New XJ owner and new rider in upstate NY

Hi all. I have been lurking and trying to digest the enormous amount of great info on this forum. As way of introduction, I am 20 years older than my Maxim (well next week anyway) and new to street riding. I rode dirt bikes when I was a teenager and am really enjoying getting back on a bike!

I just finished my basic riders course, got an "M" on my license now! I can only encourage anyone who wants to back on a bike to take a course. Swerving a "heavy" street bike was an eye opener for an old dirt biker and I am sure its gotten many riders out of a jam.

So far my XJ has been a pleasure. She runs good, idles good and is a bit cold blooded, but that just me gettin to know her. Replaced the front brakes and flushed out the system with fresh brake fluid. New sneaker on the front, the rear is only a couple years old. Replaced the engine oil and final drive oil. Pulled the rear wheel, check the shoes and found only lamination!

My winter plans are to CHECK MY VALVE CLEARANCES (thanks bigfitz), replace the front brake line with a SS one and do some restoration. Got lots of rust on the aftermarket 4 to 2 exhaust. I would really like to take care of that. As long as its running well, my theory is DON"T TOUCH THE CARBS. At least that's what my dad always told me.

Right now? I am sitting in the garage, waiting for paint to dry on my windshield hardware, drinking a homebrew (another hobby) and listening to some 70's music (Led Zeppelin) on the garage stereo.

Ride safe out there!

 

Nice intro, welcome to the forum.

 

Wecome!

So far so good on the maint.........the carbs ARE A MUST!

If you want your xj to run strong then you need to know the carbs
inside and out. RickOMatic has a great "how to" you need to read
and follow. No sense doing a valve adj only to have a dirty carb
ruin your day.


After you're done with Zep put on some Iron Maiden and
start Wrenching!

ron

 

welcome from the florida pan handle. Love Zep myself and I 150% agree with parts on this- gotta do the carbs just got to. also Valve clearences are a breeze, dont run'em tight too long you can burn a valve or worse.
and congrats on being an XJ'er

 

Welcome. Sounds like you are doing things right! Since you didn't state details about the state of your bike when you obtained it, we don't know if it was a 'resurrection' bike, what condition it was in, whether the PO could give you maintenance records, etc. (Might not matter to some guys who are more inclined to carb tinkering, they may tear them down no matter what!) But I'm like you, gonna keep my carbs a bit further down on the list. If it starts easy warm or cold, idles good, runs smooth and strong, doesn't hesitate or bog, doesn't stall, doesn't have vacuum leaks, doesn't have sticking/leaking floats, returns to idle after revving, gets good gas mileage, spark plugs look good, etc then I wouldn't mess with them either! If you can check everything on that list, do the carbs have to be an immediate priority? Not for me, at least not until all the other stuff is done.

How 'bout pics of your ride?

 

Welcome from the Great Lakes State!

Your winter list makes up about 1/8th of mine! LOL

 

Welcome from the UK.
Al

 

Welcome aboard.

You guys are hilarious.

"The bike runs fine, we'll just put off all of this critical maintenance." Hasn't anybody been paying attention?

You can CHECK your compression with little effort; you can CHECK your valve clearances without adjusting them; you can CHECK your carb sync without adjusting it; you can CHECK your float levels (on the bike even) without adjusting them-- if you find everything's in spec. On rare occasion, it might actually be. Then you can apply the "don't mess with it if it runs ok" theory.

But meanwhile, since "it runs fine" you're riding around on a bike with 9700 miles on it. If the valves have never been checked, you're flirting with disaster. Wanna bet me $5 for each tight valve? I could use a quick $40.

 

Fitz is right, if you haven't done any of this stuff since buying the XJ, you really need to.

The reason these are on my "winter" list is because I've already done them once, although I am about 200 miles overdue on an oil change.

Waiting until you HAVE TO "mess with it" just means twice as much time and effort to get it taken care of.

 

Just to clarify: I agree with the guys here on the valves, I didn't mean to imply that it's cool to let them go without a check. And, it's not hard to do with Fitz's guide.
Now for the carbs, these guys give good advice also. I'm just sayin I won't feel guilty for not workin on them yet, because I know my valves have been addressed, plugs look good, etc etc, and I'll get to them when I get a 'round tuit'. (My dad actually had one of those on his keyring!)

 

Hi sgio!

Welcome from farther upstate NY. I'm straight up Rte 12 from you, a little south of Utica.

If you wish, PM me. I hold a carb clinic each year in early June (CNYCC#5, June 2012) I'll put you on the email list.

Also, if you're interested in checking carb sync, or checking valve clearances, feel free to contact me. I have the tools right here. Do keep in mind that the bike does need to be stone-cold for the valve check.

Last, if you haven't gone through the carbs, Iwould highly recommend that you DO. An option would be to ride out the rest of the season, and then come up here for the carb clinic next June. We could make your bike the main project of the day.

Dave Fox, Host
Central NY Carb Clinic

 

That's awesome that you offered that to him Dave. There's his 'round tuit'!

 

WELCOME from TN!!!

skillet

 

Thanks everyone! I tried to add a picture to my post, unsuccessfully. Got one in my Gallery.
The story on the bike is the PO was the original owner and he rode it back and forth to work, then quit riding when he got married. About 4 years ago, he decided to get it back on the road. He got the carbs cleaned and a new rear tire. Apparently he still didn't ride it much because the miles on it when I bought it were almost the same as on the inspection sticker. So it sat for a few more years and I bought it a few weeks ago. It was a runner when I bought it, just needed to replace the original front tire to pass the safety inspection. Electrics all work so far.
I put sea foam in the gas in the first tank and have Gumout Regane in the current tank. The bike runs good, I did check one spark plug when I first bought the bike and maybe I have run it enough to learn something from looking at all of them now. Sounds like a plan for this afternoon, since its gonna rain all day.
Oh yeah - add a new fuse block to the winter list. My winter list may be short so far, but its growing.
Dave - thanks for the offer. I will send you a PM. I am definately interested in learning more about my bike. I plan to do all my own maintenance and have had my hands in engines before, so this work doesn't scare me.

 

Just a little note on "had the carbs cleaned".

I know several owners that bought bikes that had
the "carbs cleaned", by dealers no less, only to find a step
or ten that were missed or just ignored.

Not saying that yours were done improperly, only that trusting
that someone else has done the job right is iffy at best.

I'm not trying to bust your balls on this or imply that you don't know
what you're doing-just passing on what I've seen in the past.

Good luck.
ron

 

CHECK YOUR VALVE CLEARANCES.

If they were never done you are dangerously overdue. I got one of my bikes with 7100 miles on it, untouched, and all 8 were tight.

DON'T PUT IT OFF. You might burn a valve. Or two.

 

Thanks all. safe to assume that none of this has been done (whether it has or not) and get to it!