XL600R Hard to Start, Aftermarket upgrades Advice.

[jack strobel]

I have an 86 XL600R and I have difficulty starting it when it's very cold or inbetween "room temperature" lets say, and hot. Meaning if it's hot I can start it right up, and on a nice spring morning, i can start it with a kick or two. BUT if its hot and I park to have lunch or stop for a half hour or so it is unbelievably hard to to get re-cranked. Since I have removed the compression release from the kickstart lever it is unbelievably easier to start in any condition, and I have heard of drilling out the choke jet for a little more fuel from it (this taken from a video, i only thought the choke was an airway thing. Any help wold be appreciated, i have no info on jet sizes in it now or anything like that, it is the stock XL600R carb. 

 

I also am wondering what you guys would recommend for Modifications for the bike. IE Guage Change, Exaust, headlight, brake light, ETC. I already have LED blinkers, Pro Taper bars, Partsguy Bark busters, And a UNI-filter air filter. 

 

Thanks, Jack

[CongoXR650L]

Do you turn your petcock off between rides?  The hard restarting may be a leaky float needle. Meaning, fuel continues to leak into your float bowl & proceed to flood the carb when you park it for 30 min to have lunch. 

A lot of guys will tell you not just to turn the petcock off, but to get into the habit of turning it off a block or so away from your destination too, so that it uses the fuel in your line as well. 

Just some thoughts. 

[jack strobel]

19 hours ago, CongoXR650L said:

Do you turn your petcock off between rides?  The hard restarting may be a leaky float needle. Meaning, fuel continues to leak into your float bowl & proceed to flood the carb when you park it for 30 min to have lunch. 

A lot of guys will tell you not just to turn the petcock off, but to get into the habit of turning it off a block or so away from your destination too, so that it uses the fuel in your line as well. 

Just some thoughts. 

Thanks for responding, and thanks for the help. I usually try to turn the petcock off. To give a recent example, Yesterday I went to start the bike, It was in the mid to upper 60's and it took two kicks with the choke on and fired right up, I rode it around a little and stopped to talk to my mom and it died, I immediately went to restart it and proceeded to kick it tens of times, attempt to bump start it twice, and kick it another quite a few times before it began to finally show signs of wanting to start. A few kicks later it reluctantly started. I'm not sure what the deal is and I will look into a leaky needle, I also want to do a carb kit with some leaner or richer jets depending on what I find it needs. I just don't want to be caught, stalled at a red light on the way to work and have to kick it a million times to start it and get to work late. like i said, hot or "room temperature"(50*-60*) it starts fine 95% of the time but cold and in between just sucks. I also understand it going to be a pain cold no matter what purely because its a carbureted bike and not made for the cold.

 

Thanks, Jack

[dirtjumpordie]

What helps me when I have to re-start after a brief shutdown is to turn the petcock off, lean the bike on its side until the fuel starts draining out of the carbs.  Then I do a few full-choke kicks with the decomp lever pulled in and WOT.  After that, I turn the fuel back on and give it one good TDC kick.  

There are a few carb upgrade options for you, depending on your determination.  A lot of guys will tell you that there are no good carb upgrade options for a dual carb XR600R or XL600R. 

Here is my '85 dual carb XR600R with an FCR carb on it.  

 

Edited February 17, 2018 by dirtjumpordie

[carpenter519]

I have two xl 600 and have experienced both carb and ignition problems. I would first take the carb apart and check jet sizing and do a good cleaning. I find every other year i need to clean the carbs since i don't use mine year round. But i think you have an ignition issue. I have replaced   stators  on both my bikes with ricky stators. This is a common issue with these bikes. Here are some ohm readings for the stator   black/red and green wires 230-320 ohms  and for the pulse generator green/white and blue/yellow  36-440 ohms

[Gilligans Isle]

I drilled a hole on the bottom of my choke tube on my xl350R as the hole that was in it originally to feed fuel to the choke circuit was the size of 3 human hairs. (you can see the factory hole in the side of the tube) Not sure if it helped as it's still winter here and I haven't gotten her outside to see if she starts any better. Although when I first bought it before restoring it, It took about 30 kicks to get it started and then it would run for 2 seconds and then die. It did it twice to me. I almost died from a heart attack kicking that damn thing over. Heres a before and after pic of the drilled tube.  ? P.S. My other suggestion to you would be to remove the inspection caps on the left case, roll it over to the timing mark and then check your valve lashs and also check to see if there is a little slack in the decompression lever on the motor at that point. If the decompression lever is tight it may be holding the exhaust valve open slightly when warmed up. ?

Edited February 19, 2018 by Gilligans Isle

[targetdrone]

The dual carb models can be tricky if the linkage is not adjusted properly. If the secondary one opens too soon it will mess with your idle and lower throttle settings. 

[targetdrone]

As far as upgrades, I found weld-on footpeg clips that were an excellent addition.  

[jack strobel]

 TargetDrone Do you have a picture? Do you mean Weld on Wideners?

Edited February 21, 2018 by jack strobel

[targetdrone]

No pictures.  Sold that bike years ago. It was a cage that made the existing platform wider and longer

[dirtjumpordie]

On 2/21/2018 at 4:07 PM, jack strobel said:

 TargetDrone Do you have a picture? Do you mean Weld on Wideners?

Here is a link. https://www.bikebandit.com/aftermarket-parts/motorcycle-frame-accessories/footpegs-universal/works-connection-weld-on-footpeg-wideners/p/16625?b=46652&CRTP=psc&gclid=Cj0KCQiAw9nUBRCTARIsAG11eiccM2lijSpHIpun_fLhpoD5H-LN1JPtuqo01n3sFcHO5NPAKH-scKcaAibNEALw_wcB

[targetdrone]

Those are the ones I had welded on.