please help! need advise on fork and carb issues.

Hey everyone,

I'm new here, I have been looking at this site for quite some time and I'm glad to be apart of it.

I own a 1982 Yamaha XJ650 Maxim and I absolutely love this bike. When I bought it there were several issues and it didn't even run. But me and a friend picked up two of them (mines a 82 his is a 81) for 1250 so I figured it was a steal considering how good of shape they were cosmetically. His ran fine, but mine had a bad cylinoid. I changed the cylinoid and it started right up. Drove it down the block for a bit but then it started bogging down and actually stalled out and wouldn't run. Come to find out it had gas in the oil so the bike sat in the previous owners garage with the petcock turned to prime for some time and filled case with gas. So I drained it and took carbs off and cleaned them. Ran 3 quarts of oil through and ran the bike for a minute than drained oil and filled it back up with oil and a new filter. After all this it ran fine. I had issues with the ridiculous excuse for a fuse box so I cut the damn thing right out and put in in line fuses, no problem there anymore. But I so have some issues which brought me here. My rubber boots in front of carbs are cracked and we're leaking. So I tried to take them off to replace them but the damn Allen wrench bolts were a problem. When I went to take out the first bolt the head snapped off! So I decided to take high temp black silicone and coat them with multiple layers and let it sit for a couple days to cure. This looks like it worked well but the bike still runs like there leaking. I have to leave choke on a tiny bit to keep it running especially when it's cold. So I am wondering if it is indeed leaking still or is there an issue with the carbs themselves. This isn't my biggest concern though because it runs well when hot. My biggest concern and the one I need the most help with is these damn forks! The seals are blown and there is fork fluid all over my front rim and brake caliper. I have been riding it with blown seals for a while and need to do something about it before I get into an accident. So my question is should I buy new forks of eBay or will I run into the same problem with them. Or should I attempt to change seals. I seen there is a thread posted on changing seals but the pictures do not show up on the thread so I cannot get the proper guidance. Is changing the seals a really difficult task or am I able to do this on a weekend? Can someone please assist me I would be very great full.

 

Go to the Information Overload Hour and read the "Church of Clean" for cleaning your carbs. They are NOT clean right now. There are also plenty of tutorials here on doing fork seals.

YOU can do all these yourself. READ, ASK, LISTEN.........DO. You'll be fine. Learn to do these things, as they are part of routine maintenance. Routine for these, means you'll maybe have to do it again sometime in the distant future, but you'll know how if that time ever arises.

Dave F