First trip on the XJ

Thanks to the help I've received in this forum, a lot of hours working on the bike and investing in parts and tools I went on my first trip to Numurkah, about two and a half hours ride north of Melbourne.

With new front fork springs and 10w oil, valve clearances done, new alternator brushes, battery and inline fuse holders and 90% of the old connectors replaced I thought there was a reasonable chance I'd make it.

Headed out of Melbourne on New Year's day with a few dark clouds in the sky and the road still dampened in places from the rain we'd had in the last 24 hours I was happy to be finally riding. The first 30km's were scary. Bike really stuttering badly, then would be OK, then would stutter again particularly between 3 & 4,000 rpm. Rode keeping the RPM to just under 3,000 rpm and thinking this must be a fuel delivery problem and contemplating turning around and catching the train up to meet my family. Just as this was going through my head the bike started running beautifully and I decided to just keep going.

For the next 175km the bike ran like a dream although I now know my speedo is slow by 10km/h. Filled up at Shepparton took off again and suddenly the splutters were back. Nursed the bike for the next 30 odd kilometers and was just glad to have made the trip and reach my destination and catch up with the family.

Next day I took the bike out for a run on the back roads of Numurkah and still the loss of power/stuttering between 3 & 4,000 rpm. Took it back to where I was staying and checked the coil resistances, primary all good but could not get a consistent reading from the secondary on my cheap multimeter, checked plugs and no fouling. Put back together and went for another ride and the bike died, I waited 30 seconds tried again and the bike takes off like a dream, noted that I had 80 odd kilometres up and this was about the same as the distance travelled the first time the problem self corrected.

Well from then on only put 15 litres in the tank and did not have a problem but the petcock certainly needs looking at. The trip home was a breeze although I had a brain fade and trusted the petcock to have main/reserve working OK. Ran out of petrol on the Hume highway and had to share 2 metres of shade with a rotting magpie carcass in 36°C (that's about 100°F) whilst my wife, who was just ahead of me in the car, bought some fuel.

Still plenty of work to do on the bike with a petcock rebuild ahead of me and replace the fuel sender unit which is knackered and sometime this year attempt the carb clean and sync and learn to tune the bike myself but with this forum behind me anything should be possible

 

Mate sounds like a good ride look on the bright side, YOU rode it home, better to be a rider than a walker :lol: WALKer ok! you lot.

From what you wrote the bike only played up at 3-4000 rpm but not under load? correct? if this is the case it's unlikely to be coils and as you surmised most likely fuel related. Glad to have you back on the road, must have been a shocker to spend time on the side of the road with a Magpie, did he have anything worthwhile to say about the pre-season AFL :?: ...then again what would a South Ozzy know about AFL

Rod from QLD

 

Woo hoo, 'n goodluck to ya.....sounds fuel related to me, starting at the breather in the cap, did you ever drain th tank just to see what's in there?,
in tank filter ok?, petcock behaving, and so on into the carbs. Carb clean,
new seals, don't forget the throttle shaft seals, needles 'n seats, float levels, sync. That did wonders for mine, very reliable.

 

Well done mate. I'm glad you had confidence to take your bike that far. Sounds like a good shake down ride. I'm getting close to my first ride, which I'm planning will be Mt Dandenong Tourist Rd, which is close to where I live, and should bed in the new brakes, tyres and suspension. I just have to watch out for Volvo driving tourists doing U turns in front of me.

 

If you make it back home with all body parts in place AND no road rash :wink: , it was a good trip. With a little help carb cleaning, syncing and tuning is real doable...

skillet

 

Hear, hear skillet. Looking back now still brings a smile to my face, damn it was fun. I'm already looking at where to ride to next but this time with the wifey on back.

railtrolley I reckon I'll be heading up Sassafras way one day in the coming weeks to practice on more technical roads. We went and had a drink at the Acorn on Forest just the other night but it was a bit late to head into the Dandenong Ranges.

This weekend I'll pull the tank bits off and start looking at what needs to be done.