XJ550 Running hot

I got an xj550 a few years back and recently have been getting it up and running. I just rebuilt the carbs and it idles and runs ok, but it rapidly gets hot. Once around the block and four stop signs later and the cylinder head ribs are too hot to touch.
Could this have anything to do with the oil flow being blocked? I ask because the PO used red silicon sealent on all the seals and bits of it were completely clogging the oil pump intake screen. I pulled it all out but I'm concerned there might be a blockage somewhere else.
If I turn over the engine with the oil fiter off (spin on adapter installed) oil flows out the ring of holes surrounding the central hollow stud.

 

Keep in mind that it is an air cooled engine, I wouldn't want to touch it either. You could check to see the your YICS passage is clean. There are threads here that will tell you how if you don't know.

 

I agree; not being able to touch the head is not a sign of running hot, it's a sign of RUNNING period. A gunky YICS passage won't make it run hot either.

Air cooled motorcycle engines quickly get too hot to touch. That much is normal.

That being said, it's a "oil-cooled" motor. Personally, I would be doing 500-mile oil changes until no more red bits came off, and probably postpone any transcontinental rides until you're sure it's cleaned out.

 

Thanks for the advice, It's my first bike so I'm a bit clueless as to what's normal.

 

my 82 650 just got Way Too Hot after the same thing, a few blocks around my neighborhood after a carb rebuild and valve adjustment. smoking from underneath and pickup coil cover was even too hot to touch. scared to run the thing now. my plan now is to get cooler plugs and go richer on the mixture screw. feel really weird putting different jets in a all stock bike...

 

Cooler plugs won't effect motor temp. Heat range of a spark plug only refers to the ability of said plug to keep itself clean,free of deposits.
I can't understand what makes you think it's running too hot? If it's not makin' clanky grinding noises,shifts ok and has clean oil I'd run it.

 

Hey Fitz, What's oil cooled about a 550?

 

All the XJ motors are "oil-cooled."

Look in a factory service manual, there is a "lubrication schematic." These motors have oil jets and spray nozzles all over the inside of them, and they depend on all that oil being flung about inside for heat dissipation. It's one of the reasons for the massive cooling fins on the oil filter housing, I do believe.

It's designed-in; Suzuki was the first company to start blowing their horn about it when the GSX series first debuted, but it had already been a widely-used feature for a while. CYCLE Magazine called it "ingenious" in reference to the original 550 Seca when that bike premiered in late 1980.

What I still don't understand is why almost all the XJs sold in the rest of the world came fitted with oil coolers but the USA market bikes largely did not.

 

Because we're special :wink:

 

Well, that's a two-edged sword now isn't it?

Yes, you are. 8O

 

True; it is technically an aircooled motor.

But the XJ depends on the internal oil sprays for cooling as well, unlike earlier aircooled engines like the British twins. As such, any potential oil circulation problems need to be taken seriously.