Ohh Yeahh!! Got a Smoothie!!

[Cobia]

0011mixam,
I'm running 20w-50w Castrol GTX, and what was happening is that this bike likes to be on the high side of the range as seen through the sight glass. Once I filled it up to the top line the light issue disapeared.

81xsproject,
I replaced the boots as well as the gaskets with known good ones and performed the WD40/starting fluid (ether) test and found no leaks. Did not perform it around the butterfly shaft seals. Didn't have a reason to since nothing seemed amiss during the four times I've had them out and worked on them. We have tried everything to get the results I just got by changing the pilots.
Testament to the fact that it is getting the ammount of fuel it wants/needs to keep it happy, is the fact that the plugs are a perfect light tan color after about 75 miles of mixed riding.
And it is no longer popping under any circumstances.... Isn't this a sign of being too lean?
Hey, I'm open to any and all suggestions. A lot of you have been at it with the XSs longer than I have.
BTW - I don't put crappy stuff in my bike. The pilots came from MikeXS and appeared to be of good quality.

[Cobia]

Long term report

I'm happy to report that after my pilot replacement the bike keeps running awesome. And the mileage has not suffered much. After several tankfuls, I'm still getting over 30 mpg. Considering my heavy hand on the twist grip.... I consider that to be OK. It'd be nice to get more mpg but the thrills compensate for the lower mpgs.
Thanks

[XJOK2PLAY]

Cobia,

Your bike sounds a lot like mine in many ways!

Mine has the popping sound on decel... but I've had issues w/ a cracked lefthand muffler, so I'm in the process of installing new mufflers I got from JC Whitney. They look awesome... almost identical to stock XJ mufflers, except the slash cut on the end is from left to right, instead of top to bottom... but they look great, and sound REAL good!

Only issue I ran into is sealing to the stock pipes... clamps don't do it, so I'll have to mig 'em I guess to get a little leak stopped. I'm thinking it's been sucking air, messing w/ the mixture and causing the decel pop. We'll soon see.

If mine continues to pop on decel, and occaisionally at idle, I may try the same thing.... hope not though, mine already seems to be on the rich side.

One thing... about the oil level light... bear in mind it's a LEVEL light only... not an oil pressure indicator. Sounds like the level is falling below the sensor on excelleration... or it could be faulty. Mine works well though. If it comes on, it's low... which I found mine's using a 1/2 qt. every 600 miles or so if I ride her hard...

I've been averaging between 30-32 on mpg. Low fuel light comes on around 120-130 miles, 150-165 on reserve.

If I understood Trbig correctly, he's tried in the past to rig up an oil pressure sensor on his XJ, but hasn't had success. That's the ONE thing I could ask for as an improvement to the XJ... and sure would've been nice when the 2 bolts fell out of my oil pump on my Colo. trip! Hated I had to put the "bulletproof test" to the 'ole girl... but she passed w/ flying colors! These bikes are indeed incredible.

Real glad to hear you've had success w/ yours! Congrats.

[Crazcnuk]

Not to rain on anyone's parade but your math seems a bit off XJ.

According to what I can find the XJ1100 has a 13 liter (3.4US gal) tank.

For your range of 150 to 165 miles, per tank, calculates out to 44-48mpg, which would be very good?

[DiverRay]

Not to rain on anyone's parade but your math seems a bit off XJ.

According to what I can find the XJ1100 has a 13 liter (3.4US gal) tank.

I don't know how you have the Special tank and the XJ, with a 5 us gallon tank, confused.

[Cobia]

XJOK2PLAY,
I have a set of SS spaghetti 4X2 exhausts that I'm going to put on the G to replace the 4X1 Kerker. I like the way they sound. And like yours, one of the manifold pipes separated from the collector. Bikerphil suggested I use some high temp RTV to seal it. He has used it with success on several occasions.
He also used a short piece of flexible exhaust tubing to compensate for the difference between the OD of the pipe and the ID of the muffler.
Cheaper than welding if you don't have the equipment.

I no longer have the oil light issue. When the light came on the oil level was just at the bottom line on the sight glass and I was doing some hard acceleration. Any more I keep it topped off to the top line and haven't seen the light again. Mine doesn't consume oil or smoke at all.

As I mentioned, I couldn't get my XJ to operate smoothly in the 1.5 to 2.2K rpm range. It also popped on decel and sometimes on idle like yours. We had the carbs out several times (you know what a joy that is on the XJ) adjusting the floats until we almost had it flooding but that didn't clear the problem. We also had the idle screws/jets out to almost 6 turns w/out success. The spark plugs continually showed a lean condition.
We synched the carbs after I installed the YICS Eliminator and that helped tremendously, even though we tried it with the home-made YICS tool that I made.
The problem went away when I changed the pilots.

I have absolutely no complaints now. Well, maybe one that I've noticed once in a blue moon. On REAL HARD acceleration, in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd, I feel somewhat of a clunk coming from the rear. As if either the FD is skipping a tooth or the driveshaft is. Don't know which and since it only happens infrequently and only under extreme acceleration (racing type accel), I'm not going to deal with it until I get into the full restoration and pull that apart.
It's not like the rattle you get from the second gear not engaging or disengaging, I know what that sounds like because I had it on the F that I bought, fixed, and sold.
I wish you success with yours.

[Crazcnuk]

"I don't know how you have the Special tank and the XJ, with a 5 us gallon tank, confused"

Because I looked up the specs for an XJ1100 and it said the tank was 13 liters.

[Cobia]

Tank Confusion

Hey Craz and Ray,

I don't know how how this misinformation about the tank got in here, but....
I have the original factory XJ tank on my bike and according to the specs on my original Yamaha factory service manual the capacity of the tank is 19 liters = 5.02 gals, with a reserve of 4.1 L = 1.09 gals.
I typically fill it when it's been on the fouth bar of the LCD guage for a while and typically between 115 to 125 mi on the trip meter. And it usually will take around 3.25 to 4 gals depending on how hard I've been getting on the twist grip. That puts my mileage at 28.75 (worst case) to 38.46 (best case) per gallon, giving me an average mpg of 33.60. Not stellar but quite adequate for the way I ride. I take advantage of every oportunity to get a thrill w/out getting in trouble.
Hope this clarifies the confusion.

[XJOK2PLAY]

Yep, Cobia... you're right on the money with those gas tank & mileage figures.

It is true that the Special's tank looks similar to an XJ's, but that was a cool "upgrade" they did on an XJ, IMHO. Specials were smaller. XJ's were given more fuel capacity, and more range... unless you start ridin' w/ somebody like Bohn Frazer, who's Standard gets like 44 mpg! Man, he's got that thing dialed in... and a very conservative riding style... (which is probably most of it.) That's a very sweet bike. And the Standard tank's a big 'un, too.

I hadn't thought about the high temp RTV approach... hmmmm...

You've tried it and it worked? Interesting idea.

Cody's got a mig welder, though. I probably just use that. It's a 2-edged sword kinda deal... on the one hand, I won't have a leak, nor will it drop off going down the road. On the other... it'll make life down the road, should the need to replace them arise, a drag! Hopefully by then, though... I'll be the PO someone else can cuss and it won't matter! LOL

As far as a small piece to couple, the problem I ran into was the aftermarket tube size is almost the same size as the collector's. One needs to slip inside the other. So, I tweaked the muffler's opening by expanding... but they have slots, and I can't quite get it to slide all the way on enough to cover that. Tried cutting the end off to shorten... still a pain. It's just one of those little things that's REALLY important, ya know? So it's leaking just a bit out from around the clamp. A few zaps from the welder should do the trick.

Love the way they look & sound, though! Soon as I get 'em done I'll try to get a few pics posted.
See ya, and ride safe!

[XJOK2PLAY]

Ohhh, and one more thing I just remembered...

Your oil light switch sounds like it's working perfect, then. That's exactly how mine works. When the level gets to the bottom line in the sight glass, the light will begin to come on to let ya know. Especially during times of, shall we say, EXTREME FUN. HeHe

[madmax-im]

I have an XJ too

With a 4 to 1 Jardine exhaust and K and N pod filters...after rejetting my carbs ...I can still get 45 mpg at speeds ranging up 60 mph....any faster cruising on the slab and my tank will go on reserve somewhere between 160 and 180 miles...so its not unusual to get a 200 mile avg per fillup.

[Cobia]

Awesome

Madmax,
That's awesome mileage, unfortunately here in So. FL 60mph on the slab will only get you blown off it or trampeled by a semi. Max speed on I-95 even in the urban areas is 65mph, in busy areas 55mph. So 70 to 85 mph is the norm on the slab. Off the slab, most of my riding, follows the advice of the DMV, get away from surrounding vehicles ASAP. Power take offs from traffic lights accomplishes that goal. Feels safer to see the traffic in you rear view mirrors than have to predict the reactions of clueless senior citizens talking on cell phones.
And considering that I get around 33mpg with still at least a gallon left in the tank when I fill up, I figure my range per tankfull at around 165 miles.
If I would tame my right hand twitch, I think we would be at around the same mpg. Good to know that I've dialed this one in as good as yours.
Thanks