Newbie Help

Hey guys this is my first post in the forums and I’m new to bikes in general actually. I like cars and working on cars but I’ve never dealt with motorcycle and I’d even consider myself pretty new at working on cars. But I’ve decided to take the plunge and ended up getting a 1985 Yamaha XJ700. And I am of course I’m over my head a little. (Which I expected but was excited to try to take on the task.) So I picked the bike up for $300. The guy said that basically the guy he got it from had rewired the starter to the kill switch for some reason and when he bought it he rode it from Jax to Yulee without any problems but when get got it home he forgot to cut the killswitch and the starter quit working. Well I’ve taken off the starter motor and am taking it too a shop. I’ve also taken off the carbs to go ahead and clean them. What else should I do? What type of diagnostics should I run? Any recommendations?

 

Welcome to the site!, So much information on here you can read for days and days. On the top right over every page is a icon that you should click on, it will take you to lots of great information. The bike looks like it has had the air box removed (worried look on my face). These bikes have CV carbs and work off of continuous velocity air flow from the factory air box. This just a heads up if the bike is not running as strong as you might like it to. Dialing a POD carb in can be done but it is very hard. There are links and many threads of how to do it as well.

The link below is how you need to clean your carbs. They should be torn all the way down and have all the "O" rings replaced. You will want to do a bench test with fuel running to them "before" you install them back on the bike. This will check to see if the new gaskets are working and to make sure you don't have overflow fuel from the bowls. Don't speed through the cleaning, this is one of the most time consuming things you can do with the carbs.
https://www.xjbikes.com/forums/threads/in-the-church-of-clean.14692/

I just finished doing the valve shims on my XJ700, all but one was out of spec. To make the bike run the way it should you will need to take care of the carbs and the shims.

Good luck and keep posting pics if and when you run into issues. Try to give as much detail as you can when you ask questions.

Again welcome to the site and great looking bike.

 

Thanks! I sure appreciate the help!

 

your bike has a consolidated relay package which may be the problem and why po rewired it to bypass. do you have a manual?

700 airhead or watercooled?

 

It’s a manual but I’m not sure about water cooled. I don’t believe it is. But the air box was not on it. He just had pods connected. I’m actually have a hard time finding one to replace the pods and I’m not sure why the guy rewired it.

 

Unless the radiator has been removed it looks to be air cooled. There should be lots of wiring diagrams on line but you should get a good manual if you are going to work and keep the bike. ebay might have a air box and so might someone here on the forum. You might want to head over to the for sale and buy section to see. Once you get the starter issue taken care of make sure you can get her to run and spark. I think once you get a book you would be able to figure out the wiring.

 

Oh okay. Yea I just had the starter checked out and the guy said it seems fine but that he can’t promise anything because there was no load in it of course when he was testing it so that’s good to know I suppose. I plan on getting a manual probably today and I’ve been looking for an airbox but cannot seem to find one. Maybe some more searching and I’ll be able to find one. Thanks for the help!

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Yamaha-Max...682770?hash=item4b756de212:g:v48AAOSwsFZeVbR0

 

I appreciate it.