XR650L Valve Issues Sputtering 

I am very sad to have just learned of the passing of Chad Goff on 4-15-21, perhaps within a month of his last reply here? His wonderful content here inspired me to get back into trail/dirt riding and the venerable XR650L. His videos and skills were extremely informative and helpful to me. May he RIP and his family and friends be forever blessed.

RIP Chad. Enjoyed your videos. I hope you are doing wheelies up there, smiling down on the rest of us. Rest easy bubba.🙏🏼

Rest in peace Chad. I loved your videos

Just found your Chanel wish you would post more 8 love the xr650l

Good to see another video from you. Enjoyed your trips to Colorado. Sorry to see you are having issues with your bike. There is a FB page for XR650L. You might get some answers from that. Seems to be some knowledge folks that know the XR well. Hope to see some more trips in the future. You kinda inspired me to do some ride videos with my new XR650L in the Sierras this year. Thank You , good luck. Safe rides.

may be bad gas . water in the fuel system . put premium fuel and ad on aditives to improve the fuel . give it a good run .clean the system .

The 650l engine is fairly easy to work on.. I wouldn't hesitate to tackle it.. Goodluck..👍

The first thing I do when running a bike with an chain is to make sure the guides are still in good shape and that the tension is correct without too much roll over to throw the valves out of timing and the next this is to make sure I have stiff enough springs on the tension of the valve returning fast enough for higher RPMs, so they do not start floating on me, and causing the sputtering at higher RPMs. This too is a cause of hesitations when asking or demanding full throttle response at higher rev limiting, might need the ECU reprogrammed for Higher RPM limiting. How old is the spark plug? Any cracks in the wire? Might need a hotter plug or change the cap setting. I would start with the easy stuff first and then move to mechanical and them move to electronic last. But check the valve train and the timing first. Are you running top grade fuel or regular? I always use premium in my carbureted bikes when asking them to do a hard days work/racing. Here is another thing to remember as well, Honda manufacture set the bikes up lean from the factory to met Air Quality control settings, so get bigger jets in the carbs or injectors and set the ECU for a longer duration of spray so that the engine has more fuel to operate on at higher speeds or RPMs before the limiter kicks in. If all this fails change sprockets for faster speeds before the engine falls on its face or hits its governor settings. Really need to get a mic on the inside of the helmet to try and keep wind noise to a minimum. Plus I know you do not want to hear this but that thing needs to be uncorked to get more airflow through the engine, it needs a bigger exhaust and larger jets/injectors or more fuel to get that engine to pump faster with more volume to get a better and faster response, the thing sounds stock to me. Yep if your losing pressure it hast to leak down through the valves or the rings, so you could pull the head and remove the piston and re-ring it and if it has a larger grove at the top of the cylinder you will have to grind that down with a rimmer tool or a hone so it doesn't damage the new top ring on the piston and make sure to fit the clearance of the rings while in the cylinder so that the cap is not too far open or they will leak down faster then it should, you get a longer life of the cylinder with a larger gap in the rings but you lose more functionality and compression as well with a loser gap setting in the rings. But the cylinder will last longer with a larger gap in the ring setting. Another thing to consider when building an engine is high compression piston over a low compression piston, the higher the compression rating the lower the RPM the engine will turn as well. High Compression pistons do not like high RPMs. If the leak down is losing pressure the valve timing and seat is to be considered as well. Might even have to hand lap the valve seats with some abrasive material with a drill and some rubber hose and use the drill with some pulling pressure to hand lap the valves quicker. That takes time as well but saves you lots of money unless the bike is under warranty. Or sell it to me and I'll fix it. I will give you five for it as it sits with a worn out engine. I always buy a book on them and rebuild them myself. I will use the money for tools before I give it to someone else so they can buy their own tools and charge me for the job I should have done myself.

Get a Honda CDI box to swap out. You should keep one on hand for a spare anyway.

Chad i hope you got her back and able to chase clean BRP . were getting ours on friday and cant wait #livetoride

I just did a top-end on my xr650l, it's not too tough but it'll take a full day's work; maybe more depending on what kind of damage you've got.

Did the new CDI fix it?

Hey Chad, do you have any tips on mounting the acerbis 5.8 gal tank? I was thinking of picking one up but people mention how difficult the installation is. Thanks 🤙🏽

what about it sputtering because of bad gas

Have you been able to sort out you xr's sputter ? asking for a Xr owner ...

So what was the resolution?

RIP

Have the valves been adjusted