New Rider, seeking some tips from advanced riders/Knowledgeable riders.

Assumption on my part; heat index in the 90's, bike idling/ running without moving, heat rising - not unusual, and potentially a bad thing. In the future it is recommended to put a box fan in front of the bike (and turn it on, blowing towards the bike), to help dissipate the warmth of these little powerhouse engines when idling/ running for extended periods of time without moving.

 

Just got done looking at the vids........bike sounds pretty good, but I'm noticing a couple things----

1. The ticking in the first one sounds like you have a loose exhaust collar nut somewhere. Check them ,and I bet it goes awa.

2. You got a head gasket leak going on there. Usually, oil on the engine actually gets out through a weeping valve cover gasket. But when you got close up to the head gasket line, I can see the oil squeezing out. It may just Beatrice's out gasket that will re-seal as it soaks up oil again, but I'd suggest checking and re-torquing.

Dave

 

Hey thanks for the heads up! Wasn't quite sure if something was wrong or not!

 

I got the gist of what you were trying to say up until this point "It may just Beatrice's out gasket" lol please clarify! XD

 

Ooooo, late-night typo w/auto-correct.... Had to think a sec.... Here it is correctly--
"it may just be a dried out gasket that will re-seal as it soaks up oil again...."

thanks for catching that----

Dave

 

It's a good thing that I have an eye appointment this week...

 

Oh! I see now! Well, I started the bike up again yesterday and to my dismay there are still tiny bubbles.. The bike also had some serious problems idling without the choke on all the way for at least 10 minutes, and even after that when I went to turn the choke all the way off it would start to sputter and die, which is so aggravating because it was idling like a champion the day before... Not sure what the problem is now.. I really can't afford $1,500 worth of parts and probably even more for labor or other things.. For that amount, I may as well just get a reliable used bike to use as my transportation until I have enough $$$ to properly fix her. Very disappointing.. :/

 

Well, it really shouldn't be much more than $800 (including new tires) to make your bike safe and reliable. The labor is free (or costs as much as free time is valued at), you shouldn't allow anyone other than yourself to work on your bike. I think you should strongly consider combing your hair, putting on your best suit and getting your butt to Church.

Hogfiddles had a well worded post in a different thread about not trusting ANYTHING that a PO (previous owner) has claimed to have done. Cleaning carbs, especially a rack of 4 CV carbs requires meticulous attention to detail, in all aspects, (disassembly, inspection, cleaning and reassembling) then the bench synch, wet set of floats, colortune and vac synch. Which would all be for naught if you haven't checked your valve clearances (BigFitz where are ye?). All of these work together to provide an easy starting and smooth running XJ (as someone else recently so eloquently posted)*.



* all I do is plagiarize here!

 

If you re-torque the head bolts, that's a matter of horribly a friend's tools. If that solves it, cool.

You can learn the carbs yourself, or ship them to me-- I offer total rebuild services

You can also just ship the bike to me at the Home for Orphaned, Unwanted, and Abused XJ's. I'll take it off your hands for free ---- lol

 

Yikes, "a) If you don't plan on checking and correcting (if needed) the valve shim clearances, then don't bother cleaning and rebuilding the carbs.

b) If you don't plan on synching the engine when you're done, why bother cleaning and rebuilding the carbs?

c) If you don't plan on using a colortune plug to properly tune the carbs when you're done, what difference does it make whether they're clean and rebuilt?"

Not only do I know absolutely nothing about engines, I don't even know what any of those things mean or how to do them. It probably seems super easy for you guys but I've literally only had the bike for about a month. Labor is free if you know what you're doing but I'm sure I'll find a way to break something trying to do these things myself. I'm really trying to get the bike running properly but I'm gonna be working full time starting next week and I'm gonna need my own transportation very soon. I was really hoping it would be my XJ but that's a pipe dream at the moment. I did open up the carbs but they were already really clean inside. I will note however out of the 4 carbs there were these plates on the inside of 3 out of 4 of them over the top of 2 small holes, not sure if it was just missing or didn't need it? Bike was running without it so I don't know. I literally don't know anything about engines. I even watched a video on how carbs work and still don't understand how they work. I tried to sit down and try to read "church of clean" but I couldn't even get through the first half without asking myself " how much of this do I remember? none of it" It's the same reason I did bad in high school, I don't learn by reading huge walls of text, I learn by doing, and I can't do these things without some kind of guidance because I'm gonna get something wrong and then be even further up sh^ts creek. I just really suck at retaining things that I read and I always have, and I'm not trying to make excuses for myself I'm actually really smart, I just can't learn well by reading these huge walls of text.

 

rofl I'm gonna fix her eventually, but right now it really seems way over my head. Everyone says how easy the bikes are to work on but I'm finding that's simply not true unfortunately.. Especially not if the first time I go through the carbs by myself it should take "16 hours" I couldn't even get halfway through the "church of clean" and even then I didn't remember a single bit of it..

 

Dillon, here's my schpiel that some have heard many times. I got my bike, I knew righty tightly and lefty loosey in regards to mechanical skills. I also knew motorcycles have two wheels . . . That was it. (Admittedly I have turned a wrench on autos; changed oil, tires, basic stuff - and was a journeyman bookbinder for many years maintaining saddlestitchers - so there was a rudimentary mechanical background).

All of the things listed sound intimidating, but a methodical, relaxed approach to each will prove otherwise. Each component that you rebuild/ refurbish will build your confidence. Get a manual, quickly realize that the manual doesn't share details that you need to attack a problem; come here and ask pointed questions; listen to the advice given and don't take any of the comments personally - sometimes we need to pry at you to get verification of the details.

Details, meticulous attention to them will make you a happy motorcycle rider. Take pictures as you work on things, take notes that you can reference so that you remember the details that don't show up in pics. Don't be in a rush - if you absolutely must have transportation right now, then maybe this isn't the right time. Looking inside your carbs spraying a can of miracle cleaner at them and saying they are good is NOT a recipe for success. Careful disassembly (JIS only please) marking which side is up and out on the butterfly valve prior to removal, pulling the shaft and finding ripped/ rotted rubber seals is an "aha moment" and the clouds will part and light will shine upon thee as you work your way towards becoming the best mechanic ever for your bike; for your safety and for your confidence that you won't have to trailer it home because it broke down on the side of the road . . . .

It's beer- thirty here, I gots to go!

 

Copy that!

 

I thank you for your wise words Beer-Sensei. I definitely was trying to rush into having her running and you're right, it's just going to make things more difficult for me. Thanks for your replies, I'll be around the forums! Can't wait till I have enough money to see her run properly though. v.v

 

I had never ever worked on any bike before I got my xj750 maxim, which had been wrecked and parked since 1992. After buying a manual and finding this site, I now have a bike that runs fantastic! The cool thing is that other than putting the new tires on the rims, I did ALL the other work myself. Yes, some of it was very intimidating at first, but with the help from the guys/gals on here it turned out not to be bad at all. Actually I found it to be quite fun! I know now all aspects of my bike and I'm sure I'll be learning even more about it in the future. There is some things I haven't had to work on yet but I have the confidence to tackle them when the time comes! Just take your time, ask questions, and I'm sure you will be fine! Welcome and good luck!

 

Hey thanks for the reply! I appreciate it! Any tips on where I could snag a physical copy of the manual without having to download it to my PC? Pretty sure we have the same bike haha!

 

Well at least you can get a idea of what the carbs are about....

http://www.xj4ever.com/inside your carbs.pdf

 

I ordered mine on Amazon. The Haynes manual. Just search for the bike year and model and it should pop up

 

lol yikes!!! Went through the whole thing and still don't really know what I'm looking at or how it works.

 

Hey guys, I found something a little strange and was wondering if it's supposed to look like this?

 

I suspect the bike was dropped, fins broke and someone tried smoothing the edges.

 

Yeah that would be my guess too

 

This could be my story. With the step by step information on this site, a small investment in a few basic tools, and the help of these experienced members, you can do the work yourself. It saves big bucks, gets it done right, and you have personal satisfaction. I can't tell you how nervous I was to remove the valve cover and check/adjust valves the first time. It took me 3 weeks after getting the necessary tools and parts (from XJ4ever of course), to actually screw up the courage to do it. Great satisfaction afterwards, and a great running XJ!

I also found that the work I did was 'cumulative' - every thing I fixed/adjusted made the bike run better and better.

 

Will this have any effect on how the bike will run safely? Is it something I'm going to need to replace before thinking about riding it on the roadways?

 

It should only affect cooling, and I'm not sure how much. There are probably a lot of other things to worry about before this.

 

A little riding tip:
When traffic don't just watch the cars and their brake and turn signal lights. Look at the driver and if you can see them in the mirror looking at you. If so that car is relatively safe as compared to the car you can't make eye contact with. Now days this harder to do with tinted windows. Watch out for the people on cell phones, they are not paying good attention. Don't drive it after having even a single drink. You may not be impaired but you will be more likely to drive in a more risky manner.
Most of all take care of the bike and have fun.

 

To add to the point about visibility, I will restate what someone posted in another thread about riding safety (I believe it was K-moe).
For some reason, if you need to get the attention of an inattentive driver, point at them. For some reason, doing this makes them aware of you. I believe it's because when you point at them, you make contact with them and engage them in a "conversation" which activates their brain to your existence.

 

I like to drink and can hold my own rather well. Ron's words are 1000% correct (at least for me); several years ago I was doing some work on my bike, had a single beer (low alcohol content Blatz) while working on it. Got on the bike just to go around the block and check what ever it was I was fiddling with. I swear I could tell that 'something' didn't feel right. I made note of that and will never forget it.

No booze for me when on two wheels. Too many variables and you have to have 'situational awareness' at all times - cause you never know when someone will try to kill you.

 

Loving the tips guys! Keep em coming! I'll be taking the MSF course very soon so any information I can learn helps me that much more to be a better and more aware rider!

 

New problem i've encountered while trying to get the bike to idle properly, anytime I rev the engine it starts to stay up in high rpm's until I play with the fuel air mixture. Is this a symptom of a greater issue?

 

To be more specific, the bike is trying to idle at 4k Rpm's!! Idles fine while warming up then very randomly starts revving itself to the moon!! plz halp

 

You have a vacuum leak somewhere. A can of carb cleaner will help you to find it. Spray methodically around the carbs, petcock vac line, and intake boots. Spray a part, wait a few sconds, repeat. When you find the leak the idle will increase.