RSF

She's running beautifully! Was certainly too lean, but now just right. Thanks for linking me to that info. After screwing around with those carbs several times, carbs are starting to make sense finally! Put about 20 miles on the bike now. Would have been more, but apparently the tail light comes on when you lock the bars. Didn't see that, in the bright sunlight, but there is an extra key position I guess! Can't see that either on the ignition switch lol! So needless to say, the bike was dead as a doornail the morning after fixing the carb issue. Won't make that mistake again this week. But now all good. Thanks again!

Thanks guys! I'll look into this and hopefully have a big smile this weekend. I appreciate the help. Frank

Hi all! Carbs seem to be an issue on this bike looking back through the threads a bit. My bike starts right up, has new intake boots, carbs cleaned a few times, new stock filters, but it just is not right. Engine revs, but is really slow coming back down. The throttle cable is working, and It seems like the carbs follow without delay. But it still takes it's time coming back down on the rpm's. I put 6 miles on it yesterday, and as the bike got warmer, the idle speed wanted to climb up to around 3000. But bring the bike to a halt with the clutch in, and it would drop back down to 1000. Anyone have a clue what causes this? Or how to fix it? Thank you! Frank 81 XS400SH

Thanks for the replies! Is there anything in the carbs that should not be cleaned that way? Or is it safe for all parts?

I have an 400 Special that I picked up from a guy who has let it sit for about 6 years. I took the carbs off, and sprayed them with carb cleaner really well, and got it running, but not great. Replaced the plugs, wires, etc, but still runs a little ragged. I've heard a couple people mention ultra sonic carb cleaning here, and was curious just what this involves. I have a good buddy that runs a repair dept. for industrial water purification equiptment. He has one of these units at his work and offered to clean my carbs for me. Should the carbs be completely disassembled for this, or just put into the cleaner as a whole? He doesn't use the machine for anything as intricate as carbs, and asked me if they should be torn down to do it, or just left alone as they are. I'm a novice at bike repair, and do not really want to get in over my head with needles, jetting, floats etc, possibly making the running issues worse if it's not necessary just yet. If it is necessary however, I'll go ahead and do it. Any help on this would be appreciated.

Thank you! We got an Aldi not too far from my house, I'll take a ride out there to get one.

Thanks, I'll have to try that this weekend. Drewpy, What's ultrasonics?

Thanks Gnash. I never even would have thought of that! I'm assuming you mean wrapping them neatlty around the main fencing, and just replacing the fiber piece that goes bad? Cool idea!

I just went to my local thief cycle center, and they want $36 a piece for the air filters. Is there a good on-line place for ordering them? Has anyone ever used pod filters, or are they a joke?

Thanks everyone for the replies on the lights! I can't wait to get this sucker on the road. Now that I know the bike doesn't need running lights, I can get it inspected.

Thanks for your reply. I'm talking about the front running lights not working. The turn signals do, but the running lights don't. It seems like all other bikes I see, have running lights. Most don't have rear running lights which I think is silly, but that's a whole different issue I guess. The headlight does not come on until the engine is running. This surprised me too, but makes sense when you really think about it. Why waste extra battery juice while starting your bike?

Thanks for the reply. They don't work while the bike is running either though. But now I know to mess with them while the bike is running.

I had this happen to me over the weekend. It turned out to be the fuse wire lugs under the seat for the ignition. I tried squeezing the fuse first with the key turned, and it made contact. Then I thought I would clean the fuse contact, and both lugs broke like dried twigs popping the fuse out. Since my bike is also an 81 400, you may want to check that if you haven't found a problem yet. If you replaced the ignition switch with a used one, check and clean all the contacts for the switch. I have now had both of these issues with this bike, and have only had it a few months.

Hi everyone, I'm new to this site, and the street bike world. I was hoping to get a little help for a couple problems I'm having. This April, I bought an old 81 400 that somebody stopped caring for about 8 years ago. I've taken the time to go over almost everything, with the exceptiption of tearing down the motor. I have it running, and shifting, tuned up, carbs cleaned etc. But one of my problems seems to be the motor speed when pulling in the clutch to shift through the gears. When the bike is in neutral, the throttle seems to snap right back along with the rpms. When riding though, the rpm's seem to not want to drop right as I'm going through the gears. Anyone know if this is normal to the bikes, or something's wrong? My other issue is the running lights. They don't work. I'm pretty sure they did when I bought the bike, but now they don't. Turnsignals work normal, headlight and highbeam work when the bike is running, but not when the key is turned on before it starts. My other bike is not this way, but I don't know how the 400 is supposed to be. There aren't any wire connections that seem loose or anything, and I even tried a different bulb. Any help would be really appreciated.