So I bought a 1982 Yamaha Seca 750, now it's clicking. Please help.

I bought this thing yesterday. Had a friend with me to test ride it. Ran beautifully.
Now there is an issue, second gear and ONLY second gear has a clicking noise. The faster I go, the louder the noise. It happens as soon as it goes into second but if it is idling in second, there is no clicking. This happened after 3 hours after buying it from a private seller. It has 24k miles and it was maintained well.
So I guess my question is, what could this clicking be?
It runs fine in second, it's just an added noise now. First, third, and forth are fine. It just happens in second and in motion.

Thank you in advance!

 

Welcome , what rpm is this occurring at? could be an exhaust leak that can be heard at a certain rpm ... other than maybe annoying just ride ...sometimes having a "new" bike is getting used to noises .

 

Well, I'd say it does it even at 1500 rpm and higher, only in second gear though. I speed up, it does too and gets louder. Switch to third, it stops instantly. The cycle shop closest to me won't even be able to look at it until mid August and they said that's if they can get the parts.
I'm trying to think about what it could be and the only thing I can think is a missing tooth in that gear or something, but I'm not familiar with shaft driven, older bikes so I'm not sure.

 

And when I say even at 1500, that's a moving 1500. When the clutch is in and the bike is not moving, it stops. It seems to run fine in second, pulls fine, switches fine, there is just a clicking.

 

was the clutch & friction plates ever changed ? You may need a new clutch......

When the shop indicated "if they can get the parts"....what were they referring too.......???

or was that just a general statement by them.....

Parts for these bikes are always available thru XJ4ver.......click the logo at the top of the forum page.....

He is awesome & has your parts......

Forget about any motorcycle shop........

I repeat " Do not take your motorcycle to any shop".....they will just take your money.

 

I appreciate your response about not taking it to the shop. He told me that those parts could be very hard to find, which could mean he is right or he would want to charge a lot more.
I can call the previous owner (only owner before me) and ask him.
Now I guess the next question is, how bad will it get if I continue to ride it until I can get the parts and replace it/them?

 

put it up on the center stand, start it and go to second gear, clutch out. move the shift lever up and down a bit, but not enough to change gears.
can you get the noise to stop?
it might be a bent shift fork or something in the shifter mechanism

 

I will have to do that when I get home. I rode it yesterday, added a little pressure, not enough to shift. The sound sounded like it eased up, but it could have been me having the clutch in and decelerating. I'll check it out the way you mentioned when I get home.

 

Welcome to the camp Jleeson.

I would recommend you do the things above that others have mentioned.
Do NOT contact the PO - he sold the bike because he no longer wanted anything to do with it. Plus you would be breaking one of the cardinal rules here - "Never trust the PO".
Have YOU looked at your brake pads and the date codes on the brake lines?
You need to be able to stop.

Read this:
http://xjbikes.com/forums/threads/the-information-overload-hour.27544/

Know that there are many people here with vast skill sets that can make you a successful XJ mechanic.
Ask questions that will give you the answers that you need.
Do not ignore advice that is given (question it if you aren't sure), note if the advice gets "Likes" that generally is a head nod of agreement from others. . . or someone is talking about bacon.

 

I call BS /FAKE news ...when they tell you "can't find " parts for our bikes ...chacal has the CORRECT parts and you can do all the work yourself and save $$$$ ...
most shops do NOT want to touch these bikes ..because they do not know what to charge ... Many only want to do sport bikes and cruisers . Years ago I needed to have a tire changed on my 84 Kawasaki 550 LTD it was shaft drive the guy at the steeler ship kept stating he had not worked on anything that old this was in 98 ...1984 OLD ???
all he ever did was sport bikes was his statement , he was not sure how to pull the wheel THIS was a large Honda/Kawasaki/Yamaha/Suzuki dealer?? took bike home pulled wheel in 25 minutes took it to them ...( got good price on tire ,they mounted and balanced ...different mechanic with no issues) Put it back together 30 minutes and I was riding again.

 

Again I ask you.....what parts was the shop referring to......or were they general in making that statement...

Trust me....Chacal ( XJ4ver) has all parts for your bike......

He is " God of the XJ World"

 

Change the oil, motah and shaft..shaft uses EP90 or equivalent gear oil motah...well, stick to the handbook, which I believe is a good 10W-40 multigrade
I'm sure someone will give you the litres/cc's for the motah, shaft you fill UP to the lip of the angled plug on the bevel box (shaft drive box, rear wheel)
THEN see if it still clicks....

 

He was not referring to any part. I explained to him what I was hearing. He told me "I won't be able to work on it until late August and something that old will be hard to find parts for if I can find them at all so it probably would be until late September before I can do anything to it"

 

Update: I went upstairs to grab a bite to eat. Decided to walk in my garage to check some things out. There was a spot under the bevel box, I wiped up the spot and the bevel box and noticed the drain plug was not tightened all the way. I was able to turn it about three full turns to tighten it fully.
Could that cause the clicking noise I heard? I'll be taking care of that later today but figured I would ask while it's fresh on my mind.

 

no, that works the same in all gears. it's good that you didn't loose it though

 

Ok, just figured I would ask, it happens in second gear and no other. I still need to put it on the center stand and add pressure to the shifter to see if the clicking stops. I am trying to make time to do it. I'll try to pinpoint where the clicking is coming from exactly and update the moment I find out.

 

Well, I'm not sure if it was the bevel box. I'm not familiar with a lot of motorcycles, especially shaft driven, this is my first one. The round cylinder that sits on the left of the rear tire.

 

Thats the 'bevel box'.......like I said, i would change the oil, bevel box oil first.....you never know.....it might help!!
Esp since it was loose...there's not much oil in the bevel box...and it contains some very stressed parts!!

 

Ok, I will have to look through the manual to see what type goes in it. I didn't know it was loose and it may have happened during transport. I just happened to walk in the garage and noticed the spot, cleaned it, wiped down the bevel box without thinking about checking the drain plug. I figured the plug would have been tightened so I put a paper towel down where it dripped to see if it would continue. Went upstairs to grab some grub, while walking past the garage door, I took a peek and noticed more. Wiped it down again and that is when I noticed it was loose. I have tightened it since and now no dripping.
Now I need to make a trip to the store once I read the manual.

 

Not sure if it's correct or not but I put sae 80w-90 in mine and it seems happy with it. Not sure that would be the cause of your issue but sounds like a drain and refill would be a good idea for you after finding the drain plug loose.

 

I beleive a 'multigrade80/90W is fine......

 

Change the engine oil/filter too though......you never know.....it might help..

 

Not sure I have heard of "bevel box" before.......are you talking about final output drive on the rear wheel....which contains hypoid oil 80-90 weight ???

Bevel box......that is new to me......

 

I decided to take a picture of it instead of guessing. The drain plug on the bottom was loose, I turned it three full turns before it was hand tightened.


[/IMG]

 

Just never heard it referred to as a "bezel box".....

 

So, I went and looked at plenty of brands of oil and made sure it said used for hypoid differentials. I pulled the drain plug and drained all of the oil out, put the plug back in, pulled the angled plug, and then filled it until it started coming out.
Now I can't run it until tomorrow morning because I took my battery with me and put it on their slow charger. I'll update this when I start it. Hopefully that is what I was hearing.
I actually met someone there that has an xj who offered me to come ride with him and his friends too, so I guess that's a plus!

 

Hey JL, I see you are in VA... where you at? I'm Charlottesville....

 

I am in Waynesboro, that's what, about 30 mins from Charlottesville?

 

I've always called it a 'Bevel Box'.....even when I owned my '81 Guzzi Le Mans, which was also shaft drive, maybe because of the way the 'gears' are cut?

 

Lol.... I live in Crozet... we should hook up and compare notes.

This weekend I'm putting on new intake boots I hope to find a vacuum leak, right now I wouldn't ride the bike the way it is, but I'll let you know if I'm successful.

 

By the way, now that I know where you are I know you are talking about Wayne cycle... they gave me a CRAZY price to clean tune and balance carbs (Yes I'm sending them to Hog eventually). They don't want to work on our old bikes so we need to learn. I even got a decent price from the owner at Early's, but then the service manager told me it was going to be more like $700... we're on our own

 

Have you tried Precision Power Sports?

 

I'll be starting mine up today and see if that clicking happens to stop, I want to be optimistic but I'm just worried to start it and it's still there...

 

Here is the long story of when it started.
I went up to look at it, took a friend. We get up there and the seller opened his garage. There it was, looking better in person because all I saw prior were the pictures. 24k original miles, not a scratch on it, fired right up. My friend got on it and rode it long enough the owner wanted to go look for him. So eventually we talked price. He accepted 850 because he was an 81 year old man that had trouble riding and he wanted a local person to have it. He asked if I wanted him to deliver it because I did not bring transport tags with me, I told him yes. 2 hours later he pulls up. We unload it and he tried starting it, the trip flooded it and he killed the battery in the process of getting it started. He pulls out the jumper cables and it fired right up so I have him pull it into my garage, still sounded fine. My friend calls me up and then meets me at my house, I already backed the bike out of the garage and walked it down my driveway in neutral. I tell my friend I will need a ride to get gas or he would have to take the bike and put some in it. I currently do not have my motorcycle license but was going to get them when I transferred the title and get tags for the bike. So, he goes around my first turn and then I hear a loud noise... by that time he is gone, I wait. He gets back and then I asked him to take it down the road, first gear sounds fine, switches to second, I hear clicking, he stops. I walk to him and tell him to drive it to in front of my house. I get on, clicking is there in second, no other gear. Still had the pull and power, so eventually I put it back in the garage. That is when I noticed the drain plug on the final drive output/bevel box was loose. Got the oil and changed it out, still seemed like a good bit in there. Left my battery for a slow charge. I have the battery back in and ready to start but I'm just worried. I've texted my friend on the few insights of what it could be and he is already offering to buy a gear set and cover the bill to replace it... Now I'm really worried to start it... because if he is offering that, then it seems as if he already knew...

 

I don't know you or your friend but from what you described it sounds odd.
If the rear end/ bevel gear/ final output blew up (loud noise that you heard) while he was driving, to me it sounds like 'incidental damage' so why would he feel obligated to pay you? Unless he was doing something stupid and now feels guilty. (no idea what kind of stupid would cause gear damage).

Did you ask your friend about what the loud noise was that you heard after he went out of sight around the first turn?

 

I've been told multiple times, if it was the bevel/final drive, that I would hear it in more than just second gear. If he slammed it into second after that turn (he tried riding as if it was a sports bike) or speed shifted like he has done on his bikes, it could've ground down the gear. He may feel responsible for doing that IF that is what it turns out to be. That is my thought on the situation.

 

If he was rifling through the gears and accelerating it sounds like he may have downshifted a couple by mistake? Or not timed his clutch squeeze...

 

Update: I just ran it around the block, as much as I don't like riding without a helmet, I had to listen closely. It's only in second gear and it sounds like it's towards the front and not the rear.

 

Unfortunately starting to sound like this post...
http://www.xjbikes.com/forums/posts/534238/

 

I wonder if he ever fixed it. This is really starting to discourage me. It was running just fine until he jumped on it.

 

JL...

If he is your friend ...why are you making him pay for this.....he was doing you a favor.....

This situation sounds weird....

 

I'm not making him pay for it, I said he offered to. I told him to just come by and help me figure where it's coming from. And I'll get the parts and I'll just use his help replacing it.
I only mentioned how he offered to pay for the repair as a sign of a bigger issue with the bike. Which there is We will pinpoint where the sound is coming from and then go from there.

 

Did you ever try this?

Also, we know the noise occurs in second when accelerating, what does it sound like when you leave the clutch out and let off the gas in second? Say take it up to 5K rpm or so in second, then let off the gas.

Since it is a new to you bike, perhaps an audio or video with audio would be helpful.

 

was this a left or right turn?

 

Sorry, I shouldn't be so matter of fact as I'm a newbie too. Wait for one of the elders to weigh in.

 

He is coming over tomorrow so we can try this. I will take a video of it and try to upload when I update

It was a left turn.

 

And just to be sure before you run it anymore; place the bike on the center stand on a level surface and check the sight glass for proper oil level. There should be a visible bubble near the top of the window.




If the bike flooded, the carbs may have overflowed enough to contaminate the oil. Remove the filler cap and take a whiff, there should be no smell of gas.

 

Whiffing at the oil filler cap might prove to be hard for some........Smelling used oil & trying to decide if gas is in there also might be hard for the novice nose.......

 

I know you just wanted to show a pic of your nice ride....

 

that and
5 or 10 drops of gas will stink up the joint but the oil is still good, seems like there should be a better way.