XS disappointment

[Athedra]

Very disappointed in Bones tonight. She is in the workshop for the night, and being repaired tomorrow.

Halfway to work I smelled fuel. Pulled over, and found the tank busted on the seam. Pushed on since it wasn't that far from work, and wasn't that bad a leak. About 3k's from work Bones just cut out, and didn't want to turn over since then. I cannot say I heard anything or saw anything indicating a Tranny or even bearing failure, Fact is she just don't turn over. Not even with a spanner.

Will let you guys know what the outcome was. For a bike being pampered with R200,00 a week, she is seriously pushing for a new owner. If I should work on Value wise, if you spend $200 every week non your bike and she does this..... I am sure you would be disappointed to. Came home with the Company Pick-up, and told them I will be returning with a box of matches in the morning.

[dbeardslee]

Major bummer. I hope it winds up being something simple.

Just a note on XS's - you can't push them too far without the motor running. The tranny gets no lubrication without the motor running, and pushing them when they aren't running can cause tranny damage. Never try to tow one - trailer only.

[jmnjrpa]

Sorry to hear that Athedra,

Don't sound good but can't figure the tank being split has anything to do with the lockup. From here it does not appear to be a clutch or tranny issue. Is it in neutral? If so, it would point to engine issues.

[dbeardslee]

On the tank leak - Permatex makes a gas tank repair epoxy that I've used with good results. Kind of looks like a hot dog - resin on the outside, hardener on the inside. You just cut a suitable size piece off, knead it until the color changes to a uniform gray, make a little cone shape, and stick the small end into the hole and push the rest down as flush as you can get it with the surrounding surfaces. Let it cure for 2 hours and you're ready to go. It isn't the prettiest thing in the world, but it works. The area you put it on has to be clean and dry, and with a leak on a seam you should probably drain the tank and blow the hole out good with dry compressed air first.

[Athedra]

Yep, went back to pick her up with the trailer from work.

Bike just died. Tell you what happened. I stopped at a road stop. She idled a bit rough, but didn't think anything off it. Pulled away, had a truck infront of me, so was fairly slow. Then there was no power. Pulled to teh side of the road, she was still idling, but when I opened the throttle she would sound as if she was going to die. I switched her off to see if I maybe lost a coil. Put her in neutral, and checked teh wiring next to the road. Everything seemed good. Switched her back on, and the starter just said "cluck". Thought it might be battery, so placed her into second, and gave her a push, and as soon as I leave the clutch, the rear wheel just locked. Walked to work, pushed her on the trailer, took her to the workshop, placed jumpers on her, and all she did was "Cluck". Pulled out the starter, she purr like a kitten, so nothing wrong with the starter. Took off the timing cover, place a shifter on the nut end and couldn't even turn the motor over.

I don't know what is wrong. Pulling the top off tomorrow. I'm fortunate enough to have an understanding biker boss, and work for a motorcycle workshop, so he doesn't mind me working on the bike, and he just tells his partners it is a customers job I am working on.


My boss said we will send the tank in tomorrow to a radiator repair company, They will do their pressure testing etc on it and close everything that needs to be closed and open everything that needs to be opened. Will keep that in mind for my next project. Might have picked up a baby ninja for a steal. Reason for not being used..... Fuel tank leaking on the seam. Started weekly, but not being used apart from messing around with it in the yard.
Hopefully will know WTF is Bones's issue this time

[motoman]

Not true.......can pull, push, whatever, won't hurt a thing. Middle drive is seperate. Sounds like someone got feed a line of bull. Just my 2cents and stopping a rumor/faliceymbefore it ever gets started!

[dbeardslee]

Middle drive isn't the tranny. Suggest you check the manual - it tells you specifically not to.

[randy]

Correct. The tranny gets fed oil under pressure through the bearing housing next to the rear of the starter motor. I know 'cause that's where my oil pressure guage line is connected.

[XJOK2PLAY]

Randy...
Not meaning to hijack the thread or anything, but you've installed an oil pressure gauge on your 11, and it works properly?

I'd be interested in seeing you post a 'how to' thread on that one!

I've been wanting to put one on mine... but keep hearing it might not be accurate... they shoulda put one on from the factory by the time the XJ's came out, instead of that stupid low battery warning crap... IMHO.


Athedra:
Sorry to hear your bike's being... as Kat once called my bike when it was acting similarly... "A typical female..."

Hope you get her going. Tried pulling the plugs and turning by hand?
Almost sounding like it jumped time... hope not and you don't discover it bent valves.... that would really suck!

Keep us posted on what you find, and good luck 'taming the shrew..."

[TopCatGr58]

I think it's much worse!

Hey Athedra,

As stated, the leaking gas tank isn't related to your engine failure. You said you were able to put it in neutral and roll it onto the trailer, so that rules out the middle gear lock up. Also, the engine should rotate with a spanner, but it doesn't . It was running rough and not idling well, sounds like you lost oil pressure, and that the crank bearings got fried. The valves bend easily and won't necessarily keep the crank and pistons from going around, they'll just bend the valves as they rotate around! I hope I'm wrong, but it doesn't sound good!
T.C.

[DGXSER]

Motoman, the tranny is seperate from the middle drive, that is true. However, the tranny is directly geared to the middle drive and WILL turn the same time the middle drive is turned. The clutch merely seperates the tranny speed form the engine speed.

Any time the rear wheel turns the main and countershaft gears are turning as well as the middle and final drive gears.

All that said, I do not think that PUSHING the bike will hurt the gears as no real heat is going to develop. However, I would not pull or tow the bike turning the rear wheel and the internal gears at any speed without the engine running to pump the oil around. JMO

[randy]

oil pressure gauge on the trans

Randy...
Not meaning to hijack the thread or anything, but you've installed an oil pressure gauge on your 11, and it works properly?

I'd be interested in seeing you post a 'how to' thread on that one!

I've been wanting to put one on mine... but keep hearing it might not be accurate...

You heard right, it's not very accurate, but it does show something. I chose to go with an electric one to avoid running an oil line to the handlebar. Another bright idea of mine was to use a stainless teflon line from the engine to the sender. Looks trick, but it's long (2 feet) and cuts down the readings to about half of what is actual. The sender is huge, 1-1/2" diameter and 2" long, so it won't fit under the carbs. The only place i could find room was under the tank between the frame rails. Hence the long line.

Like most of my bright ideas, this little mod became a project with a life of it's own. That oil galley at the trans has a banjo bolt in it to accomplish the 90 degree turn from the crank to the trans, but it's not just any banjo, it's special. It's 8x1.25 like all the banjos on the bike, BUT the depth from the head to the cross-hole is odd, so you can't just run a double banjo in there, the second hole will be blocked and trans will starve. Single banjo is too long. So I fabricated my own banjo out of a 40mm long 8x1.25 bolt. I did consider cutting down a single banjo, but I feared opening up that trans connection too wide might starve the crank and head, so I kept with the original design.

BTW, there is a gauge that screws directly into that trans banjo hole, I've seen them on ebay sometimes as NOS, no longer manufactured. Could have gone that way, but then looking straight down while riding is not my idea of safe. I have the oil gauge on the right next to the tach and the voltage gauge on the left next to the speedo. A quick scan of the dash gives me all the data. IIRC, there are picture here somewhere, but it's an old post so the advanced search might find it.

Now THAT'S a thread hijack!

[Athedra]

Well here is the results of my disappointment.

Tank:
Tank has a hole in it right nest to the seem. How it got there no one knows, but after my fuel theft I am wondering if someone didn't hit a hole in the tank to steal fuel.

Motor:
Crank is broken. Will try and get some pictures. The mechanic that is working on the bike told me it snapped between three and four. I am not spending more money on that motor, so purchased me a 1200 big bore. Getting it tomorrow. So Bones will probably be running again by Thursday.

With regards to the pushing and pulling of a bike. I was taught from small that if you need to tow a shaft drive bike, you need to disconnect or remove the shaft. I generally remove a chain as well if there is a chain. It cannot hurt by removing it. I never asked why I need to remove the shaft when towing a shaft drive, but by reading the thread it makes sense. So if someone is feeding some one bull, then that same one spoke to my father about 30 years ago too.

1200:
What effect will the 750FD have on the 1200 now?. Will I need to fit my original 1100 FD again, or will it be safe to run the 750FD?

[DGXSER]

I am not sure to be honest Athedra, but IMHO, that FD should have plenty of cahonas to take the 1200 torque. I persoanlly doubt the 1100 FD and the 750 FD would have any different ability to handle the output.

[jmnjrpa]

Sorry to hear about the results. There are a couple os xsers who are running the big bore and 750FD. I believe that TC is one of them.