Problems with my seca

Hey all, new here. About 2 months ago I bought a 1982 xj650 seca as my first bike and everything was perfect. Then things went to shit. I just got my bike back from the shop today since my bike was running too rich (awful fuel milage and would die out).
They did a carb job on it ( cleaned, rebuilt) and said that the compression was good and everything was synched.
Well now on the way home the bike stalled about 12 times in traffic. It would just gradually drop then die out.
Since getting the bike I've: changed the spark plugs, changed the battery and treated the air filter since it's a k&n.

Edit: Almost forgot it has a huge problem starting up cold now if I start it and give it gas it just dies out as well.

Any help is appreciated I'd like to ride it properly before this summer is over..

 

Re: Idle problem with my seca

I the petcock in the on position?
Is it low on fuel and needs to be put in the reserve position?

If the petcock is vacuum controlled is the vacuum line hooked up?

 

Petcock was in the on position, I switched it to res to see if it would help but it did nothing. Sorry for my ignorance but how can I know definitively if petcock is vaccum controlled? I believe it is though.

 

There would be two valves (nipples) coming out of the petcock the smaller one would be the vacuum one.

Another issue you might have is the vent in the gas cap is clogged not allowing the fuel to flow properly.

 

Are the valve clearances in spec? I would verify the compression and that the float settings are correct.
Also, it seems I read somewhere that when using K&N filters you might have to re-jet the carbs. (Chacal, can you help me out with this one?)

 

That's what I thought, yup it's vaccum controlled and is connected.
How can I go about checking the vent in the gas cap? Is the vent those two little holes in it? They seem to be clean if so

Bmarzka: I'll call the bike shop and ask if they did those. Also, is there a way I can check valve clearance without going to the shop again?

 

Anything a shop can do, you can do and you can do it better. BigFitz has an excellent write-up for checking and setting valve clearances. RickcoMatic has a wonderful write-up for cleaning, rebuilding and setting carbs. Learn to use the search function and find out how to do everything on your XJ. You'll be amazed of what you can accomplish. Folks here are more than happy to help. Be patient. Be thorough. Don't try to cut corners and take shortcuts. Fitz and Rick are Gods in the XJ world. Listen to them and you'll have a machine that's safe and will blow any V-twin off the road. (Although my son-in-law's Raider gives me a run for the money.)
BTW, if you need parts and/or advice, click the xj4ever banner in the upper right corner. Len has everything you could need and the greatest service.

 

Andrew, it sounds like you got bamboozled! If the shop is saying that they synced everything but didn't make sure that valves are in spec they waster their time and you wasted their money. If they never even mentioned valves and they said they synced everything it was a pointless job.

You will have to make sure the valves are in spec and only then be able to move and setup the carbs.

Here is a video on how to check your valves and replace the shims:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3gxT57eoDE

 

Just checked out bigfitz' article on the valve clearances. If I open it all up do I have to change the valve cover gasket? I just changed it haha

Ecologito, thanks I'm actually going to back tomorrow morning and ask them just to make sure. Either way I'll be doing the work myself from now on.

 

If you go back just ask for the numbers on the valves and see what they say.

 

That's brilliant thanks a lot
Also if someone could correct me if I'm wrong that'd be great but from my understanding if they did the carb job and synched them without even checking the valve clearance then they're not even really in synch are they?

 

Well, actually they are synched but on a wrong basis. It is like building something heavy on soft ground.

 

Nicely explained haha, I'll be going to the shop after work today to see what exactly they've done and if they even checked the valve clearances. I'm nearly positive they did not. Once that's done I guess we'll go from there and I'll start really learning how to put this thing together! You've all been extremely helpful thus far, thanks!

 

You've got the right attitude; we'll make a motorcycle mechanic out of you yet.

 

Also, I have an inline fuel filter. My friend says I should clean it up and see if that helps should I give it a shot and how should I about it? I haven't found any articles on it online yet. One more thing, before I brought the bike in I turned the idle knob up a few turns, not sure if they played with that or not but should I see if it helps? Cause right now the bike idles perfect at about 1050 rpm but once o come off of the highway or basically when it warms up it tends to die out when I come to stops which makes it seem like it's still running rich?

 

Or it's in serious need of a valve adjustment; or the float levels are way off; or it wasn't fully warmed up when they did the (questionable) sync.

"Starts fine cold, runs like crap (or won't run) once warm" is a classic symptom of tight valves or any of the other conditions I just mentioned; or a combination of all of them.

 

Look what they have done to me

Now I even feel like I know what I am talking about.

Keep up the good work, if I were you I would avoid the shop that failed to ask, check or even mention the valves.

 

Brought the bike back to the shop, they took it in right away and did a checkup on what they`ve done and retuned it. It`s been a couple of days now and the bike seems to be running well. Proper idle and no longer stalls when I come to a stop. They were very helpful but i`ll still be doing all the future work myself. Also, when I have some free time i`ll be checking my valve clearances and going over everything! Thanks again all

 

So what did they do to fix it? Don't delay on adjusting the valves, you might be 20K over the adjustment period!

To put it another way, if you bring your valves in spec you'll get the most out of your engine . My first XJ I had was running with 7/8 valves out of spec!

Welcome to the forum btw!

 

Thanks! From what I understand, he said he tuned it a little higher than the yamaha standard? I could be wrong though.

 

Tuning it to a higher standard has no real meaning. Those are opinion words, nothing more.

 

The ONLY thing that they could do to "tune it a a little higher than yamaha's standards" would be to open the idle screws a tiny bit. That allows the bike to run SLIGHTlY richer, and keep the cylinders SLIGHTLY cooler, which will help keep you from burning up the bike from running too lean. SOME people like to lean it out a bit for more power, but that's asking for trouble.

I'm curious.....what did they charge to "tune it a a little higher than yamaha's standards"?

Can you get a detailed list of what they did?

Did they check the valve clearances for you? Can they give you a list of what shims are now currently in there? Is the valve cover gasket new? Did they replace the cover donuts? I DOUBT IT ......

I find that I get quite a few calls from people around here that say "so-and-so said that you're the xj guy in the area, and that you can get parts that aren't available......I went to "X" and they said the parts are not made anymore and I have am going to have to junk the bike and get a newer one. I love the look on their faces when I say "yeah, I'll have the parts in a few days......."

dave

 

They didn't charge me anything when I went back, they brought it out back right away. I imagine they did exactly what you just said since my fuel milage is still rather shit I'm getting 130 km per tank. They did nothing about the valve clearances, they just cleaned up my carbs and reset all the levels. What drives me crazy is that I gave them the valve cover gasket since the old owner did a shit job and it was leaking yet they still didn't check the valve clearances.

 

Ok, then how long did it take?

Long enough for them to completely disassemble the rack and clean all the ports and jets, then install new o-rings and throttle shaft seals? Wow they didn't charge you anything.... Nice! That's a few hundred bucks right there that they passed up!

Long enough to colortune and sync it while they were at it?

Oh, wait...... You said they didn't check the clearances..... So when you do it, your gonna have to re- colortune and re- balance anyway.

So---- what did they REALLY do? Wipe some smudges off the carbs and say they cleaned them? And tinker with the mixture screws?

If your mileage is bad, your running too rich. Could be mixture screws out to far, air filter clogged, enriched not disengaging all the way, other jets clogged, main needle worn, emulsion tube worn, etc.....

Get your carbs off, clean them thoroughly, do your shim clearances, sync, colortune, sync again. THEN lets see if there's a problem.

Dave

 

That's exactly my frustration. What they did in essence is absolutely worthless. Also, they took a little over an hour. I imagine chacal has everything I'm going to need to check the clearances and then tune it?

 

You need nothing more than a set of metric feelers to CHECK your clearances; and yes chacal has everything you'll need to adjust them.

Valve clearances how-to: http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=14827.html

Part Deux: http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=29209.html

 

..... And
a large Phillips-head screw driver for the timing cover
a metric Allen wrench for the valve cover
a spark plug socket to remove plugs
a 19mm wrench to turn the crank
10 and 12 mm sockets for removing tank, and horn bracket

All of which are EASY things to do

After you do even just the check, you're gonna know more about your bike than the shop does.

 

Andrew,

These bikes are really not that hard to work on.

A couple of hints and suggestions.

Never force anything. That is how screws break off or strip. Everybody has dealt with this problem and there are solutions.

Mark everything that you remove as to what it is, where it came from. After a few days, things all start to look the same.

Keep you work area organized. Always use the right tool.

And above all, be patient. Frustration only leads to more frustration and problems.

Take your time, do not rush. If you don't understand something, research and ask until you are satisfied you completely understand it.

And as Dave Hogfiddles stated, you will know more about your bike than any shop would.

good luck and hope this helps

 

My bike actually came with a few of those and we've got a pretty extensive set of tools here at home. Looks like all I'll really need is a colortune. Well, this has been an expensive lesson but I'm actually looking forward to taking this thing apart. Thanks for everything again.

 

Andrew; you have the right attitude, and we're here to help.

To a man, I'll bet you that everyone here was a tad surprised about the amount of money they'd need to spend to do it right. (Turns out to be worth it if you see it through.)

The bottom line is it WILL cost between $600 ~$800 USD if you do all the work. Considering the exchange rate between the almighty dollar and the Loonie, it's about the same budget.

If you can spin a wrench without hurting yourself, you can do this. Ask ANY question you need; the only "stupid" question is the one un-asked.

 

And the reality is you don't actually NEED a colortune... you can set the mix screws at 2.5 turns and be done (for now......) I always set at 2.5 then give about 1/8 of a turn more, and I have NEVER had to change that. I put the colortune in, and I see blue. I'm happy.

You CAN do it, we are here to help you if you get stuck. We don't hold any secrets......this site (and along with XJOG) is your greatest XJ brain-trust.

Jump in, the water's great!

dave F