Its getting colder here in Denver and it takes a long time to start my xr650l. I mean I almost drain my battery every time. Do my valves need to be adjusted? I have 11k on the clock and I dont know if the PO has adjusted them before.

Or- are they just hard to start when cold?

if its the valves, how hard are they to adjust? I can change oil and plugs, thats the extent of my mechanic knowledge


~on a side note, I have 20-50 synthetic oil in it, is this too thick? also, I hear a winding or something by my right foot when I start it until I crack it one and it seems to lube it self up~

1) check out the 1st post of this thread http://www.thumperta...&highlight=cold

* note the part about shutting the petcock OFF while running at the end of your previous ride, it's the key to setting up this startup sequence

2) imho, 20-50 might be overkill for the cold weather

1997 XR650L said:

What temps?

Stock jetting?

How long after sitting?

Do they run gasohol (E10) in your area?

The buzzing noise is fairly common and normal, thought to be a check valve or pressure relief valve.

At 11K if you don't know if the valves have been checked, you should check 'em.


Dave

YES you should check your valves!! and for cold temps i agree that startups are hard with 20/50, mine always started fine but denver winter you should go 10/40

1997 XR650L said:

Valves are "fairly" easy to check.

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Shouldn't be that hard to start. Fuel formulation (ethanol) or the oil viscosity could be a factor with hard starting at low temps.

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Get a Honda Factory Service or other quality service manual first, get the right tools & then you could consider attempting to adjust the valve lash or gap, if they are out of spec.

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I don't live in a freezing climate but this could be an issue if the engine is really straining to turn over, let alone start. I run 15W-50 full synth in mine all year but my XRL gets to sleep in a comfy garage when parked...

Keep Ridin'
D_D
"It can't be the rider, it's gotta be the bike. Yeah, that's it..."

thanks for the replies:

bone stock bike

Ill try to run it out of gas, but its my dd and my acerbis has dual petcocks, that means I turn off the gas 1/2 way home.

I read a bid about this and it just seems they are hard to start in winter.

I have 500 miles left on my 20/50, Ill change oil but itll be summer again and 20/50 is good for me.

Ill check valves over weekend. It starts very easy in summer so Im not sure they are out of wack.

and we dont have e10 (?). I use 97 octane

Bone stock it's a bit lean, and if you don't have ethanol in the gas, you will at some point. Then, it will be leaner.

With the low compression, after sitting for even just a week I drain the bowl (gas off), turn the gas on, see it dribble, close the drain, start it right up.

Dave

and for that motor you DONT need 97 octane! dont waste your money on the premium gas, 87 octane (or your lowest grade) is more than fine. these are low compression motors at 8.3-1 and high octane actually is a waste and very slightly takes a little perfomance away, the key in all is use the lowest grade fuel that you dont get detonation (pinging) and your fine. NO benefit to using hi octane if not needed.

You do need to rejet for your area, with you being 6000 ft and up prolly will be a slight change, but you should do "daves mods" too to get a bit better performance, AND remove the snorkel on the top of intake airbix. ALL in the FAQ and great performance free stuff you can do.

Rejet your bike (try up one size on each) and it'll start almost instantly on half choke. No more need for full choke ever.

it was bought here in Denver, wouldnt it be jetted already?
Daves mods scare me cuz I think i can screw it up

This thread has reminded me that now that it has finally cooled off a bit, it takes a bit more care to get the XRL started. Since I bought the thing in December, I had about four months of tricky starting when cold, then everything was easy after that. Except for the occasional case of stopping the bike for 20 minutes after riding long distances on a hot day - that sometimes resulted in some difficult starting.

Turning the fuel off before turning the bike off seems to help in both cases - too cold or too hot.

The other thing that helps when hot is to follow the instructions in the owner's manual and turn the run switch to off, hold the throttle wide open, then crank for about ten seconds. Turn it back to run, close the throttle, and it seems to start without too much trouble.

Sometimes I'm glad that my other bikes have fuel injection and are happy to start in all weather conditions. But I'm also thankful for the electric starter on the XRL. I can remember kicking over the DR350S that I owned a long time ago and wondering if it would EVER start.

thanks for all the input.

Adjusting your jets from the stock condition is pretty much a necessity. You won't find one thread on here that says otherwise. It is easy. The carb is amazingly simple. You basically remove the carb's bowl, unscrew the old jets, and screw in the new ones. The biggest difference people notice is the ease in starting. It also reduces the popping on deceleration and gives it a small performance boost.

The rest of "Dave's carb mods" are optional. People shim the needle and drill out the slide holes to improve throttle response but the benefits are slight at best. You can change the jest without doing this stuff.

When your bike is running before the engine cranks over once, you'll know you did the right thing. :thumbsup:

akarob said:

Okay> I take out my jets, bring them to the shop and go 1 size up on both the pilot and main jet?

Daves mods, high altitude, I dont think it will do much

Turn up your idle for easier cold starts. Also clean your air filter, add a new plug, and check your valves.

1997 XR650L said:

if you do dave's mods, this was a great little site for ordering jets http://www.jetsrus.com/

no affiliation, they just had good prices and service

if you do the mods, I'd go whole hog and shim needle, drill slide, desnorkel, uni foam filter, etc.

FYI, the washer for shimming the needle is Dubro flat washer #4, < $1.00 per bag

so without replacing the pipe, dave's mods are easily less than $50 I'd say, not bad!

Yeah $50 for all jets and UNI filter is a good investment with daves mods to carb

1997 XR650L said:

Well, I'll assume you have the stock jets.

I THINK the stock sizes are - 50 pilot 150 main. (152 might be stock main, I forget)

+1 the Jets R Us site. Prompt service, no BS, just Jets. You want the Part Numbers?

Keihin Jets part numbers / sizes below.

Main 99101-393 #152
Slow N424-26 #52

Here's a link to the thread I did on Daves Mod's. It only shows pictures of the actual carb mods, not replacing the jets.
http://www.thumperta...ad.php?t=755748

Tell ya what - remove your carb - send it to me and I will do the mods for you. It is not hard. Starts will be a snap!

yeah I don't even recall the stock jet sizes at this point

dave's mods kicks them up to 55/158 but if you're using the stock pipe, not sure...

also high altitude could have an effect on what you decide to go with

a search on the web would probably turn up some good hits if you add 'altitude' to the parameters