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Getting an XJ550 Running Again

Discussion in 'XJ Technical Chat' started by Antothoro, Dec 15, 2019.

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  1. XJ550H

    XJ550H Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    [​IMG]plates
     
  2. Timbox

    Timbox Well-Known Member

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    It is not worth the time to try to bring back a battery. I mean only costing $40 or so buck here in the US. Get a good new battery and have one less thing to worry about with the bike.
     
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  3. Antothoro

    Antothoro Member

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    Got a little bit of oil in each cylinder to soak.
     
  4. Antothoro

    Antothoro Member

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    ok guys, good news and some questions.

    I changed the oil. That was a bit of an adventure. The oil filter bolt was seized. Got it off then ended up having to cut the bolt back to hex shape. It's now a 10mm.

    I was able to manually turn the engine over. There was some resistance on the first turn or two but then it smoothed out.

    The gas tank is back together (petcock and gauge were taken off to derust the tank). The fuel gauge seems to work.

    I re-seated the carbs after replacing the fuel line. I'll be adding inline filters to catch the rust that is loose in the tank.

    Using a battery charger, supporting 2A, 10A, and 55A loads, I was able to confirm that the turn signals work, break light works, and horn works. The head light did not work nor the starter. I verified the starter button works using a DMM.



    I have a few questions.

    What's needed to start the engine? break being depressed, transmission in neutral?

    The horn sounds pittiful. Only one sounds. do ya'll have rebuild instructions on those?

    The T line between the middle two carbs is really lose. should I be concerned?
     
  5. Antothoro

    Antothoro Member

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    Will it not turn clockwise? Can you describe what "hang up" means?
     
  6. XJ550H

    XJ550H Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    Headlight comes on when motor spins fast enough to close relay.
    the tee may have to be replaced if it is leaking it would be a good pratice to replace all o rings in fuel rail and replace the tee as oem has no orings.

    bike needs to be in neutral to start or clutch pulled in when in gear as clutch has a safety switch to prevent starting in gear with clutch out. switch located in perch.
    side stand switch may also be an issue and need to be cleaned. bypass by removing sidestand relay located under seat.

    test solenoid for voltage at input from battery and on cable to starter (press starter button )
    solenoid connections may need to be cleaned or solenoid repaced. you can jump across the 2 nuts on solinoid to make starter spin.
     
  7. XJ550H

    XJ550H Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    a shot of starting fluid into carbs will see if motor starts or fires . when you add fuel to carbs check for leaks. rap carb bowls when filling to un bind floats
     
  8. Timbox

    Timbox Well-Known Member

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    As for that gas tank, is there still lose rust in it? Can we get a pic with a light shined down inside the top? If there is lose rust in there, the inline filter will help but not do well enough to stop all the supper fine sediment that might be floating around in the tank. Evapo-Rust or like chemical will clean up the rust in your tank.

    As for the carbs, do a bench test for leaks before you put them back in the bike. It is better to see if there is gas leaking from the carbs on a table/vise setup then when you have them back on the bike. An AUX gas tank and line will need to be used to get the fuel into the carbs, it will be well worth it. This check will make sure all the gaskets in each bowl is working and the "O" rings on the fuel rails.
     
  9. Cattleman XJ

    Cattleman XJ Member

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    The T fitting was tight when I started working on my rack. Upon reinstalling I noticed it had gotten significantly more loose and then (dun dun dunnn) fuel started leaking from that area.

    with new o rings it moves still but with noticeable drag.
    Ymmv, this was on a 700
     
  10. Antothoro

    Antothoro Member

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    Previously, again years ago, I pulled the tank and ran a de-rusting chemical through it. I made several passes with that. It did some great work. At this point, it seems that rust is knocking loose with me bumping the tank around moving it. I keep on getting lose rust out using magnet or shaking it then more seems to get lose.

    See pictures. I can scope the tank as well.

    Any suggestions on installing a magnet or something to collect the rust in tank?
     

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  11. Antothoro

    Antothoro Member

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    -- OK, good news. I'll revisit the headlight later on.

    -- Any suggestions on aftermarket tees?

    -- I'll test the starter by shorting the solenoid.
     
  12. Antothoro

    Antothoro Member

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    Shorting the solenoid started the starter right up. In my box of parts, I have a different solenoid. So I'll try that one.
     
  13. XJ550H

    XJ550H Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    xj4ever sells tees or look for a 600 tee on ebay

    rust in tank dump some bbs in it they are steel covered in copper then add pb blaster or fluid film then shake it to swirl around bbs . do this every day as often as possible.
    then drain tank use magnetic on an extendable rod to pull out any bbs and rust flakes rinse with fuel or other solvent

    you will need to remove petcock and fuel cap to do this cover petcock hole with a plate and use an expansion plug for gas cap.

    in info over load there are several other ways to remove rust from electrolliss to tumbling tank in drier with fish tank gravel

    I use a fuel tank from a lawn mower for an axulliriy tank
     
  14. XJ550H

    XJ550H Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    oem tee for 550 has no replacable o rings it is aluminim covered in plastic with ridges
     
  15. XJ550H

    XJ550H Well-Known Member Premium Member

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  16. Antothoro

    Antothoro Member

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  17. XJ550H

    XJ550H Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    yes it will
     
  18. Antothoro

    Antothoro Member

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    Spent some more time this evening on it.

    Shorted the solenoid will trigger the starter but the button still does not work. When pressing the button I get neither power nor connectivity on the plug out to the starter relay. I've tried two different relays with still no luck. As I flip the off,run,off switch I can hear the relay next to the rear wheel switching. Anybody got a wiring diagram?

    I'm noticing that the voltage is not maintaining through my various testing. Yes the back light is on but I'm not really doing anything that would drain the battery. I'm wondering if there is a power drain somewhere.

    Speaking of battery, what's the exact model that is correct for these bikes? Maybe I have the wrong battery?
     
  19. XJ550H

    XJ550H Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    4U8 so it is a XJ550 seca?

    battery 12N12A-4A

    at solenoid there is a small connector blue white wire connects to starter button red/white wire is hot wire put your meter probes in the connector press starter button you should get 12 volts. if not test red/white wire to negative on battery should have 12 volts.
    test blue white wire to positive of battery probe on positive probe into connector blue/white wire. press starter button 12 volts? if not starter button may not be grounded or may be dirty.

    also under tank follow right control wires back to harness the connectors are near the ignition coil make sure they are clean and tight.
    starter button grounds by the handle bars if bars are painted that's the problem.
    best thing to do is add a ground to the black wire from control. or hook a jumper wire to screw on control and to battery negitive


    The World’s Greatest XJ550 Seca Wiring Diagram:
    http://www.frankjohansson.com/stuff/xj550/XJ550ElectricalDiagram.html
     
  20. Antothoro

    Antothoro Member

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    The starter button & kill switch wire bundle has 4 wires but the wiring harness only has 3. Looks like the grounding is not happening at the switch. So I added a wire to the wiring harness side all the way down to the bolt on the battery box for the grounding wire.

    Now when I press the button, the oil light slowly starts to glow.....

    <10 min later>
    Just walked back out there and pressed it again.... the starter turned once then stopped. Tried it again, turned again. It's barely turning over.

    Battery has been on trickle charger since my last post.... Maybe the battery does not have enough juice?

    <15 min later>
    I went back out there and tried it again and got several turns of the starter.
     
    Last edited: Jan 30, 2020

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