my new 85 xj700 needs your help

Hello everyone. Im james from sask. Canada. I just purchased my first bike. It is a 1985 yamaha maxim xj700n (thanks for the post on deciphering vin numbers chacal). Im also going to reread and the read again your "In the church of clean" post so thanks very much for that as well. I purchased my new 85 xj700 and have very quickly realized i have carb problems. The smell of fuel was overwhelming when i first tried starting it. I havent tried since. The fuel had gotten into the air box. Fuel also began leaking from the #1 carb, the 3 black hoses coming from the carbs, the clear line hangging down the center of the bike and finally from the oil pump cover. I just noticed today the one of the two screws fastening the petcock to the tank is constantlly developing a drip of gas on it.

Im just looking for any advise, input or suggestions the comunnity has on other things i might want to be looking at or for on the bike. Also i would like to hear what other good reads are on here for me to learn feom. I would like to read up alot on my bike before i dismantle even one screw. The manual i need would be great to know as well. One more thing is where do i get the tools to synch the carbs ? An idea if cost would be nice to. Thanks everyone

 

You'll want to check the valves to make sure they are in spec, check the rear brake shoes for delamination(pad material separating from shoe), brake lines and tires(how old are they? are they dry rotted?). That will be a good start.

 

Thanks very much. Once i have aquired the manual i will begin on the mechanical work and i will check those 2 things. The brake lines look good and the rear tire does too but the front tire has significant cracking on both sides of the side wall and the cracking runs the entire diameter of the tire

 

The rubber brake lines are only designed for 4 year lifespan, so they might need replacement regardless, they get softer with age and can balloon/swell during heavy braking causing failure. Recommend stainless steel lines to improve brake feel and operation.

 

Hi reign
Where abouts are you? I am originally from the Yorkton Area....... I also have a 1985 xj700...Love it !!!!!!



Ron

 

Thanks for the tip. I dont have much for a parts place where i am. Just a mecury parts store actually. They acttually told me today the manual i need would be $135.99 + tax. So about 150. Lol soo i just got the oil and air filter and battery for today. I like the idea of changing the brake lines over and will look up a cost for that.

Im originally from the regina area but now live in a town

 

Get in touch with chacal or get on eBay that is a horrible price for the service manual.

 

welcome reign, do yourself a solid. Search the forums on here, chacal has a parts list on here. You can order anything from him, form a service manual, to a washer. just a thought. peace out.

 

Make sure that's motorcycle(wet clutch) oil and not car oil. A common mistake.

 

Lucas and castrol are the 2 oil brands i have to pick from here lol castrol 4 stroke 10 -40 is what i got. Would like ti find a good synthetic to use. Thanks for the input guys. Good to know chacal is Mr. Parts around here.

 

You need castrol 20w50 4-stroke motorcycle oil, conventional not synthetic.

Manual calls for 10w40 at below -5C temperatures or 20w40 the rest of the time. Since 20w40 is usually hard to find, 20w50 is close enough.

Again, no synthetics, most of them have additives that cause wet clutches to slip.

EDIT: oil weight

 

20w50!!!!

 

You got me on that one! lol

 

Hey, here are some links for what people are talking about. Also my own take on bikes in general as I'm just now working on my first yammy, but I have a lot of experience wrenching on Hondas and suzukis. Personally, I'd do the following prior to riding.
1. set the valve lash. You can't tune carbs if the valves are way off and most people don't mess with them.
2. Do a proper carb cleaning. If you don't do it right you'll do it again..
3. Clean up the harness connectors and ground points. Electrical issues are alway a problem on old bikes, and if the R/R doesn't have a good ground it will destroy your stator. == $$
4. Rebuild brakes; replace hoses, and clean and rebuild calipers, and Master cylinder paying special attention to make sure the return port is unclogged. They are almost always gummed up with what looks like dried silicon caulk.
5. Drain and replace fork oil, it is quick and if you have antidive forks replace the orings. The bike could have a fork leg that has no oil in it if they rode it with blown out seals.
6. change the fluids. That includes the drive shaft oil.
7. Replace the tires, while the tires are off grease the rear spline and axle shafts, check the wheel bearings, and check the brake pads.
8. check the head and swing arm bearings, and grease the swingarm if it has a grease fitting.
9. check the charging system. At this point the bike should be road ready, you should be getting around 14.5 volts at 5000 RPM. if the battery can't hold more than 12.5 volts after sitting for a couple of days off the charger then your battery is toast. Take it to an auto parts store they can load test it for you.

I hope some of this helps, at this point you might be thinking "What have I gotten into." But just remember you will get hurt if you wreck, so make damn sure your bike is sound before putting it into service. Don't let that scare you too much, motorcycling is an awesome past time, and well worth experiencing. Usually If you use google you can find a pdf version of a shop manual, sometimes a haynes or clymer.


A good link on buying a bike, but it works for general things to look at.
http://www.clarity.net/~adam/buying-bike.html

petcock rebuild.
http://www.xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=25058.html

Rear brake delamination:
http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=15874.html

old hoses:
http://www.xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=41400.html

 

Oh, one more thing, I run Rotella T 15W-40 in my bikes during the summer, it is cheap, available at Wallmart, and is safe for wet clutches. In winter I put in 10W-30 motorcycle specific oil, what ever is available at the local parts store. The key to oil isn't so much using better quality oils, as it is replacing it often. That my opinion anyway, others I'm sure will disagree.

 

Wow thanks guys. No worries on scaring me off lol i do not plan on having my bike going until next season. Where i am leaves me about 1 month away from cold weather. This is going to be an over the winter process. I did not realize the synthetics made the clutch slip. Thanks for the oil tips. Are synthetic oils bad in general for a bike?

 

Synthetic oil is bad medicine for XJs.

 

Good to know. I almost assumed that synthetic would better

 

http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/p=386749.html

 

I got mine on Ebay for $10. It is a pdf file, about 140 pages and has just about everything you need. I would copy and send it but I think it is copy protected. It can be printed, but that's a lot of printing. I have a good bit of it printed out, so perhaps I could scan and email what I have. Never scanned anything that big, but it might work. tabaka45@gmail.com