blowing head gasket? emergency!

okay. well heres what im thinkin.....i blew a head gasket. and if thats true i might cry. this is my only transportation right now. and if i can get some help diognosing it would be verrrry much appriciated.

first. its verry dificult to start. no gas problems. like 500 miles ago...a month. i took off and cleaned the carbs. every thing is beautiful now. im assuming.

second. when if finally dose start. i have to hold it at 1/8 - 1/4 throttle to keep it from boggin down and shutting off. and if it gets to 1000 rpm..propor idle it has super laggy pick up and makes like a clanking noise. i have to give it thorttle because if it gets that low itll shut off. but it seems anything 1750 up is good. but i have to stay on the throttle to get thare

third. yesterday my nabor was talkin to me about my bike and noticed some oil around the leftside of the motor. not a whole lot. but there shouldnt be any. so i checked the oil. and its about 3/4 full. and i changed it when i did the carbs. and thare was a little bit of oil around the valve cover on the right side of the motor.

 

oldscho11, welcome to the site. The hard starting is due to the enrichment circuit in the float bowls. If all the tubes & little passages are not clean it will start hard. Your other problems sound like carb mixture screw settings. Did you bench sync the carbs after you cleaned them? A very important must do. A few questions that will help everyone here help you:
1. How many miles on your bike?
2. How long has it sat before you got it running?
3. What area of the engine is the oil coming from, cam cover gasket, etc?
4. When you clean your carbs did you tear them down completely or did you just open them up & clean what you could see?

Go to the vendor forum section & look in xj4ever & read "In the church of clean" by Chacal. It will give you all there is to know about carb cleaning & it importance to engine performance. Also look up the thread on cleaning your enrichment circuit, I believe Gamaru did that one, it is great info as well.
Good luck & keeps us posted on your progress & any more questions.
Gregg

 

1. 30k miles

2. i got it about a year ago. ran. needed a carb job. gave it a cleaning. rode it for like 2 months, then i didnt ride it for like 6 months and when i started again. about a month ago it wouldnt really start. so i cleaned the carbs again. and changed the oil. ran like a champ up until 2 days ago.

3. the front left. if your sitting on the bike. head gasket. minimal. and i cant really keep it on long enough to go ride it and see if it gets worse.

4. i opened them up and cleand out the jets, there was varnish debris in the screen on the main jets. and soaked the bowls and all the jets and everything...except the housing. i cleaned them with a can of carb cleaner. blew everything dry. put it back together.. syched them. put um back on. and bam! started right up.

but im off to go read that thread. and i talked to my moms boyfriend. he has alot of experience on cars. not so much on motorcycles and he sugessted checking the timing. cause it wouldnt really bother me. i would just go over the carbs again, but the thing is its makeing an extremley noticeable clanging noise when i have to rev it back up and its hesetation is a good 2-3 seconds. im not the best mechanic in the world. im only 18. but im pretty knoledgable. and its feakin me out that i dont know whats goin on. expecially since its my only transportation. but ill keep you updated when i make any sort of progress. AND...if you know how to check the timing. or know ware theres a thred on it please let me know. or maybe whare to get a manual for it. cause i would love to have one. and cant find one.

 

If you havn't replaced the plugs, pull them, clean & adjust, while they are out, check the compression.

 

i replaced them. gapped them. dont have a way to check it. not now anyways. i have to wait for my mom to get off work so i can use her car. its lame as sheets.

 

Not sure on the 700 but I believe all XJ's timeing is automatic, it is not adjustable like timing on a car. I don't know what to tell you on that clanging noise, that a new one for me. Maybe someone else on here will be able to add something on that for you. For the manual you can PM CHacal our parts guru or check ebay, they always available there too.
Keep plugin away at her, you will get it.

 

okay. theory... i dont really know anything about the particular internals of this motor. but maybe.....like a chain tensioner broke or somthing..idk if it has one. so maybe it woould mess up the automatic timing? i havnt had anythime to work on the bike. ive been working. if anybody has anyideas about that.

 

sounds like a cam chain noise to me, check the tensioner for proper operation,(sometimes a light smack with a block of wood will allow it to pop where it needs to go), and check the timing, you may have jumped a tooth on one of the cams if the chain is loose. Also with the leaky head gasket, if its not too bad yet maybe you can get a week or two out of it to wait for parts by re torquing(DO NOT OVERTORQUE!!!!) just check to verify nothing has come loose. I just replaced the head gasket on my kz1000 and they are very similar bikes and it only took me a few hours, jus dont drop the cam chain down into the engine, tie a piece of wire to it for easy retrieval during reinstall.

 

oldskoo11, rent a compression gauge from an autozone. The rental fee is fully refundable. Then you can effectively troubleshoot this issue.

 

You need to do a Compression test. Without the results of a Compression test you really don't have enough information to call it a Gasket or some other fault.
Do the TEST with:
Fully Charged Battery
Plugs OUT / TCI Box Unplugged.
Record the Compression and behavior of Readings 1 thru 4
If a Hole reads less than 120 PSI -- Add tablespoon Oil to Plug Hole - Retest.
Get Values.

Prior to Compression Test.
Remove Valve Cover
Do a "Timing Chain Lift" of the Chain at the Bridge between Front and Rear.
If Chain Lifts --
Do Manual Timing Chain Tensioner Reset.
Replace Cover.
Comp Test.

 

thanks ill do that...hopefully within the next day or two. and if anybody knows how to do a manual timing chain tensioner reset? i dont have a manual..working on getting one. wont have it by the next couple of days tho

 

Do a search for chain tensioner in these forums.
It's pretty straight forward.

 

okay. well its fixed. not 100% sure if it was the tensioner or what. took off the valve cover and the chain seemed tight. but there was some scrapage on the center section on the inside of the cover. so maybe it was. and when i took off the ignition crankcase cover. the tab and rotor was pretty corroded. so i sanded it a bit. idk if that was the problem. but i did the rickomatic automatic tensioner tightening technique. and it purrs like a kitten. and i uped the idle like 200 rpm. to 1100. the screw backed out a bit. thanks guys for all the advice. this is a realy friendly site. im really digin it.