xomojo

Hi, you replied to my post about a similar problem.. Mine turned out not to be the pickup as I changed it and the same problem still occured.. I was told the CDI could go out intermittently and cause all sorts of issues that seem like something else so I changed mine along with the carb and its much better.. I wish I could say it was definitly the CDI but with the carb change at the same time who knows.. I should put the old CDI back on and see if it goes back to crap or still runs.. At the moment I'm dealing with what I think is a jetting issue.. Make sure you check his carb out real good, check the diaphram, fuel level and cleanliness.. Its very easy on that bike.. Check the air gap between the pickup coil and the flywheel.. should be no less then .6 (I forget if thats in or mm), make sure the batery has a good chage.. Make sure the handlebar kill switch works like it should.. Might want to get a new spark plug just to be safe and make sure the spark plug boot isn't worn out.. You might unscrew it from the wire lead, cut about 2 mm off of the wire lead to expose some fresh wire and re-screw it on there nice and tight.. Check the ground wire on the motor too, clean it up.. Its an easy bike to work on so these things won't take much time.. Once I get mine jetted right I'll try putting my old CDI on to see if its a good unit or not, then I will be able to tell you if in fact it was the problem with the intermittent running problems I was having like yours.. If my old CDI is bad that was my problem all along and is most likely yours too.. If my old CDI is good then my old carb was my problem all along.. talk to ya soon.. good luck.. -Joe

Nope, I checked that when I cleaned and installed this carb, he diaphram looks great.. I was thinking of trying a larger main to see what happens, maybe raising the needle a little too.. We'll see what happens after that.. thanks, Joe

STILL DOES IT.. sort of.. It feels now like the top end may be fixed but the mid range still stumbles.. and the bike feels generally more powerfull then before the float height adjustment, so it did some good but didn't fix it altogether.. I suspect my cutting off the exhaust expansion chamber has changed something that I need to compensate for.. OH, and what does a tiny pop (backfire) when I turn the bike off mean.? So what in the carb effects the midrange again.. Main jet.? needle height.? Anyone familiar with the mikuni bs34, same carb thats on xs's.. I'm not sure what to do to it, or where to get jets/parts for it.. Help please, its almost there.. thanks, joe

Ok, adjusted the valves, sealed vacuume tube and checked AND raised float height.. Now if it would only stop raining I could see if it helped anything.. Talk to ya when it dries up.. -Joe

LOL.. Yes, me and the wifey and the 2 kids live in there.. Believe that is the stock top box.? crazy huh.. I forgot to show off the wrapped exhaust, I think it looks cool.. I'll check the float height and report back.. The top box could not be here for this photo he's still very upset about the ridicule ;-)

Thought you might want to see what your helping with.. thanks again

Holly fixed it batman.. Like I said I changed out the pickup coil and nothing changed.. Then for the heck of it, while it was trying to run, I sprayed some starting flud into the airbox and BRUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMP.. Reacted to throttle and everything until the starting fluid was gone.. So off with the carb and the mother flippin float was stuck.. SO NOW, after a test ride THE FIRST ONE EVER that didn't end in the back of a pickup truck.. I have new symptoms/problems.. Finally a 'driving down the road' problem I'm so excited.. Basically it sputters at full (or 3/4) throttle maybe even as low as half throttle.. It doesn't sputter real bad but generally feels weak and has the ocassional sputter that you feel in the chasis as it losses power for a sec... At small throttle openings it seems fine.. Even peels out in the dirt.. My 81 xr200 feels faster then this thing though.. Anyway, tomorrow I'm going to adjust the valves and re-goop my vacuume hose as it has pulled out of the intake manifold and I found it leaking today after the ride, patched it and went for another with no difference in the behavior so once the tank is off I want to make sure its patched leak free.. The bike is stock except the exhaust.. I cut off the expansion chamber (was rotting off anyway), welded a patch over it and wrapped the whole exhaust in that muffler wrap stuff.. The carb is the 4th one I've put on and in the best shape of all of them I have.. And the only one I have with the plug still over the mixture screw.. Wouldn't this problem generally be carb issue.? midrange and top end is the needle and main jet size right.? Why would it need jetting or adjustment if its basically stock.? could the exhaust mod be causing an issue.? I didn't check my plug yet either.. The reading I mean, do I have to cut off the bike DURING that sputtering symptom for it to read correctly.? Sorry this is so long a post.. Thanks for th help so far.. -Joe

Ok, so I took a pickup coil off of one of my parts motors, it looks 28 years old, and replaced the one on my motor with it which looked brand new and still doing the same thing.. But the battery needs charging and I've had enough failure for today so I'm going to let the batt charge and look up that pickup coil air gap measurement and try some more later or tomorrow.. But as far as I can tell so far the pickup coil isn't the problem because the symptoms haven't changed and it still won't run for more then 8 seconds and has no idle and no response (other then to die quicker) to gas.. Any other idea if the air gap doesn't fix it..? thanks, joe

Thanks guys, I'll replace it with one of my spares and get back to you.. Crossing my fingers.. thanks, Joe

This bike is driving me nuts.. I would appreciate any help.. I was told the CDI box could either cut out all together or go out intermittently giving the symptoms of many other problems.. SO, since I had an extra I put it on along with the new carb I got for it which I first cleaned.. It fired up first push of the button.. Previous to this it would idle fine but not run under load (ran great parked but try to ride it and no go, sputter pop) So off to the end of the yard and back and she pulled through the rev range (for the first time in a year).. I get her out the gate to take down the road and thats all she's got, like it's scared of the street or something it goes limp, stalling and won't start or hold idle anymore.. back to how its acted with 3 previous carburetors and the previous CDI.. With 700 original miles I checked under the ignition cover and everything under there looks brand new.. I've replaced the ignition coil once before with no results.. Got a new plug too.. It has an inline fuel filter so I doubt its the freshly cleaned carb that shot us across the yard with no problems.. What could it be.??? What in the world is causeing this bike not to go.? Why would it work great for 50 feet then go back to not going at all 10 minutes later.? And in the manual it says something like 'if the electrical system produces a spark then the entire electrical system can be considered good' has anyone ever heard some crap like that before.? is this true.? Cause I doubt it.. I don't know if my problem is electrical, carburetion or otherwise so any help troubleshooting would be fantastic.. This has been an on and off project for over a year now and yesterdays high of having it work great for 10 minutes only to break my heart 10 minutes later has really got me pulling my hair out.. thanks, Joe 04 FZ1 86 radian 81 sr250