Dave C

People try allsorts of carb cleaners with varying levels of success, but i have never had any faith in carb cleaners cleaning out gunk from carbs that have been sat for a while, they are great for keeping a clean system clean but to remove any serious buildup you cant beat stripping and cleaning, also if it does loosen up any build up it may just end up blocking some other part of the carb. You could try it first to see if it improves it, did you get the ratio of kerosine to mix with the petrol.

If you have a good spark at all plugs then really it has to be fuel, if it was mine i would remove carbs and give a good clean

You could try the XJ600 Pre diversion as it shares a lot of parts with the YX, but you would have to check fork length and diameter just to be sure.

Anyone going to Ridewell at Preston Hall and Museum, Yarm Road, Stockton at the weekend. Going to try to get there, other commitments permitting. http://www.ridewell.org.uk/component/optio...tpage/Itemid,1/

1982 Xj650 maxim is electronic

Dont know about coil spec but as it was a track bike has the ignition been altered and are you using road going plugs as i would think plugs for track use would be a different heat range, which i suspect would give you a problem.

Just after recomendations for paint for a tank. Going to paint it black and was looking at PJ1 frame paint high gloss as it sounds like its harder then most paints you can apply yourself and should not need laquer, anybody used it. Tried halfords petrol resistant laquer but every now and then it puts out a good size lump that looks like evostick and ruins it, used normal laquer and even after leaving for a few weeks to cure properly petrol just burns through it. So any recomendation or would it be worth the extra money to go to a spray shop for 2 pack. thanks Dave C

to drain oil out there should be a drain plug on the bottom of the engine, if its the same as the 2 previous versions of the XJ it should be at the front under the oil filter.

All i could sugest is check coils and plug caps with a multimeter as they may be breaking down, general checks for loose wiring and dirty connectors. Also if there was enough dirt in the carbs to block a main jet then you may need to spend a bit more time on them, making sure everything including airways are clear.

How long was a while, possibly just needs carbs cleaning.

I have the xj650 with 4-1 but it was on when i got it, jets are standard and has no flat spots. I think rejetting only becomes an issue if you fit pods aswell.

Give these a ring they may be able to help http://www.nrp-carbs.co.uk

Try here, find the model click on part number and it will give you any other models that part was fitted to http://www.cmsnl.com/search.php?s_name=virago Hope it helps

Give these a try http://shop.wemoto.com/index.dyn never had a problem with them, i also think a lot of the xj600 pre diversion stuff will fit aswell.

Dont really know, but my thoughts on it are if it should have resistance and it has none or or way to high, then something is breaking down and they need replacing. The resister will be in the path of the current and maybe if its breaking down its ok at low revs but starts to play up as the revs get higher, i know when i replaced mine the difference was amazing, it could possibly be you are having the same problem. The resistance on mine should have been 5k and it was showing 12k on the meter.

plug cap resistance should be 10k according to manual ignition coil primary resistance 1.8 - 2.2 ohms secondary resistance 9600 - 14400 ohms

Has it been sat and not used for a while, if it has it could need carbs cleaning, but i would first replace plugs see if that improves it. If you have a multimeter you could check plug caps to see if they are still in spec, i had similar problem to you replaced plugs and the caps showed 12k plus resistance so i replaced them aswell, it now flies to the redline when asked. As for performance my XJ650 just gets into its stride at 6k+ so i would think the 600 would be the same.

I found with my front brakes it did not like to pump fluid through open lines, seems like it needs slight resistance. I did this but by slackening the bleed nipple by the smallest amount i could then it seemed to bleed ok but you still need to pump the lever like a demon until the fluid starts to go through.

Use copper slip grease on the back of the brake pads anywhere it come into contack with the caliper, just dont get it on the disk or the front of the pads cos the brakes wont squeal but you might when you try to stop.

Two things come to mind, you could try turning the mixture screw out another turn or so, my xj would not even fire on 2.5 turns out(as per manual), or the carbs need a good cleaning especially the starter jets.

The XJ650 uses wasted spark ignition, which means it sparks on every revolution wether its ignition stroke or exhaust stroke, so you could swap leads 1 and 4 over and it would make no difference to the running of the bike, same goes for 2 and 3, so firing order does not come into it.

is there nothing in the destructions to guide you

Have you tried to raise the idle speed, i would think there would be a adjuster on the carbs.

possibly a worn clutch basket

Clutch stiff to operate - good chance the cable has rusted up, easy way to check is to disconnect both ends and it should move quite freely, if it is difficult to move you could try lubricating it or the easier option is to replace it with new. Backfire through airbox is a sign of a weak mixture, this could just be the carb needs setting up but more than likely the carbs just need a very thorough clean, slightly blocked jets will give a weak or lean mixture. Its quite easy to do just a bit time consuming. This is also the probable cause of the revs rising to 4-5k and then slowly coming back down. You could have a look on www.xjbikes.com The Radian is a very close relation to the xj and there is a lot of carb cleaning info on the site. As stated above get yourself a manual it will repay its cost many times over.