Hey all, i have an 06 xl1200. When I purchased the bike used the previous owner explained that when cold, pull the choke, start the engine, let her sit for about half a min, and roll out. I asked how long it usually takes until i need to start pushing it back in and he "oh it does that on it own". Okay I've started and ridden my bike like this for a while with no issues. My question would be if this is normal? Everything I've read about the carbs and enrich. All have something about pushing it back in manually, so I'm beginning to wonder whats really happening here.

 

Well, there is a spring on the far end of the cable (at the carb), so if your adjuster (black knurled part of the cable assembly) is loose enough the spring will pull the enrichener **** back in by itself. You can adjust it not to do that(maybe), or have a broken adjuster like I do and you have to hold the **** out while warming it up (or use a clothes pin) and it will pull itself in all the time. Either way, it's not a big deal since you only use it for a couple minutes or so. New cable assembly is $11 and it's an easy repair, depending on your level of irritation.

John

 

Haha. There is a black **** on the side of the bracket where the enrichment pull "head" is located (if you push in the enrichment pull head all the way in, it will be basically touching it). This black **** adjusts the tension. You can tighten the enrichment line by screwing in this **** (the enrichment pull head won't go in by itself then). And you can loosen it by unscrewing it (the enrichment line will be more free to move, to the point where if you pull it all the way out, it will spring right back in). In your case, it is more on the loosened side, and its siding it by itself, which is fine as long as the bike warms up properly. You do not want it too tight because you can damage the line, you usually want it tight so that it doesn't move unless you push it in, but you want it to move smoothly as well so not too tight. I am not using proper terminology so feel free to correct me.

 

Ah it all makes sense. Well so far it looks like the cable has found the sweet spot. I'm thinking if it works, why change it. But I'm glad i now have an understanding once my luck runs out.

 

On my '06 the enrichener automatically pops back in within ~30 seconds after starting, when the air temp is warm (~60 degrees F).

 

Okay lo now I'm all curious again. So yours is basically a set it and forget?

 

I figured it was the carb closing it. It closes all of a sudden, automatically.

 

When my bike was new the enricher **** did not spring back on its own, I had to push it manually. Over the years it has improved to the self-adjusting model which is nice since there is less chance of fouling the plugs. I used the enricher too much when I first got my bike and had to get another set of plugs. Lesson learned early on.

 

It's just a crappy design, not magic.

John

 

Tighten the tensioner too much and it'll crack, rendering it useless. I think vibration has a lot to do with it pushing back in "automatically".