First real motorcycle. New rider. Oil leak issue XJ 650 82

[JCT88]

Hello everyone,

So i'm pretty sure that the internet god threw me to this site. I just bought my first real motorcycle about 3 weeks ago. First thing i noticed when i got it home was the fact that it didn't really want to idle at all.

First things first i bought a owners manual (Haneys). Pulled the carbs out and they seemed to be very clean to my surprise . So i put the carbs back in after soaking the needle jets in Seafoam for a night (Did not touch the choke plunger or float needle seat from the carbs). I put the carbs back into the bike and started it up and it still would not idle. I increased the idle knob after having a hard time finding and finally coming to this site to find out where it was (Yay!).

Now to the problem i have now. I think i may have done something wrong to the carbs when i pulled them out. When the bike is warm it is pushing out white smoke and it seems to have a small oil leak underneath. Never noticed the oil leak before. Could some of the oil be making its way into the exaust system?

Broke down and called local yama mech. Best advice he gave me was the valve oil seal could just be stuck and it just sounded to him as if it needed to be run more. After having some nice late may days here in VT i let it idle and reved the engine a couple of times after letting it idle by itsself for about 5 min. Noticed more white smoking coming out. Have done this the past 3 days and has still had the same problem. Valve seal dosen't seem to have come unstuck. I'm going to add this part in because it seems important. The white smoke coming from the exaust only seemed to start after i had taken the carbs out and put them back in and also increased the idle nob.

I really hope all the information i gave will help everyone out in finding my problem.

I've been riding ATV's and Dirt Bikes since i was about 12 years old and i do have some knowledge of mech's on both. Have seen ATV's totally torn apart and fixed.

From the proud new owner of a 1982 650 maxim,
Thanks Jan

PS: Bike currently has touring gear on it, front fearing and hard saddle bags and i'm looking to put it back to original state. And to my surprise i loved doing some of the work myself thus far on the bike, never have been a mechanical type, but i'm proud to say "Yea, i did that myself".

[latexeses]

Greetings and Welcome,
I am not the person to give advise. There are many here far more qualified.
One thing I have learned around here is you clean the carbs thoroughly, then you clean them some more and when you finish the second cleaning, clean them some more.

I haven't run my carbs yet but I have confidence that they will run.
I took everything loose on the carbs but the butterflies. Inspected every hole and seat. Ran everything through a sonic cleaner. Inspected everything again and reassembled them. I'm sure I just cursed myself to endless carb trouble...

Make sure all of the mixture screws are intact.. none of the tips are broken and logged in the carb body.

Is there oil in the air box? Could you have the case breather tube hooked up to a vacuume of some sort? I know nothing of the 650's design.

Maybe member fredintoon could chime in on this one.

Good luck and welcome again.

Rodger

[JCT88]

Thanks,


I just realized i was on the wrong forums as well sorry. There is no oil in the air filter and i'm not sure what you mean about the vaccum. Everything seemed to be perfectly intact when i put the carbs back togeather again as well. Made sure everything was where i found it

[latexeses]

I'm sorry. See what I mean about advise.
Do you have the breather line from the crankcase hooked up to a vacuume on on the engine or the carbs? The crankcase breather hose on the 11's goes to the air cleaner box.

[JCT88]

There is one that looks like it goes straight to the air filter syster, but nothing that goes to the crank case or the engine.

[randy]

Hi, Jan. Welcome. Even though you have a 650, most of the basics are the same.

What is the history of the bike? Has it been sitting a long time neglected? If so, the rings just may be stuck and the mech. gave good advice, RUN IT and it should clear up. You might also try some of that seafoam, a teaspoon in each cylinder to soak overnight to help free up those rings. If the problem persists, do a compression test and post back the results.

[JCT88]

I originally bought it from the second owner. Man with quite a bit of riding experience. Sat in a dry garage over the VT winter. He had gotten it inspected and gone over April 4th of this year. I don't think he rode it to the dealer though, have the idea that he trucked it there. And exactly where are the cyclinders i should be putting the seafoam through? Ran it a whole heck of alot today.

Also when i was looking for the idle knob i think i may have put the cycles carbs out of sync. I know exactly which skrew i turned. Would that be part of the problem possibly?

[randy]

Yeah, if you messed with the synchronizing screws, that could be the trouble.

[JCT88]

So i put the sync skrew back to where it was yesterday. Still had the white smoke. Where exactly should i be putting the seafoam into the cyclinders?

[Korr]

Throw 30% of the sea foam in the full gas tank. Run it through and see if that cleans up the smoke, it should help burn out some build up/gunk. Atleast it's white smoke and not black. Is there too much smoke for you to ride safely?

[DGXSER]

To put it in the cylinders, take out the spark plugs and put it in through those holes. I have used Aluminum foil to make a funnel out of before successfully if you do not have one. I would remove the left hand engine cover over the timing mechanism and use that nut to turn the engine over by hand a couple times to distribute the seafoam then put the plugs back in and let it sit.

[JCT88]

I would say there is too much smoke to ride safely. When i originally bought the bike i put seafoam straight though the gas tank and the carbs (unhooked the fuel lines) and removed what gas was in the tank before hand.

[JCT88]

Currently not endoresened. So i don't have to worry about taking the bike any wheres for the moment. Have my test in about 3 weeks from now and i'm looking to get the bike in good condition before i take it out on the road

[rpgoerlich]

I'll second that compression test, and posting back the results.

Did you ride it home or trailer/truck it ?
If you rode it home, how did it run ? Was it running on all 4 ?

I had one(80XJ650Maxim) that sat in a barn for 8 years. Turned out Mice had filled the pipes with what looked like carpet, Mud dobbers had also filled it with nest's. Smoked until I took off the pipes and shook out everything, including all the acorns the mice brought home!

[MacMcMacmac]

Make sure the carbs haven't filled with crankcase with gasoline. It's a common problem with XJ's.