Honda XR650L - Just finished Dave's Mods - bike is stalling

[O Captain My Captain]

After I put everything back together, the bike fired right up, no problem. Did this another two or three times. As the engine heated up, each time the bike fired up quicker than the last. No leaks or anything. Okay, great.

Took her out for a ride and had no problems for the first 28 miles. At one point, I was stopped at a red light for about a minute and then proceeded on to the highway cruising at about 60-70 for about 3-4 miles, and as I was slowing down coming to another stop light, it stalled on me right before I came to a full stop. I switched the fuel to reserve and it started up again - BUT - the tank wasn't empty and the only reason the bike kept running after that was that I kept on the throttle. It stalled at the next light, and the next one and so on.

So, now it will start but I have to keep gassing it or else it will stall. It ran fine up until that first stall. The whole first 28 miles I was just cruising, going anywhere from 35-55 mph, coming to full stops, etc. Everything was great. Anybody have any ideas?

[Hektoglider]

maybe your newly installed pilot jet vibrated out and is sitting in the bottom of the bowl? maybe the main jet came loose instead! Is it blowing thick black smoke?

[Truckin_Thumper]

need mo than "stalling".
is it sputtering on more than 1/2 throttle?
any gas smell at the pipe?
what is the fuel mileage?

[e.Rock]

Check to see that it wasn't something simple, like the idle adjustment. IIRC, I had to adjust my idle speed after doing the Dave's mods.

-e.Rock

[Bushav8r]

Did you drill the holes in the slide and all that? I just put the Dynojet kit in mine and had good luck with it. A friend of mine has the same stalling issues as you and hasn't sorted it out yet either.

[O Captain My Captain]

Originally Posted by e.Rock

Check to see that it wasn't something simple, like the idle adjustment. IIRC, I had to adjust my idle speed after doing the Dave's mods.

-e.Rock

Thanks everyone for all the suggestions, but I think eRock might be on the money. I started it again tonight and before doing anything at all it fired right up as usual and ran for about 20 seconds or so before stalling out. Then I adjusted my idle up a hair, fired it up again and after that it just idled as usual, so I think this might be it. I will know for sure when I take it out again in a couple of days for a good 20+ mile ride, especially on the highway. Maybe the engine just needed to adjust to the new mods for awhile before deciding what it needed. I will say that even prior to doing the mods my bike idled pretty low, almost to the point where it sounded like it was about to stall but never did.

I didn't notice any of the other symptoms mentioned above after doing Dave's mods - no backfiring, no popping on deceleration or throttle sputtering, no smoke, smells, leaks, etc. In fact, other than the stalling issue, the bike ran like a champ. These simple carb mods really make the XRL come alive and smooth out the engine. Very nice indeed.

[Bushav8r]

The idle adjustment will change a lot as the bike warms up. This might be why it doesn't start stalling out until you have been out on the highway. I put one of those Tiny Tach things on my bike to see exactly what it was doing. Did you take the smog pump off your bike? It is easy to reach down with your left hand to adjust the idle if you get rid of the smog pump and associated hardware.

[bongodave]

Sounds like a low idle. Play with that and your mixture screw a little, until it purrs. It will. It's a Honda!

[mdkm85]

I second that

[kta]

I adjust the idle on my XR frequently every ride, get in the habit and your bike will purr smoothly in any conditions.

[O Captain My Captain]

Originally Posted by kta

I adjust the idle on my XR frequently every ride, get in the habit and your bike will purr smoothly in any conditions.

Thanks. It's all fixed now. Turned out to be as simple as adjusting the idle a little higher.

Thanks to all for the help.

[rh ride hard]

I want to thank everyone for walking me through my stall out problem. I just signed up to tell you thanks and add a bit to the troubleshooting of the bike. My bike is a 1999 bought it last year with 4400 miles on her. Driven only on dry pavement. Washed after every ride and had her servicer three times in the 4400 miles. I however put 6000 miles on her the first 7 months I had the bike. Rain shine salt and snow. At 10400 miles she started stalling out at different times. I got on this site and started picking off your suggestions. First check the gas tank vent, then the plug, then the safety switches, then set the valves, then the float, then the idle and last the ing. mod. in the battery compartment. Turns out if I moved the black box the bike ran if I mored it when the bike was running it would stall. The cheapest one I could find was $106.00 so I thought I would give the bike one more time over. Turns out when I pulled the electrical connection out of the black box it was corroded bad. I took some HCL hydrochloric acid and cleaned the connection. Put her back together and with all the work I had completed on the bike she runs, no she screams. Hope this little add to the good advice I got off this site helps someone else Thanks.

[Microbuss1103]

My xrl wont even start :(
It was not wanting to start over and would some times take 3 tries to actually start. I was told by a friend to check compression and i was only getting 50psi with full throttle, and he told me to give it a squirt of oil to see if the psi goes up (means rings are bad aparently). Now when you hit the "magic button" it either 1) just turns over and over, 2) does half a turn, gets stuck or something and then turns another half a turn, 3) not do anything, or 4) just sit there turning over and then once you let the button go and try it again....NOTHING.
Me and a friend got it running by push starting it down a hill and it ran for about 1/4 of a mile (all the while smoking the neighbors out) and then just died on me and i was just cruising up and down the road.
Could that be the starter motor going bad? Any suggestions?

[ThumpnRed]

Originally Posted by Microbuss1103

My xrl wont even start :(
It was not wanting to start over and would some times take 3 tries to actually start. I was told by a friend to check compression and i was only getting 50psi with full throttle, and he told me to give it a squirt of oil to see if the psi goes up (means rings are bad aparently). Now when you hit the "magic button" it either 1) just turns over and over, 2) does half a turn, gets stuck or something and then turns another half a turn, 3) not do anything, or 4) just sit there turning over and then once you let the button go and try it again....NOTHING.
Me and a friend got it running by push starting it down a hill and it ran for about 1/4 of a mile (all the while smoking the neighbors out) and then just died on me and i was just cruising up and down the road.
Could that be the starter motor going bad? Any suggestions?

Take your question to the main XR650L thread... you will get a lot more responses. http://advrider.com/forums/showthrea...4834&page=2978

btw... sounds like your top end is toast.

[rivercreep]

Originally Posted by Microbuss1103

My xrl wont even start :(
It was not wanting to start over and would some times take 3 tries to actually start. I was told by a friend to check compression and i was only getting 50psi with full throttle, and he told me to give it a squirt of oil to see if the psi goes up (means rings are bad aparently). Now when you hit the "magic button" it either 1) just turns over and over, 2) does half a turn, gets stuck or something and then turns another half a turn, 3) not do anything, or 4) just sit there turning over and then once you let the button go and try it again....NOTHING.
Me and a friend got it running by push starting it down a hill and it ran for about 1/4 of a mile (all the while smoking the neighbors out) and then just died on me and i was just cruising up and down the road.
Could that be the starter motor going bad? Any suggestions?

1. the oil you put in the top-end is probably fouling the motor out now....clean that out first. (in regards to the highlighted part)
2. learn how to properly check your compression as the throttle doesn't have a thing to do with it. (when testing compression)
3. The first rule of thumb that most guys forget, is that a bike has to be running properly BEFORE you start fucking with any jetting issues, to start with. (if your starting from stock form)

Ask youself another question...WHY would the starter motor (if it's turning the motor over fast enough) affect how the engine runs or even starts IF it's turning the engine over.
It never fails to amaze me how many guys think re-jetting a bike is some kind of cure-all.

I'm sorry if I sound condescending above but, I'm actually trying to throw some helpful advice at you as well and stopped myself short of saying....
...just take it to a shop as even your friend sounds pretty clueless. (if he said throttle position has anything to do with a compression check)

Keep us posted as we really are here to help.