loosing power

[Guerrero]

so anyway,the idea is to disconnect at first those 2 wires,and chek everithing?right?  :)ill try

[Rikugun]

No, one wire  - not two.  It's a yellow wire with a band or stripe of black.

[pinholenz]

Hi Guerrero,
Just to confirm again what has been said in case the conversation has become blurred. You only need to disconnect one wire to disable the rev. limiter. It is the yellow wire with the black stripe.

Has the bike been running properly prior to this problem?
When you cleaned the carbs, did you remove every single jet and valve? If this is your first or second cleaning, it is easy to overlook some jets. It takes patience and a good light. I didn't REALLY do a thorough cleaning until my 5th or 6th attempt.
Have you tried riding the bike with the petcock valve set to the PRI (horizontal) position? If it runs better this way then the fuel pump supply is a problem.

All the best

[Tiger]

Tiger, why not cut the wire?

To that I answer, "why would you just cut a wire when there is no need to"...purely because you can?? Sorry but this is the lazy way...

If you do it from behind the gauge pack, its clean, simple, tidy...and can be reconnected if the owner sees fit 8) This method may take a wee while longer but also requires minimum skill as you put it...

Rather than use the persons lack of 'Queens English'...(which I do not speak, nor did I and I came to Canada from England at aged 42!!)...a simple explanation that the recipient can grasp would be better rather than easier don't you think??

As a salesman I have to work with immigrants on technical and nontechnical issues on a weekly basis...some have very limited command of the English language, however, it is ALWAYS waaaaay better than my command of their native tongue ;D :D :D :D... ;)

                    8) ....... TIGER .......  8)

[Guerrero]

about the wire,i understood,just one,the yellow/black.  :)
carbs was cleaning not me personaly,but in repair service.so ofcourse i dont know the quality of work,but as i know that master,and he was working with my uncle,who is 5 times world champ on motorcross ;) ( i dont say that,because i want to brag,or somet5hing,please understand me.just because i think he know what to do;) ) But,unfortunately he could not find the problem with my bike,hehe.
yes,ofc i tried petcock on all 3 positions,and there were no changes.so i hope,the fuel pump,is not the prob.
in two days i will get to bike,and try take out the wire.iw wont help :'(will need to try clean carbs.

but still,i want to ask question again-is it possible that this problem somehow is connected with that it eats a lot of fuel?

thanks anyway

[Rikugun]

Tiger, thank you for your response.  Cutting the wire wouldn't be my first choice but neither would the procedure you prefer. There are other ways that are neat, tidy and reversible and more efficient. I've explained why I suggested the method I did and no one that knows me would say I'm lazy so I won't take offense.  ;)

I used the term "Queens English" to mean what I understand it to mean and that is grammatically correct english that is plain, to the point, and free of slang.  No disrespect was meant to you or the OP. Given Guerrero's self admitted "bad english" I felt the simplest description and fix was prudent. I lack your experience in working with language barriers but made an effort despite my deficiency.  :-[

The symptoms are vague so it could be anything. So far, fueling and ignition have been suggested as potential culprits - pretty basic stuff. I didn't propose either but agree with the assessment thus far. I've often said 99% of Vision issues are carb related and that may very well be the case here. Still, given what we know right now, Walt's suggestion is just as valid and faster to check. It just makes good diagnostic sense to eliminate that as a possibility first.   :)

Based on the passion and length of your response I would almost guess you had a bone to pick? Maybe I'm reading into it too much but I think there is a little something there. I'm not sure if you felt challenged or offended but I assure you neither was my intent. I've known you to be a great Visionary and by all accounts a good man. I have not read one negative comment about you (actually quite the contrary) and all of my dealings with you have been top notch.  So if I've unintentionally offended I apologize. On the other hand, if you are just being thorough and I've misinterpreted your meaning then I'm confident you will forgive me for that as well.  ;D

[Tiger]

Rikugun...Certainly no offence meant or taken :angel: Each to their own regarding 'fixes'... ;)

            8) ....... TIGER .......  8)

[pinholenz]

but still,i want to ask question again-is it possible that this problem somehow is connected with that it eats a lot of fuel?

thanks anyway

Yes, most probably.

Poorly performing carbs will definitely affect fuel consumption but it sounds to me as if you have not done enough kilometres yet to get a good indication of what your consumption might be. A well tuned xz550 seems to use between 5 and 6 litres per 100 kilometres depending on riding conditions/load etc. I currently average about 5.3 l/100km

There are a couple of other things to check though, especially in hot weather. - These made my gas consumption very high.
1. Weeping seams in the gas tank. As the tank rusted from the inside, my fuel weeped through the bottom seams and evaporated without me knowing. Leaving the bike in the sun in warm weather built pressure up in the tank and I didn't notice the fuel that I lost. A temporary fix was draining the tank and applying Permatex to the outsides of the seams. (This is a two part epoxy putty that you mix together and push in to the affected areas. Cheap and worked great, but ugly!)
2. Slight leaking from the carb drain valves. These are next to the bowl overflow tubes on the left side of the bike. A worn or broken "o"ring will cause wetness around this part of the carb. It should be fairly obvious. Overflowing fuel from the carb down the drain pipe will be either the sticking/incorrect height/damaged floats or the carb drain valves not seating properly.

However, your fuel consumption is probably less of a priority than getting the bike running well. Assuming there is no major mechanical problems such as a broken piston ring or burnt valve, it would be worthwhile running some upper cylinder lubricant in your petrol to remove gum from piston rings and valve stems. I think the Americans use something called "Seafoam"

Is this bike new to you? Or has it been running well and the loss of power is a new problem?
2.

[Guerrero]

yeah.well,my bke is using about 8 and 9 maybe even 10 litlres per 100km.with full tank it should go about 300km.but i have run flat,when i was not watching inside tank,for so many times in about 150km.so obviously it is too much.and i am not going with full throttle open,because it is even not impossible right now,with these problems.bike i have from begining of last summer.about a month everithing was good,and i actually dont know,at what moment,but te problem just started.

[pinholenz]

That's exactly what happened to me when I discovered the tank leak. Ran out of gas on the motorway in peak traffic. Not pretty. I refill now at the 250km mark. If I leave it longer I have to go over to reserve. Good luck with this. The nice thing about bike problems is that they are mechanical and not emotional. There is always a logical answer!

[fret not]

Guerrero, is it possible you have a 'reduced effect' lower power model of the XZ550?  Lower compression engine is less efficient and can use more fuel.  The vehicle Identification Number (VIN) will have the information.

[Guerrero]

Hmm,interesting.i hope not.vin-11u-051602

[Guerrero]

I just took off side cover of those wires.what is the meaning of yelow/green wire?behind the mentioned yelow black.because it was unplugged :)i plugged it now,but my batterie died,and i wait now for it to recharge.maybe that wire is somehow the problem?

[fret not]

I think the lower power "reduced effect" models have VIN starting with 11V-

[Guerrero]

Oh my God!i plugged that wire.and it seems,that everithing runs good now.not sure yet.need to repair clutch string.but atleast did little circle in backyard,and now there seems the problem to disapear.niw i need to adjust ignition,sometimes bike shoots.

[pinholenz]

Hehe! here's hoping.

From the wiring diagram on Roro's resource (1982 USA Models): 
http://rsimonnz.googlepages.com/uswiring82.JPG
- it looks like the green/yellow wire feeds one of the coils out of the TCI Unit. If this was disconnected then you would have lost spark to one cylinder and been running on less than half power.

Good luck!!

[Guerrero]

As silly it could sound.but yes.just did longer test drive.it seeks everithing works properly ;D yeeyy.about fuel usage cant tell yet.that will see later.only now one problem.it takes heck of a long time to start.doesnt matter cold or warm.but i just killed battery,because of that.and had to push bike home from gas station:):):) about kilometr,quite a hard and heavy thing.what could be the problem?because i charged batery for sure.do i need to buy new one?ore some other ideas?

[Rikugun]

Are both your cylinders firing? The RPM limiter may be failed and cutting off the rear cylinder.

Wasn't the rev limiter but appears running on one cylinder was the problem - thanks for the advice Walt!  :) Lucky thing Guerrero checked at the TCI connector else he may have been going round and round for a bit trying to find the source of the problem.  ;)

[pinholenz]

When you start from cold, try giving the throttle one or two twists to get some gas down the carbs. (One flick works for me), then put the enrichening circuit (choke) on full. There are a dozen things that can lead to hard starting;
low battery, weak starter, dead stator/dead rectifier/weak battery, air leaks in carbs, poor float adjustment, carbs not synced, air jets mixed up in carb, blocked idle circuits in carbs, poor valve clearances, incorrect/oily spark plugs, poor plug gaps, tired resistor caps,  broken spark plug leads, weak coils and so on.

However, each time I cleaned my carbs, the starting improved.!

[Guerrero]

Yeah,thanks i first tried to unplug at that end of wires,not as sugested at box infront:)
Well,im charging my battery now.will see.and probobly will buy new one.