Electrical guy in need of mechanical support and advice!!!

Here is my deal. I got my XJ650J about 6 months ago as a trainer bike for my woman. The thing runs like a top and starts all season long and generally, life is good. Until today. I go out to prep the bike for a training session like always and decided it had been a while since I checked the fluids. AND!!!! The thing has almost no oil!!!... ok.. I remember that I redid the fluids as soon as i got it, and I hadn't ridden it all winter, so it hadn't been run but maybe, 20 to 30 times total and never for more than 1 or 2 hours, less than 25mph. I put a quart of oil in it. NOT FULL. Another quart does the trick.

My Concern:
It always had a little oil on the cylinder heads when we ran it, but I had an old honda that did that so I wasn't concerned. I think... think mind you... that it needs a new set of gaskets. There are NO oil spots in my garage... and no smoke from the exhaust. Where the #### is this oil going!!!!

What I need from the XJ brain trust:
A: Do I need to put in new seals? (especially up top where it gets oily)

B: If so, I have spring break coming up. Can a XJ650J be disassembled, new seals, and reassembled by a psuedo-advanced wrencher in what will be approx 50 hours of my spare time? (I have rebuilt GM350's before, so I can focus on the task at hand and get the thing done. But 50 hours?)

C:Is my local hole in the wall yamaha dealer gonna take 3 weeks to get me some gaskets? I mean... is this common? Or an odd problem with a wait time on parts? Anyone had it before?

Thanks in advance guys for the help, set me straight here quickly... it gets the wrench in about 30 hours.

 

Do a compression check. If the numbers are real good; then you can get-by with a Top Ender. Since the Valve Seals are snapped onto the top of the Valve Guides ... you should look into getting one of the Valve Spring Compressing Tools made for the job.

The standard automotive tool is too big for the job and you'll lose time jockeying sockets and spacers around trying to make a go of it.
There's some clever tools for bikes that make it a quick off and on.

If you put 50 Hours into TopEnd ... do the whole nine yards. De-carbon, clean, shine, port, polish, lap the valves, knurl the guides, new seals, and even a Media Blasting if you know a guy!

The Cap Screws on the Intake Side are soft steel and will twist and break-off if they're oxi-fied stuck.

Give it Hell!

 

Re: Electrical guy in need of mechanical support and advice!

RickoMatic,

Thanks for the insight. I am not sure that is the length I would like to go to though? Is there anything inbetween? I don't have the stuff to do a compression check with me, and I was just intially looking at seals alone... is all that other stuff necessary? And 50 hours isn't a goal, it's a limit.. that is all the time I'll have. I just wanted to make sure my woman doesn't kill me for tearing her bike apart 2 weeks before the best part of the riding season and then not getting it back together... cause God knows who's bike she will wanna ride then... **cough cough...

Basically, I am looking to step forward w/o taking 2 steps back...

Oh yea, and I forgot to ask, I can take the carbs out in one big piece right? W/o having to spend a ton of time getting them recalibrated when i wanna get back to riding?

Thanks again.

 

No offence but I have to ask, did you check your oil on the center stand or on the side stand?

Your bike should take 3.5 litres ( 3.7 US qts ) of oil in total.
When you change the oil and filter it takes 2.65 litres ( 2.8 US qts ).
If you just change the oil it's 2.35 litres ( 2.5 US qts ).

You said there's no oil marks or burning blue just a little oil on the heads.
I wouldn't jump to tearing it apart, just keep an eye on the oil level really close for the next while. Check the plugs and see if they are showing signs of too much oil going thru.

 

I thought of that before I put oil in it. So I took it off the center stand and had a friend hold it while stuck my finger in the oil plug hole only to have it returned free of oil. The viewing port had oil in it, but my finger is easily 3 inches long, and nothing on it.

I checked for smoke at the start, and it is parked in the same place every night, so I would know if there were oil spots.

And the plugs look pretty good, but that could be because they only have about 20 hours on them... ?

I would really like to know where it is all going.. because the cheapest head gasket I can get in town is 60 bucks US and if i order online, its 45 with 12 shipping... so i really really don't wanna do this.

 

Re: Electrical guy in need of mechanical support and advice!

Whoa there partner, you don't want the oil so high you could reach it with a finger through the filler hole, especially where the clutch basket is. That's not how you check your oil level, it's simply the oil window to actually see the oil line. You don't want your oil level line any higher then the top of that window with the engine running, it will be too high if higher then that window.

If you actually had oil higher then that, it will flood into the gear case and fill the rubber boot to the shaft drive and start leaking everywhere, not to mention it's highly risking engine damage if your oil is so high you start getting crank slapping. That's your crank slapping against the pool of oil while it's rotating.
My Dad made this mistake once, got it a bit too high and I had to take the swingarm off and boot to really clean the mess it made, thankfully it didn't do any serious damage.

 

You will not reach the oil via the stick the finger in the hole. I wouldn't suggest you do that, especially on a hot engine.

You check the oil level only in the site glass on the side of the engine. Keep it just below the top of the round viewer. If you look at the casing beside the viewer you will see two lines raised on the casing, meaning Yamaha's suggested min and max levels.

There has been problems with the warning light coming on with "normal" oil levels on some models and Yamaha has put a bulletin out saying to keep the level a bit higher.

So I'm guessing you don't have a problem with oil consumption!

 

Re: Electrical guy in need of mechanical support and advice!

Holy crap,

Thanks a million guys! Apparently, I confused the figure on page 37 of the manual (final drive oil level) with the engine oil level. Thank god for XJ forum or I would have had a huge mess on my hands.