Burned out clutch, Bike wont start

I have a 1985 XJ700 I was riding it from my brothers house to mine (over 250 miles) and during the trip my throttle got stuck. I realize now I should have hit the kill switch but I panicked and I pulled the clutch in and braked to a stop while the throttle was still stuck. After I pulled over and manually pushed the throttle back in place I tried to start and it wouldn't start. I took it apart and my clutch is in pretty bad shape. One friction plate is cracked in four places, all of them have been worn all the way down. The clutch basket and the flywheel have a considerable amount of play and are scratched up. I know my clutch is done for and I'll need to replace it but what I can't figure out is why my bike won't start. I was under the impression that even with a completely burnt out clutch the bike should be able to start. engine turns over, doesn't start. Let me know if you have any idea why this might be.

 

Give the description of the damage I would not even try to start the bike until you find every broken piece of the clutch assembly.

 

Normally, the clutch itself wouldn't have anything to do with starting.....but who knows what you grenaded in there. Did you redline it ( or ever higher)?

We do need a bit more to go on......

 

If all things have been checked and compression test to confirm no bent valves. If you need an engine , I have one in a bike I'm parting out

 

1 you may want to switch petcock to prime (low on gas).
2 what is your battery voltage?
do the load test. meter to battery press starter button see if you drop below 9.5 volts. Tci will not fire at 9.5 volts or less. starter will still spin strong.

3 ohm out the ignition system to eliminate that as the problem
specs found here.
The Ultimate Relay, Switch, Sensor, and Diodes Guide
you test the pickups from left connector on the tci box(left as you sit).
you can ohm out the primary coils on the right side connector. If there is a problem then test at coils.
then the spark plug wires and caps( caps unscrew) cut wires back about 3/8 inch to get to good wire
do you have 12 volts at the tci red/white wire?

4 check your fuses is it still the old glass fuses? consider going to a blade style fuse box or inline fuses blade style.

could be a relay or safety switch is preventing you from starting
side stand asfety switch and its relay find and disconnect the relay.

 

I am of the opinion that there are likely broken bits of metal all over the inside of the engine.
No starting, cranking, or turning by hand, until it's confirmed to be all cleaned out.

 

yes he must clean out the motor before any starting attempts.

 

Thank you everyone for the advice. I opened it up and I found a lot of blackish friction plate dust in the oil pan, I didn't see much metallic dust, or the missing piece of friction plate. It had bad compression, I tested it before and after adding oil to the cylinders to see if it could be my cylinders/piston rings. before adding oil it was: 1st: 30 2nd: 75 3rd: 90 4th: 27. After adding oil: 1st: 30 2nd: 100 3rd: 115 4th:45. I started taking apart the top end I've gotten down to the cylinders and I couldn't see any damage on them. The head gasket got a little bit ripped up when I was taking the head off but I think the head gasket may be my issue. the surface is sits on was pretty oily. On top of that the dowels around the engine head bolts in the middle (in between 2nd and 3rd cylinder) had completely disintegrated from rust, and it looks like some rust dust may have gotten under the gasket. Today I plan on checking my piston clearances with a feeler gauge, and then I'm going to pour water above the valves and see how quickly that water leaks out to see how my valves are sealing. I have no idea where the piece of clutch plate could have gone, I'm starting to think that maybe I let it fall out when I was taking apart the clutch. From this information do you guys have any more expertise? also: how important are the dowels around the engine head bolts? Do those need to be replaced?

 

Use auto transmission fluid, not water.

 

Uh, yeah----then you can also get a stopwatch and find out how quickly it all rusts, too..........

Water would be the LAST thing to even consider dumping into your engine. Use kerosene, MM, seafoam, etc..... But not water

 

Thank you for the tip on transmission fluid instead of water. Does anyone happen to know where the best place to get gaskets is? and are the gaskets for an xj750 the same? it seems every time I look up gaskets for a 85 xj700 it comes up with xj750 gaskets. will the xj750 set work on my xj700?

 

Start a converstion with Chacal. He will never sell you the wrong part.

 

^^^^+1 on xj4ever ... just an observation to late now ..as low a reading on compression , did you try another known gauge? and did you have throttle wide open? Since you stated bike would not start , did you check for spark ? possible TCI /coil failure , fuse blown... after you put it back together you should check all these things.