82 XJ650 engine seized

The bike sat outside in the weather for 18 months. My fault but I was jobless at the time and made a penny-wise foolish decision.

Removed the left side cover and it will not crank by hand.

I can shift the gears up and down through all 5 gears. The clutch appears to be working properly. The rear wheel spins when the trans is in neutral.

I removed the plugs and filled with Marvel Mystery oil for weeks. One of 4 cylinders drained the oil the other three no drainage at all.

Sucked out the Marvel and replaced with 50/50 trans fluid and acetone. No change. 3 cylinders are absolutely stuck.

I left the plugs out and tried popping the clutch in high gear with after pushing the bike down the driveway. The rear tire just skids.

Is there an idiots guide to taking the engine apart and rebuilding? I have never done this before.

 

Some may suggest to remove the head, take a mallet and a piece of wood and wack the stuck pistons a few time to free them. You're not the first one with this problem, I'm sure one will give you good advices.

FOr how long have you tried soaking the pistons with acetone and ATF? Maybe you were patient enough...

 

The ATF/Acetone mixture has been soaking 72 hours. I will not doing anything for a week or two.

 

Don't give up yet, be patient keep soaking. Is there a way to turn the crank with a wrench? If so then try it, move it a little back and fourth each day. It will eventually give way. Even if you can only move the crank just a little , that's progress. Let it soak and turn the other way.

 

Bummer to hear she's locked up. We freed some old bikes as kids that sat 20 years in the family farm barn. Took a few weeks, just keep it filled and try turning every week or so. Good luck!

 

Here's how I used to do it with tractors that had been sitting for decades. Pop the sparkplugs out and fill the cylinders with a 50/50 mix of ATF and Acetone. Make note of the level. Wait a week. Check the level. If it's dropped significantly then try to move the crank. Repeat until the pistons are free. This can take several months, but minimizes damage to the cylinder walls and pistons.

 

get your PB Blaster, Liquid Wrench, Kroil, whatever you have and spray all the nuts and bolts you can see. down the road it's going to help.
don't use a Allen key to try to turn the motor over, use the square, and be careful of the ignition pickups.
you might be able to reach the piston tops with a round wooden dowel rod and give them a tap, some might be too far down to reach.

 

The left side cover crank access will not budge any at all. It appears that #4 is the worst which is not draining any. #3 drains dry.

I shift into gear and try to bump the engine using the rear wheel. No success yet. I will keep an eye on the ATF/Acetone level.

My neighbor was a mechanic some years ago. He suggests pulling the bike down the road with a rope and popping the clutch at road speed. That sounds dangerous to me.

 

Please don't do that

 

+1

 

Please do, and be sure to post the video.

 

Here is what I did. It appears that cylinders 1 and 4 are not absorbing the ATF. I sucked out the ATF from 1 and 4 and filled them up with Kroil. Later, I placed a spanner over the left crank access and hit the spanner repeatedly with a rubber mallet. There may be a tiny bit of movement. I will leave the Kroil and top it off if there is any drainage. I will try the rubber mallet occasionally and see how it goes. I will update the thread when there is something new to report.

I will not be trying the road/rope/deathwish trick. I do wonder if spinning the back wheel on a dynomometer and popping the clutch might be a safer way to accomplish the same result?

 

I wouldn't use the drivetrain to break the pistons free, except as a last resort. You really want to be as gentle as possible to avoid any stresses that may result in breaking things.

 

Get another engine and stick it in.

 

Pop the head off and take a look. After pulling my XJ650 apart, I can have the head off in 20m.

 

It's quite funny to look at your suggestion and at your avatar after.

 

Heh, did I make myself look a derp somehow?

 

lol

 

I solved the problem by selling it to an XJ650 owner who crashed his bike and needed a frame. Since I started driving the XJ1100 this summer and performing the maintenance, I realized that I am no longer interested in fixing the 650. It went to a home where at least parts of it will be on the road fairly soon. I drove it 5000 miles over 4 years and it served its purpose for me. Happy trails XJ650.

 

I paid $950 for it in 2008 and drove it 5000 miles. That's roughly 20 cents a mile not including maintenance. Better than paying for a new Harley and tons of fun driving it!

Oops, forgot to subtract $260 for the sale as a parts bike. Now its 15 cents a mile.

 

Buy an engine, or sell it to someone else who needed parts.... Works out good either way

 

I would rather buy a new (old) bike than a new motor. I can fit two bikes in the garage but not when the second bike needs to be torn down. I am happy that a current XJ driver/wrencher gets his ride back on the road.

 

so i guess you need to change your signiture line.
did you tell him about xjbikes.com?

 

The buyer breezed in, we rolled the bike onto his truck and he bolted. He was on a tight schedule driving from Charlotte NC to Pennsylvania. We did not have any chat time.

And, yep, I need to delete the XJ650 from my sig. Gone but not forgotten. I had a lot of fun on that bike.