help! rough idling and eventual stall - diagnosis?

C

caleb

Member
hey folks,

so, i'm new. i mean, REALLY new. as in, just figured out where to put oil in.

i bought (private sale) a 1983 yamaha xj650 maxim on july 14th of this year (two weeks ago), and it was certified. almost immediately, the bike started stalling.

i'll start the bike, let it warm up for about five minutes (maybe less with the heat wave), and start riding. after about ten minutes, it'll start to chug or threaten to stall at red lights, so i put the choke on full to try and save myself from stalling. this'll work for another ten minutes or so, and then the bike gives up on me. sometimes it'll start up again right afterwards, sometimes not.

i know this type bike is known for carb problems, but those were apparently cleaned when it was certified.

any ideas what's going on? i'm hoping it's something easy (i.e. run some sea foam through it - haven't done this yet) rather than having to take it in.

any help is greatly appreciated.
 
When was it certified? Who did the carb cleaning? When someone trying to sell me a bike tells me the carbs have been cleaned, I don't put a lot of weight into that. People have different ideas on what is sufficient for cleaning them - not that long ago someone in the same twenty minutes told me that the carbs were rebuilt, and one of the pilot jets was probably clogged. If you're not comfortable with working on it, I would bring it in at this point.
 
Sounds like a spark related problem: sparkplugs, bad wires or likely bad ignition coil? Have a pro look at it if you aren't inclined at stuff like that. Also there must be a way to adjust the idle speed? I would look for that first.
 
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