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Honda XR650L Help

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TallGears

TallGears

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I have recently purchased a 2001 Honda XR650L that has sat a lot in the past 10 years. It had only a little over 4k miles on it when I purchased it a month ago.

I am looking for two things; I am interested in learning on how to work on this bike because it is simple enough to not be intimidating and I feel like I could learn how to work on it without having to get some sort of mechanic degree first. (Simple stuff anyway).

I am interested in trying to do some carb work and am looking for someone semi-local to the DFW area to help me. I have read a lot of great things about Dave's carb mod and would be interested in doing that while the carb is apart for cleaning, but may be interested in just a normal "carb rebuild/cleaning??" if I can find someone who is willing to help/teach a noob some things.

I thought I would name off a few "symptoms" I am experiencing that make me think it is a gunked up carb and to see what you guys think:

I understand the XR is cold natured but I don't think it should be stalling out after a 20-30 minute ride (Some highway some back road 30-40 mph). This symptom is my biggest complaint, it seems to just fall flat so to speak when I roll out of the throttle.

The bike runs great and seems to have lots of power when its running and when you are on the throttle, but again, the idle seems to fall too low when I roll off the throttle and just falls all the way to 0 and shuts off.

Before the seafoam and a few tanks of gas it would stall at every stop but I have seen pretty significant improvements just through riding it almost daily and putting seafoam through the tank. I think that has been a big help because it did sit so much but I think I'm going to need more than that to get it running right.

I know there are alot of knowledgeable people around here and I'm just reaching out to see if anyone would be available/willing to help. I'd be happy to buy lunches or breakfasts or other reasonable requests for anyone who helps! Plus it would be great to meet someone new at TWT who I could go ride with. :rider:

Sorry for the long post but I appreciate all the help in advance.
 
go to xr650l sign in..ask iridered2003 he seem's to have good knowlege about carb's an such. how ever you in dfw.....red is in galveston :sun: just tryin to help...:clap: good luck............
 
go to xr650l sign in..ask iridered2003 he seem's to have good knowlege about carb's an such. how ever you in dfw.....red is in galveston just tryin to help... good luck............
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Yeah, I may end up having to make a weekend trip out of this but I'd really love to find someone locally with the knowledge of Daves' mod and/or carb experience. Will have to see who pipes in!
 
I had never been in a carb before I changed the jets on my DRZ.

I found it easy with help from thumpertalk and the JD jet kit instructions.

Find out which kit to get and get good instructions (thumpertalk).
 
Clean the carb, DO NOT MOD IT (yet)

see how it runs

if it still stalls out, it *may* be the coil

if not, and it runs good, THEN do the mods to the carb

then
an oil cooler
an FMF
re-spring it
Stage 2 cam
675 kit

sell it and get a KTM :lol2:
 
Quick word of advice. One thing ive found out a long time ago. Work on one problem at a time. If the carb needs cleaned, then clean it, and get it running good BEFORE messing with rejetting or modding the carb. It makes it way easier to locate a problem if its not running right.
 
Monkey Wrench Cycles said:
Quick word of advice. One thing ive found out a long time ago. Work on one problem at a time. If the carb needs cleaned, then clean it, and get it running good BEFORE messing with rejetting or modding the carb. It makes it way easier to locate a problem if its not running right.
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Yeah, I think I'm going to take that train of thought and just do the cleaning first, then maybe a mod later. Still don't know how to put back together a carb...I guess we'll wait and see.

I'm going to try and take the seat/tank off and see if theres some way I can trace fuel lines or something and check for kinks. I don't know how short the fuel lines are on this bike but kinked fuel lines could be a problem on previous bikes I've owned. Just thinking of ideas.
 
carb sounds like the problem. try to rebuild it, if that dont fix it, i would buy a new carb. if that bike sat for 10 years, you will never get that carb clean enough to run right. it may run, but not like it should. carbs are somewhat simple but at the same time a pain in the ***.
 
by the way. my 02 with 1150 miles had sat for about 4 years without anyone riding it or starting it from what i understand. it took taking the carb off and on about 6 times before i got it clean enough to run right, then i did daves mods.
 
TallGears said:
Yeah, I may end up having to make a weekend trip out of this but I'd really love to find someone locally with the knowledge of Daves' mod and/or carb experience. Will have to see who pipes in!
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come on, after we fix it we can hit the slab for some miles. bring all needed parts and some :lol2:JOSE:lol2: for after the ride.:rider::rider::rider::rider:
 
TallGears said:
Yeah, I think I'm going to take that train of thought and just do the cleaning first, then maybe a mod later. Still don't know how to put back together a carb...I guess we'll wait and see.

I'm going to try and take the seat/tank off and see if theres some way I can trace fuel lines or something and check for kinks. I don't know how short the fuel lines are on this bike but kinked fuel lines could be a problem on previous bikes I've owned. Just thinking of ideas.
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It shouldnt be to hard. Go to the forums on the bike and check out the tutorials. There is usually someone that has done the job and taken pictures and documented what needs to be done. Also dont forget to pick yourself up a carb rebuild kit with new gaskets, float valve needle assy, etc. It will save you some time in going back in when something dont work right. If you get the master rebuild kit it will actually come with new jets also, and you dont have to worry about trying to clean the old ones out.
 
If you get the master rebuild kit it will actually come with new jets also, and you dont have to worry about trying to clean the old ones out.
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I am looking now for a carb rebuild kit. You guys got a link that can point me in the right direction? Or even a place where I can buy a whole new carb if I wanted to go that route? I am finding a ton of links to forums and stuff about people doing performance mods to carbs but no stock carb rebuild kits.

If I tryed to buy a whole new carb, Is a carb swap as simple as that? Pull it off and stick a new one back on? Or do they come disassembled?
 
TallGears said:
I am looking now for a carb rebuild kit. You guys got a link that can point me in the right direction? Or even a place where I can buy a whole new carb if I wanted to go that route? I am finding a ton of links to forums and stuff about people doing performance mods to carbs but no stock carb rebuild kits.

If I tryed to buy a whole new carb, Is a carb swap as simple as that? Pull it off and stick a new one back on? Or do they come disassembled?
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The carbs will come complete but you will have to do the jetting necessary to your bike, ie.. change low speed jet, main jet, + possibly raise or lower the needle. But other than jetting they are plug + play.

As far as rebuild kits, the only thing i could find was jets, sold seperately, and new float needles from K+L supply. All you really need is the float needles and jets, and everything else can be cleaned up in a vat.

Now my other supplier, Tucker Rocky offers new carbs, as well as dynojet jet kits for your bike. The dynojet kit would come with jets but no float needles or gaskets.
TRcarbs.jpg


TRjetkits.jpg


There is also the dealership for the rebuild kit but prices will be higher than aftermarket.
 
TallGears said:
I am looking now for a carb rebuild kit. You guys got a link that can point me in the right direction? Or even a place where I can buy a whole new carb if I wanted to go that route? I am finding a ton of links to forums and stuff about people doing performance mods to carbs but no stock carb rebuild kits.

If I tryed to buy a whole new carb, Is a carb swap as simple as that? Pull it off and stick a new one back on? Or do they come disassembled?
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comes ready to install, but will still need to be jetted as they are LEAN from the factory.
 
Tall gears , I would get a new OEM CARB strap in on and go, make sure it runs well then take it back off and do the dave;s mods, which will cost you 1 main jet ,1 pilot jet ,and a washer from radio shack, and a drill bit a total of about 15.00
 
Dude, that 250.00 for a carb is worth not fighting an old rotted out 1 plus all the stress and headaches from saying to yourself, what can it be , I just cleaned it and still runs like doodoo, believe me , been their done that, never again, you agree Kurt
 
11: CARBURETOR (VE85C B)
11: CARBURETOR (VE86B B)

258 bucks from bike bandit, I might take the advice and just get a new one.

comes ready to install, but will still need to be jetted as they are LEAN from the factory.
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When you say it comes ready to install, I could put it on and it would run? I don't have to adjust anything? I understand they come lean but I would worry about fixing lean conditions when I maybe attempt the Dave's mod down the road. If I could just plug it on and not adjust any jets or needles or any of that I might try to do that.
 
It has an other than stock air filter because I replaced the stock one that was BLACK and full of hair with a UNI foam filter.

Even if I don't have the stock filter it will still run just a little leaner until I get it tuned right correct?
 
TallGears said:
It has an other than stock air filter because I replaced the stock one that was BLACK and full of hair with a UNI foam filter.

Even if I don't have the stock filter it will still run just a little leaner until I get it tuned right correct?
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Is the airbox still stock, or has the snorkel been removed. If airbox is stock you should be ok.
 
As far as I know the airbox is stock. I didn't mod it but don't know if it was modded before I bought it honestly. I was told it was unmodded other than like blinkers and stuff.

So as far as installing a new carb... if thats going to be my new train of thought... is that a very complex process? Something a noob could do with some help from a clymer and an extra set of hands?
 
TallGears said:
As far as I know the airbox is stock. I didn't mod it but don't know if it was modded before I bought it honestly. I was told it was unmodded other than like blinkers and stuff.

So as far as installing a new carb... if thats going to be my new train of thought... is that a very complex process? Something a noob could do with some help from a clymer and an extra set of hands?
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I don't see why not .
 
tall, its plug and play. take mine and bigs advice. been down the road with carbs and if you can afford a new one, buy it and be done. 2 clamps,1 hose, a choke cable and BAM, your done! you can do it all night long
 
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