Need help XJ 400 Special

Hello, need some help with my Xj 400 Special 1983 its a 4 cylinder engine, I have not seen anyone like this one, if somebody owns one please contac me. Thanks

 

Ooooh an actual XJ 400?
They were a Euro/Japan only item......
Seen pics of a few that made it this side of the ocean , but that's about it.

 

Thanks for your answer, thats mean that I can´t fine any help for my machine in this forum? plop :cry: anyway Im from Chile, still a litle far from Japan or Europe

 

Is the XJ 400 Special and the XJ 400 maxim the same model or at list the same engine??

 

Igor

I currently run a XJ400S (4 cyl). Our machines are very similar to the XJ550 for which there is plenty of help on this forum. I even use the Clymer XJ550 service manual.

The XJ400S was a bike made for the Japanese market only however several have "escaped" from Japan over the years and made the tortuous journey to new shores. :lol:

What difficulties are you having?

 

Igor;
You probably do have a very similar engine.
What problem are you having? Post the VIN of your bike and its mileage and tell us what you need help with.

 

Just fire any questions you have out to these guys, they were a HUGE help when I rebuilt my XS

 

more than greatfull with all of you , its a litle hard cause my English, but I will give it a try, now Im working, but this afternoon Ill do my best to try to be undestandable ( I dont even now if is a word) jajajajajaja

 

- I need the valvs gap ( opening) intake and exaust please
- After a few minutes running, the engine cant keep the ralenti and some smoke begine to come out from the hose thats goes to the air filter box, but it is not oil smoke, its more like gasoline gas, could it be valvs problems or just rings?
- i wouls like to get theres rear suspencion ( shoks absorber) originals, if someone nows where to buy it and how to shipp it ??

 

Igor

Don't worry about any language difficulty, I am sure we'll get what you are saying.

It would really help if you could advise what sort of history your bike has. How many miles (kilometres) and if you have done any work on it at all. Don't take for granted any work a previous owner has told you they did, just concentrate on what you have done and if you haven't done much to it, it is probably time she needs some attention.

Get a manual or the XJ cd which will help a lot. I use the Clymer XJ550 manual and whilst not perfect it certainly helps out in an emergency and will give you an insight into how these bikes work.

The XJ400 is a great bike and has much of the qualities of the XJ550 and bigfFitz (who has already introduced himself above) has a lot of experience with the 550.

I am away from home at the moment on a biz trip in HK but I can tell you that the valve clearances are the same as the 550 (but can't remember them off the top of my head) so a search of this site may reveal them.

As for the smoke you mention, the hose that goes into the bottom of the airbox is a breather from the crankcase - it takes oily fumes from the engine back to the airbox to be recirculated in the engine intake. Is your oil level correct I wonder?

Carburetors on all the XJ's need careful attention and there is a huge amount of information on this site about cleaning them and setting them up correctly. This maybe is the reason you are having problems with holding an idle. I recently had mine part completely and overhauled them. It isn't technically difficult but we need to be organised and methodical.

Firstly, give us a brief history, what you have done to her so far etc. and we'll take it from there.

By the way, for parts, chacal has almost anything you need and will ship worldwide. Not sure about the rear shocks but his parts list is on this site under "XJ Supporting Vendor" - he has a wealth of knowledge and is prepared to discuss (by e-mail) the options you will need.

 

Im realy glad to be here at this forum and more than happy with you guys, for the trouble that you are going through to answer me.

Im the new owner of the moto, so don´t have the history
It has 30.000 milles
And Ill say in not a bad shape but not has good has I want it
so far I have not done many things to it , just a few adjustemt to the
carbs (4) of them
change the rear suspension but I could only find China opcion, I hope
they would last at list for a litle while
the other thing is that I dont have the air filter box, but 4 separete filters
i hope that is not going to be a problem

Saludos amigos desde Chile y gracias a todos ustedes por su
amabilidad

greetings my friends, from Chile and thanks to all of you for your
kindness

 

4 filters.... uh-oh, pod filtesr can be a big problem if the jets in the carburetor are not changed as well..... can make getting it tuned properly very, very difficult.

 

That´s what i have now, as I said I DON´T HAVE THE FILTER BOX or how you named it, I only habe individual filters for each carb, anyway I have seen that in other machines specialy here where we dont habe much choices of parts.

 

the only number that I habe is 4GO-055136 could that be the VIN number???
and I still need the gap for valvs, if someone nows it and how could i get a air filter box.

 

The only number that I have,

 

Igor

I meant to reply last night but I was working on site so didn't make it back to the hotel until very late.

When I saw you mentioning pods, I thought "uh-oh". From what I have read, pod setups can be extremely challenging to get right and you have to be dedicated to it! I have seen airbox's for the 550 on ebay before now so they do come up from time to time. If you are running pods with original jets you'll never get it to run right and it can be the source of many running problems. Try your best to get and airbox!

I'll be back home Tuesday evening and will post the valve clearances then.

4G0 is indeed your VIN number - same prefix as mine.

 

Thanks, but I could not read the full mesage, it´s was too wide , so I did not see the lasts words of each line.

Now I need and air box urgent, can somebody help me???????

 

Igor su Inglés es grande.
Es posible que desee utilizar este enlace de traducción.

http://translate.google.com/translate_t ... 0translate

Felicidades por ser dueño de una XJ valiosos.

ab

 

igor,

Check ebay - I saw an airbox there for a XJ550 today.

 

MODEL NAME: XJ400
STREET NAME: 1981 XJ400 Special
MODEL ID CODE: 5L8
FRAME ID: 4G0
SERIAL NUMBER STARTS AT: 050101

And there is the model id info. Your bike was #5036 made for the Japanese market that year.

 

Why do you say that is 1981, in all the papers that I have it´s a 1983, anyway dont matter to me, I ask just to have the right information

 

This is from Chacal's VIN id page. (see below). It seems that your numbers fit in the bold and highlighted region. Did you look on the frame head tube (where the handle bars bolt on) on the right side for a long vin. The one you gave is the short vin from the engine. Could be a replacement engine.

 

Crystal clear, now where do I get parts for it, not that I need many just a
few

 

Send a PM to Chacal. He'll be able to get you anything you need.

 

I allready did, but I did not get a possitive answer, maybe with the new information of the model, he could do something else

 

Hello, anybody nows the compression rates of the XJ 400 the 4 cylinder
the four cilynders?????????I mean the compression of each cilynder.
Thanks

 

Igor

Here are the valve specs (engine cold):

Inlet - 0.11 - 0.15 mm
Exhaust - 0.16 - 0.20 mm

With regard to compression figures, do a search on the site. The actual reading whilst important is not the only issue. The reading across the four cylinders is just as informative as the individual cylinder readings. As I say do a search for "XJ550 compression" and you are sure to come up with something!

 

Sorry, but if I ask ,its because I haven´t found the information and not cause I haven´t look for it.
Thanks for the valvs info.

 

Just did a search and came up with this from another post:

compression test at sea level with the motor cold should come in at 121psi standard and a minimum of 100psi with a maximum difference of 14psi between cylinders

Good luck.

 

Sorry, I talked to him and it seems he does not have much for your model. Only the things it has in common with the American bikes.

Perhaps there is a Yamaha dealer in your area you could check with. Sometimes parts are hanging out in the dusty recess of the store room.

 

numbers for the 550 are 121normal 100 minimum and not more than 14 psi difference between cylinders.

 

Found the comprssion rates. it´s 121psi with a difference of 14 psi between cilynders :lol:

 

The Yamaha dealer here, did not import that particular model, so they dont keep or import any parts,
my only chance is this forum for what ever i may need ,anyway I coming
along pretty well with my proyect.
Thanks

 

What do you think, after the compression test I have , two cilynders with
96 psi and two with 105, are those numbers aceptable???

 

What your altitude there? Compression numbers will be lower at high altitude, though those sound a bit low regardless.

 

I´ll say around 1800 feet over sea level.It´s in Santiago of Chile.

 

That's not that high of an elevation.

At 2000 feet, you'd be losing about 7%. I'd say that, at 96psi, you're just over the minimum, which would be about 93psi at your altitude. I hope that you measured it cold. If it was hot, then the numbers are definitely low.

However, if your valve clearance is too tight, your valves may be hanging open, which would significantly reduce compression test readings. Have you checked the valve clearance yet?

 

Well , the measured was made with a cold engine and two of the intake valvs are with the clearence I´ll said to tight, I mean Less than the recomended, one is less than 0.08 and the other one is´t almost 0.0

 

Well, until you adjust those clearances the readings won't be worth any thing.

 

I realise that, but the good thing is that, it´s not gone be any lower than the firts reading and that ain´t bad