can validate its getting fuel then you know you have an issue with no spark by checking the coils while cranking the engine over.If theres no spark then theres only a few things to check,points and condenser if it has one.Coils,ignition timing or the cdi and or the rectifier.I would check the points and see if they are opening and closing and the condition of them.My guess since you said you tried starting fluid and that didnt work then you have no spark issue.Another easy way to check for fuel is remove the plugs and see if they are wet.I think about every issue that can keep the bike from starting has been covered here Good luck with it.
 
If I am not mistaken, yours is a 80 or 81, since you ID it as a 400h. So its a SOHC, with electronic ignition. Something all of us have in common, is among the first things we do is "Never believe the PO",
Click to expand...
.
Just bought a nice xs400h street tracker from reputable builder in MN.
Click to expand...

I am betting there is no points, based on that 400h is an 80 or 81. and there fore, electronic ignition. It was recently pointed out to me, that one of the differences between my bike, and theirs, was front is a drum on a 400h, where its a caliper system, for my 400sh. Since it was modified, perhaps it is a points engine, Say Billy On the Engine, near the kickstart is the serial number, can you post the first 3 digits? Mine is listed in my signature on the bottom here, I suspect it should be some thing close to that! Thanks

http://www.amckayltd.com/carbguide.pdf remember ours are the BS34, The guide was written with our sister bike in mind. So use the measure ments off this site if you were to do anything more than clean your carb.

http://www.factorypro.com/tech/tech_tuning_procedures/tuning_carbtune,CV,lower_rpm_engines.html
That site is really neat how it goes though the different stages of operations.
 
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My bad your right it is probaly just cdi unless someone converted it back to points.I know on some yamaha models mainly the old 2 strokes the cdi`s were notorious for failing.Im wondering if that is whats wrong with Billy`s Bike:shrug:In that case that elinates one the elctrical issues I mentioned above which should be easier to find the problem.
 

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