Complete Newbie from BC - 82 650 Maxim in need of much love

Hi all, (Hope this is int he right place, if not please feel free to move it etc)

So I was set to buy an 82 650 Maxim, had gone to the bank and was ready to meet the PO at the insurance Co. to transfer papers. I get a call from him that he's just dropped the bike in his driveway and broken the clutch cable...

I'm a bit upset by this turn of events as I have just gotten my license, had the bike inspected by a mechanic and was looking to go for a little cruise. In my state I couldn't pull myself away from the local used sales webpage and, having already fallen in love with 650 after just one ride, decided to purchase another one (also 82 Maxim). This second machine, while it had half the miles and was only $400, sadly is not running.

The PO, who I don't really trust, says the spark plugs were dry and carbs are in need of serious work. He throws a little gas on top of the cylinder heads (I think that's what he did anyway), and with jumper cables and the fuse bridged turns the ignition and it fires up for about a second. According to the PO it really is in OK shape, and I take the plunge. Random question: should I be able to turn the rear wheel while the bike is in gear?

I know it's got a couple more issues (electrical is in pieces, yikes), front forks definitely need work, and there's a touch of rust in the gas tank (that does look minor though right now, again, I think.) It's also going to need a battery, tires, and I'd have to guess brakes (I've seen the rear brake delam pictures).

So, she's sitting in my garage now. I have 0 mechanical experience, apart from pedal bikes. I've got exams coming up and don't have a ton of time to work on it right now. My understanding is that I should focus first on draining the gas tank and taking care of that rust.

Can any good Samaritan point me in the direction of a guide to those two issues? I'm guessing my focus after that should be to get it firing up, but I'll have to cross that bridge when I reach it.

The fuse bridge:


Thanks all,

Tim

 

WELCOME from TN!!! The "issues" you mentioned have all been talked about in previous posts. How-to with pics are included on most. The "search" option at the top of the page is gonna be your best friend. An inline fuel filter might get you going if it really is minor rust in the tank. Apologize, can't help with electrics (one of my many shortcomings). GOOD LUCK!!!

skillet

 

Welcome to the site!

 

Rust 101.

Click this link.

http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=3 ... +tank.html

 

Hey Tim. I am too a BC'r (Vancouver)

For the electrical, there are a few wiring diagrams around here, but without a battery, and being able to get the bike to run you can't really know what is wrong if anything.
There are write-ups here for changing that old fuse block to a spade style one which'll fix the fuse bridge issue.
Also one important thing is search "cluck test" and it'll show you how to clean and prepare the carbs the right way.
put an inline filter on the fuel line before you try and run it at all, if not actually getting a repair set for strip and rea seal the tank. (avail at powersports dealers)
Fork issues need more clarification for us to suggest a fix.
The rear wheel will turn when in gear but you should have some resistance. aka you should be able to tell if it is in neutral vs in gear when manually spinning the wheel.

so buy:
Battery (I suggest a high-performance Yuasa Maintainence Free, The things crank forever which is nice for diagnosis)
Tires
carb cleaner (product)
spade fuse block
Spark Plugs

Check/look into:
Fuel tank cleaner/sealer
brakes
fork seals/oil?
overall condition of rubber components on the bike

When you get her going you should come over to the LML sometime and we can go for a boot up to Whistler, the new sea to sky is real nice on a bike

Cheers
Dave

 

Hi and welcome!

Is the pic of there wiring on the bike that runs? All so if it dose will it without those fuses, as it looks like a 750 maxim fuse holder. As I have that fuse holder on one of my spear air boxes of a 750 but am not sure.

 

Only work that I wasn't familiar with - and had the local Yamaha Dealer handle for my 750 seca was the front fork seals. Parts were $90, labour was 2 hours ( at $100/hour) plus fluids. ps - I sent you an email a couple of hours ago - Rick

 

Thanks for all the advice.

I'll be going through the gas cleaning and carb cleaning posts as soon as I can.

Ledicott96: The picture is of the fuse box on a non-working 82 650. I have no idea if it is original or replaced. From what I can tell based on the papers is that it hasn't been registered since 1996.

Azrael: I'm not at the bike right now, but was I recall is that the rear tire will not rotate when the bike is in gear. I'll give it another try when I get home. The front for is completely soft, by which it mean it bottoms all the way with any weight on the bike. I'm guessing seals blown and/or fluid leaked out.

BillB: Thanks for the link. I'll go looking for some phosphoric acid.

 

When the bike is in gear, you can turn the motor by spinning the wheel. It will be tough as you are spinning all for cyls against their compression, but it can be done (Hence bumpstarting). if your spark plugs are out though it is ecently easy. If the forks are bottoming out then it will be more likely a spring issue as the oil is for dampning (rebound) vs resistance to compression... I may have some springs from an 83 750 you can have for cheap in the next little while though as I have some progressive springs to go into mine. You just gotta look into if they'll work for your 650.

Cheers
Dave

 

Re: Complete Newbie from BC - 82 650 Maxim in need of much l

frantic_vike I was in the same position you are now in last year. First replace the fuse box. Second pull off the carbs and clean the crap out of them. Third get some long battery cables and hook up a car or boat battery to the bike. I used a boat battery. If you use a bike battery at this point you will just kill it and that will really p**s you off. :evil: And you can check all of the electrics to see what works.
The way I did mine was to disassemble one carb at a time. I did not pull the rack apart which a lot of people will tell you to do. EVERY thing in the carb has to be removed. I soaked everything in "Gunk" engine cleaner over night and cleaned out the ports with a wire and carb cleaner that comes in a spray can, also blew out with air. Used a lot of Q tips. Thats why I did them one at a time so I could use the next one as a guide to put all the parts back in the right places.
Make sure the gas tank is clean. For rusty parts I got some "Evapo-Rust" from Crappy Tire (Canadian Tire). This stuff is relay good non corrosive and can be dumped down the drain when you are done with it.
Anyway replace fuse box clean carbs, set carbs to the factory settings and you should get her to do something. :lol:
That how I did it and it worked out for me. Oh yes you will need to check valve clearances too.

 

So I went out and bought a bunch of different things to try to start working on her, including a battery, which I quickly installed, just to see if she had any life.

I turned the key over and got the neutral light. Good stuff. I tried the blinkers and got a steady light from the rear left (fronts are off as PO had installed a fairing system that is currently in pieces), and nothing from the rear right. The horn gave me a real short squeak once and then nothing else. Is that normal until it's been running, I'll do some searches later. Anyway, I decided to try the starter. Starter motor seems good, cranked well. So I started playing with the choke and petcock, without really thinking about what I was doing. I got the engine to turn over and fire for a second or two (with the old spark plugs) but then I think I flooded the engine. Gas started leaking out through the air filter box. Is that b/c I left the petcock in PRI?

I'm planning to replace the fuses with blades, and fix up the gas tank. Two quick questions. What's the best way to drain the gas tank? I'm guessing put the petcock in On, disconnect the RES tube and then switch it over...? When I pull the gas tank off, is it just the one bolt under the front of the seat? Anything else to watch for?

If I have flooded the engine, how do I rectify this situation? I'll be searching the forums asap, but I have exams coming up so I'm stuck in the library all day and can't let myself get sucked into this beautiful world


Unrelated, it also looks like the paper work is going to come through (or at least the next part), so fingers crossed.

Cheers,

Tim

 

Tim, just went through some of this myself, still am actually. First thing I would suggest is that you smell your oil, make sure there isn't gas in it. If there is the smell of gas present, change the oil and filter and don't start until you've had a chance to test that petcock. You may have floats sticking also, which means you can tap the tops of the carb hats with a rubber mallet a few times and if that doesn't keep the gas from going into the oil, you need to pull the carbs and rebuild them and adjust the floats. wouldn't worry too much about the electrical stuff until the bike is back to running right. I'm sure the guys here will help you along the way.

 

welcome man...... tons of info if you look through the forums on here

 

Macros,

What do you mean by test my petcock? How would I do that? I bought oil and a new filter and am planning on doing that right away.

"which means you can tap the tops of the carb hats with a rubber mallet a few times and if that doesn't keep the gas from going into the oil"

What does this mean? Picture? Why/how would gas get into the oil?

The only electrical I'm really worried about is enough so that I can keep the starter working.

Thanks,

Tim

 

I'm sure Bigfitz52 or some of the veterans here can explain it better, but the way I understand it is that if you have gas in your oil, like I did, it usually indicates a bad petcock and/or usually stuck or junked up floats in the carburetor. If the floats are stuck or not working properly, they will allow the fuel to go into the crankcase, hence, fuel in oil. I'm not totally sure how to test the petcock, other than taking the tank off with the cock on the on or res position, putting it over a container and seeing if it leaks, then putting it on prime to see if it comes out as it should. Sounds like you're after it like a pimp trying to collect his money, grats and have fun!

 

Hi again,

So I've made some progress and now run into what I fear might be a bit of a problem.

Following mlew's guide on here (http://www.xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=29695/highlight=easy+carb+removal.html) I managed to get my carbs off and now just need a solid day to tackle that.

Back to the problem at hand. After flooding the engine and getting gas in my crankcase by leaving the petcock on prime, I've managed to drain the oil. It's sitting dry right now and I'm trying to remove the oil filter to change it out. The problem is that the bolt holding the oil filter in appears to have been tightened by Zeus or Thor. I've been spraying it with liquid wrench every day and tapping it with wood blocks. So far I've managed to break one cheap-o ratchet. I borrowed a quality set from a buddy and now I think I'm running into a situation where I'm about to strip the head off the bolt. Again, I know very little about mechanics, but I'm pretty sure this would be fairly bad.

Here's what the bolt looks like now:



Am I completely hooped here? What are my options for trying to get this thing out? I'm not going to do anything else to it for now excpet to keep applying penetrating oil, but if/when it does shear off, how bad is that?

Cheers,

 

Please ignore me, I refined my previously futile searches and found the answer

http://www.xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=30465/highlight=oil+filter+bolt.html