head job?

[XJfan1]

i have had my xj 1100 for about 13 days i have done a few things to her oil changes and stuff. the po i think was trying to use her as a dirtbike as she is mud covered. i have spent a ton of time cleaning. i was doing some cleaning on the motor and noticed that the head looks alot newer than the rest of the engine. it looks like a new casting or maybe it was apart and sand blasted or hot tanked. is there a way to tell if its original or not. i am glad the po did not own her very long he was about 19 years old and didnt know what he had or know how to take care of a bike. i had a four wheeler on craigslist a old honda trx 250 x. and he offered a trade so i took it. she is now titled plated and insured in my name and im dieing to ride but i,m waiting for a middle drive to show up in the mail. i found a bunch of shavings in the one on the bike when i changed the oil. she has a couple small problems but nothing big. she runs and idles like a champ and is all factory except the color. the battery light is on the neutral light never goes off the high beam indicater dont work. the starter dont engage every time when she is cold. but im falling love fast and im hoping to join some of you for the ohio ride in may.i guess im starting to ramble here but my question is about the head and if there is a was to tell if its the original head. almost all the screws and bolts on the motor seem to have had a wrench on the at one time or another. so maybe she is rebuilt or something. she has 33,000 miles on her. i gotta come up with a name my wife is sick of hearing about the unnamed woman in my life.

[crazy steve]

The XJ had a different motor 'color scheme' compared to the XS bikes. The head is a raw casting finish with black painted cylinders, while all the US-version XS bikes (except for the all-black Midnight Specials) have silver painted motors. So more than likely you're seeing the OEM finish....

[XJfan1]

Did all of the 1100 motors have a rubber block or ball between each cooling fin on the just the head and what is the purpose?

[crazy steve]

Yes, and the purpose was noise reduction. The idea was to prevent the fins from acting as 'sounding boards' (magnifying engine noise) and had a small but measurable effect on how noisy they were. But 30+ years down the road the rubber is pretty much rock hard and not so effective, so if they're missing it won't make much diffence....

[XJfan1]

That makes sense it would be like a tuning fork. Thanks for the info.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey there XJ Fan,

You've already received the answer to your main question, however I wanted to try to address your other concerns. The battery has a special monitor probe/fluid level checker, but most likely the battery has been replaced with a new/different one and doesn't have that device built into it, so you see the warning light. There's a tech tip regarding bypassing that so you won't get the warning anymore.

The neutral light comes one when the switch in the tranny is thrown and completes a ground circuit, and the light comes on. IF that wire has rubbed raw somewhere and is against the frame, it will complete the circuit and light up all the time that it is making contact, so you will want to trace the wire starting at the engine to try to find where it might be chaffed or pinched against the engine/frame.

The high beam indicator may be something as simple as the BULB in the gauge cluster being burnt out...suggest removing it and testing it first, and of course replace if found burnt out! IF it's not burnt out, then I'm not sure how to troubleshoot, the XJ's electronics are quite a bit fancier and more complicated than the XS's!

The starter clutch mechanism is a set of 3 pinch rollers that grab the starter shaft sorta like a pipe wrench. You stated you changed your oil, what type and weight range? 20-50 wt is quite thick when cold, and many folks have reported occasional slipping when trying to start in fairly cold temps. And some types of oil ie SYNTH are a bit more slippery and could also contribute to starter clutch as well as regular clutch slippage!

What's the state of your battery, and have you gone thru and inspected, cleaned and dielectric greased ALL of the electrical connectors in the harness? Don't forget the engine to frame grounding strap at the rear of the engine behind/below the carbs and battery box! For the frame grounds don't apply dielectric grease until after you have cleaned and reconnected the wires to the frame. Dielectric grease is an electrical insulator and can actually prevent electrical conductivity if it gets between the wire/contacts, it's best applied around contacts to insulate against weather/water/corrosion!

Hope this helps with your other issues!

T.C.

[XJfan1]

im running castrol 20 w 50. i have not messed with the wiring yet there is a couple thing that do need attention though there a couple wires hanging under the bike the need tied up and the fuse box is rigged with some 10 amp blade type automotive fuses. i did have some clutch slip the other day too it was about 40 degrees i figured it was the clutch was worn out cuz there isnt much adjustment left at the clutch it self

[BA80]

Man, I read the title of this thread and I was expecting porn.

The clutch will tend to slip when the oil is cold. You more than likely just need a new set of springs in there. after 30 years they tend to get weak.
Get a set of BARNETT heavy duty springs and it should take care of any slippage as long as your adjustment is right.

[XJfan1]

I will pick up some new springs . But the adjustment screw is damn near inside the jamb nut I screwed it in with my fingers then backed it out a quarter turn like the book says.

[BA80]

There IS an adjustment down on the engine under the round cover with 2 phillips screws also you know?

Look HERE.

[XJfan1]

Thats the one I'm talking about. The one on the handle bars is for cable slack. This isn't my first rodeo

[BA80]

Easy man, I thought you were talking about on the handle bars.

Are you sure your not screwing the set screw in too far? It should just lightly touch the throwout bearing before backing it out.

[XJfan1]

It's all good I'm not being a d&$k. Its hard to project sarcasm through text thanks for the info

[cywelchjr]

It's all good I'm not being a d&$k. Its hard to project sarcasm through text thanks for the info

When it touches the throwout bearing can be really hard to tell on these engines. I speak from experience here, as it took about 4 tries on mine to get it adjusted right, and I got it too tight the first couple of times and too loose the third and finally right the fourth time, even by hand it's hard to tell. Frankly, unless you have over 150,000 miles on the clutch that were really hard miles it's not likely that the clutch plates are worn out, although the springs very well could be weak. I've got almost 90,000 on mine (I transferred my clutch from my original engine to my replacement engine when I changed engines cause my replacement engine came without an clutch, the only part that got changed was the springs, they came from a clutch I got off ebay, the rest I could use because someone left it down and my male dog marked it as his, ruining it , yes that would be me that left it down, so it was my fault not his).

But the springs that came with that clutch were well within factory spec, while my originals were NOT , so that's the only mix I did, and my clutch does NOT slip, and yes, the screw is in a LONG ways, but that seems to be pretty normal as I can't see that there is a lot of difference between new and worn out clutch plates frankly, but the adjustment on these is REALLY touchy.

However, slipping is almost always if not oil caused, the springs being weakened with age.

BTW, if you find that if you get it adjusted so it doesn't slip it's hard to get it into and out of gear, check the pivot hole of the clutch lever. I found when replacing my bent lever from my accident that the pivot hole was worn almost all the way through . I couldn't believe the difference in how the clutch works. It still has no problem with slipping, but it goes into and out of gear so much easier now, as it turns out that the worn hole was preventing me from getting a full pull on the clutch cable so the clutch wasn't fully disengaging.

[XJfan1]

Im going to try to adjust it again tomorrow. But only if the snow melts off will I be able to tell it works right. Thanks for the advice