XJ 650 TURBO LEAK

:? :? Hi lads, have had a couple of bike mechanics take my machine and work on it, 1st guy charged me several hundred and was meant to have gone through the whole machine etc, balanced the carbs, service.

Got it back (before Xmas) so put her away until the weather improves, go to the garage only to find oil spill everywhere, contacted him he said "is it on the side stand?) I thought strange question, "yes I said", O I might have over filled the oil, it needs to go on the centre stand this will stop it. Crap I thought, anyway did what he asked, cleaned her of and put her on the centre stand, was busy for sometime, so did not go and check, new years day get a call from a couple of mates, lets go for a New Year Ride, yes I said, opened the garage to see? Yes you got it a bigger slick then the 1st.
Called him and he said he was far to busy to come out to see what was wrong, anyway feeling pissed of and cheated some what found a custom machanic, seemed good, told me the bike had not been serviced or carbs balanced etc etc, :twisted: :twisted:

So I asked could he do it properly, O yes, he stripped the carbs and ebuilt them new seals etc, had the bike back (still not used) until today 4/3/11, tried to start her up she did not really want to fire at 1st, turned over, then she started, smoke and what else? Yes you got it a load of water (maybe) or petrol and oil mix. All seems to be leaking near the turbo area
So again paid out but this major leak, this can't be normal. Any ideas why this keeps happening? Someone please help or I will scrap her

 

Without actually looking at it - it's the gas (Petrol) has slowly drained past your petcock, pump, regulator, and at least one carb float/needle/seat, then on into the engine, past the rings at a trickle, into the sump.

A petcock rebuild, carb maintenance, oil change, tune-up, rear brake check, and kitty litter will set you right up.

That's my guess. You can test-flow your petcock to confirm.

 

fast reply thanks for your thoughts, what about a Turbo seal? looking into the engine oil window (side stand) this was clear, put onto centre stand and the window is black as black.

 

There's supposed to be a check valve to keep the oil from siphoning out the Turbo. A little sludge and crud will hang that up.
Not seeing oil while on the side stand is normal.

We suggest to fill, on centerstand, until you see a slight air bubble at the top. This way, you can tell if it FILLS by 3 OZ of gas. It also helps keep the "low oil" light from flickering.

Can you find where the oil is coming out of your bike ??
Lay a clean sheet of cardboard under it and turn your back.

 

The last guy who looked at it has been around he thinks it is the turbo/seals

The guy before him, welded the exhaust to the turbo, now the 2nd chap says because of that it is going to be a major job to 1/get to the turbo 2/to sort it out, he even said about removing the turbo and not having one at all.

One of the main reasons for getting that bike was for that little turbo,

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The Turbo uses the exact same seals and bearings as the small Mitsubishi car turbo, and any turbo shop can rebuild it.

WELDED !! What a ham fisted bugger !

You need to assume that nothing on your bike was repaired or maintained correctly, from a safety perspective.

 

Uh oh, I just finished bringing my turbo back to life and what you are saying does not sound good.

TTR is right, who in their right mind would WELD the da**ed exh to the turbo?....we know what happened, the idiot broke off the two studs and or one bolt then came up with a solution to "your problem"...typical rat mechanic. Wow, sorry that you even got involved with either of those two guys.

You know, that THE ONLY reason I'll do work for anyone anymore, just to keep them from being ripped off by guys like that.

There are a total of three places that can cause/result in oil leaks at the turbo. The supply side check valve which TTR has already told you about, the return seal on the turbo scavange oil pump inside the engine, and really bad seals on the turbo itself. A rebuild kit for the turbo costs 126US but it will be impossible to rebuild it with the exh pipe welded to it since you won't be able to index the turbine and compressor wheels. Nor will you be able to remove the compressor wheel or have room so the shaft can be removed since it comes out the turbine side.

On the fuel side there is a check valve with an oring and it's to prevent fuel from leaking when the pump isn't running to keep it from filling the carbs, the seals on the carbs and the float valves also do that.

Can you do your own work with instruction? I'm sorry that you've gotten placed into this because there doesn't seem to be any easy solutions coming to mind to me.

Shoot me your email address in a pm....

jeff

 

After reading JeffK 's insight,
You need to cut that weld without it costing you too much money.
Anything can be fixed.
You are faced with buying new/used parts and spending money.
Some research is in order.

 

i have a 1982 XJ650 turbo also....
i want to give it some TLC over the coming winter ( i live in NZ)... what is the best site for parts?

by the way, it still starts but the clutch is slipping and it wont fully boost.. only gets up to 200k/hr.. as long as i take it easy due to the slipping clutch..

AJ

 

AJ,

I was told that if everything else is good, the low boost is symptomatic of bas seals within the turbo itself indicating that a rebuild is due. How many total miles are on it? Also, the boost sensor(located under the battery box and the hose connects to the carb manifold) is probably reading high. Mine was reading much too high and even a second one read high. I had to opening it and repair it to read correctly. If it reads high, it retards the timing and kills the perfomance. All the necessary stuff is in the 650 Turbo manual. PM me if you don't have one.

jeff
PS, I bought my rebuild kit from Jerry at GPop shop. They also do balancing or total rebuilds and were a huge help to me even though I bought their rebuild kit and did my own work.