1985 XJ700 X Looks like blowen head gasket

Picked this bike up a few weeks back from "C" list. It was a long shot as its plate has a 2013 sticker and was not running. After reading so many good sticky posts on this forum, I got her running today. Normally that is a big smile and then start to work on the little stuff. Well not so!

Once is started to warm up I noticed that under the bike there was this oily water drip coming from each one of the exhaust holes under the bike. Then the white smoke started to pore out and she started to misfire and act up.

Took the plugs out and looks like my #2 must have blown the head gasket, as of the compression test.

Now I have to tear her down and take a look see what I have in there. Sense I live in Wisconsin and it is very snowy outside, I guess I have the time.

Looking for support that I am looking in the right area and that I guess I can clean up the heads and or pistons of carbon while I am there. Hoping to take the valve train off without taking it all apart, but I would guess I might have to brake the cam chain, not going to do that. I will look in the book again I think around 3-5 and see what is the best way to approach this.

Thanks again for all the great information on the site and thanks to Len for all the good parts and help.

 

Some pics of her

 

You are going to need to get a service manual. I got mine on eBay for about $10.00. It was a disk that I loaded on my computer and printed the pages as needed. I have the air cooled 700, but ask your questions and there are folks on this forum that can give you the answers and point you in the right direction.

 

The Maxim X is a different beast.....you'll have a lot more to do with the valve train than on an airhead, AND you have the coolant system to deal with too......

 

Yes it will be interesting, but it has to be done. I am sure that I will have to take the valves all the way down as I am not going to cut the chain. Just have to take my time and keep all the parts labeled well. I do have the manual on disk and I might see if a local printing store will print it out for me.

I am hoping it is only the head gasket and nothing else would be causing this. The compression test on #2 was around 90 PSI, guessing that is what I might as well hone the cylinders and maybe new rings while I am there, she does have nearly 40K miles on her.

I will keep my eye on when I get her opened up. I will post questions as they come along with pics to help explain. Thanks

 

I've been told that rings aren't available for the 700 engines--at least not the air cooled engines. If that has changed it would be nice to know. I've always been leery of doing the valves and not the rings or visa versa since I had a problem with a Subaru many years ago. I took it in to have the blown head gasket replaced and the mechanic talked me into do the valves at the same time. The car had about 40,000 on it, ran fine, and used no oil. After the valve job it started using a quart every 250-300 miles and the mechanic told me that I should have done the rings at the same time since better sealing valves were causing oil to be sucked past the rings and causing the increased oil consumption. Of course, he should have mentioned that when he suggested the valve job since he was the mechanic. In any case, I sold the car to a lady that didn't mind adding oil and bought another car. I've often thought that he was blowing smoke up my backside and probably just screwed up the valve job.

 

You should not have to "break the chain" release cam tensioner , use a piece of wire around chain tie it to top frame tube. Remove both Cams and the start removal of the head , you need to completely drain cooling system . Agree with tabaka 45 get a manual first .

 

Did a cold compression check again today 1,3 &4 were 130 psi but #2 was only 90. Warmed the bike up, and #2 came up to 125 psi the others stayed close to the same. I still think that #2 is the bad cylinder. When I pulled the spark plugs it seemed that 1 & 2 were wet and it was not fuel.

Drained and removed the radiator and did a limited run of the engine, not as much smoke or white smoke but still there. Could have been leftover water/oil in the exhaust pipe but can't be for sure. The bike did run a lot better for the short time I had it going.

Drained oil (new oil before starting and trouble shooting) and no water in the oil, very dirty for as limited of running the bike had. Always good to do a little oil flush. The coolant was clean and had no oil in it, so I am a little confused. I would have thought I would have had coolant in the oil or oil in the coolant if I had a blown head gasket. Something is making her run not correct and it is not the carbs, no popping, backfire ect.. that comes with the carbs. Just trying to find out why I have either oil smoke or water smoke in the exhaust.

Ordered manual, pulled coils, carbs and valve cover, at this point I will hold off until the manual gets here.

 

One other thing you could try. Autozone has a head gasket repair liquid it aint cheap , but it does work it is like 39 $ your compression is not that bad if it was truly blown you would be down to 0 to 50 psi .

 

Strange - low compression could be down to valves but I don't think that would get better when warm..(BTW is the 'X' 20-valve like an FZ?)

You can get coolant that changes colour when a leak is detected or you can try peering into the top of the coolant
filler and look for bubbles - apparently.

 

Yes, the water cooled x has 5 valves per cylinder. It's a slightly detuned version of the fz. Different angle to the transmission, as the fz needs a more compact package.

 

. . . you said "compact package"!

 

Pulled the cams today and ready to take the head off in the next day or two. The valve gasket looks very new so not too sure what I will find when I dig deeper. The exhaust ports are all lined with carbon, need to get them cleaned up and maybe even do a little polishing while I can.

As for those little valve shims, that will be a trip later on. I had a issue with cylinder 3 intake side, the caps that go over the valve springs and hold the shims in place did not want to come out, they moved but would not come out. With a little work I was able to lift intake side of the cover enough to get my fingers in there to secure them. Two of the three shims stayed in place and one held on to the end of the valve stem.

Need to find the bolt removal order for the head, then I think sense I am this far into it, I will check the specs on the rings and look at the jugs to see if they need to be honed.

I saw a cool vid on U tube, they did a water test on the head with the valves in place to see if they would hold water. I would guess that would work with motorcycle heads as well? I would guess mine has all kinds of carbon on the head and top of the pistons. Almost 40K miles on it, so if I find it clean I will be shocked.

 

Water is not the best fluid to use to test for valve sealing. Use a light oil (Marvel Mystery Oil works well).

 

Cool, I have some of that will give it a try. Thanks and congrads on your "Moderator" promotion

 

Edited for clarity.

 

k-moe, that was good. Here are a few pics of my progress, also a visual record of how things looked and will look at the end.

 

Before you pulled cams did you check valve clearance? Since shims are under bucket do not get the mixed up .

 

Oh my giddy aunt - I hope I don't ever have to get that far in to my FZ.. 8 valves is about my limit I think..

 

Maybe I'm thinking of the Aircooled 700 has shims under buckets ,your picture looks like these are over buckets ?