Need some help

Hi everyone,

This is my fist bike and I may have already messed it up.
I bought a 1982 yamaha 650xj maxim and only road it twice when the battery died (no water in it) so I pulled the battery but right after this my grandmother got emitted to the hospital and I just lost my Dad so I just put the bike in my unheated garage because I had bigger thing to worry about.

Well needless to say I didnt know anything about winterizing and the bike has been sitting a little over a month and living in MA it is already freezing. . So my question is what do I do now? Should I just leave it until spring? I don't really have any money to winterize it because all my money went to help pay for my Dads funeral and have been taking a lot of hours off from work to stay with my grandmother.

What work do you guys think I will have to do to the bike come spring?

Thanks for any help hope I didnt really mess this bike up, Joe

 

Hi Joe, you have done nothing wrong.
Drain the fuel tank & the carb bowls.
There are a number of things you could do during the winter, so the bike is ready for spring. Costs nothing to check the valve clearances, for a start.
Keep the bike covered, not with plastic sheet, though.

 

I'd put fuel stabilizer in the tank, and drain the carbs (only because you couldn't run it to get the stabilized fuel into the carbs.)

Wiz' advice in regard to over-winter maintenance is spot-on, and valve clearances are a good place to start.

Other winterization tips (all very inexpensive)

-pull the plugs and put 1 ~ 2 TEAspoons of oil into each cylinder (or use engine fogging spray, about $8 at the auto parts.) Turn the motor over a few times and then re-install the spark plugs.

-blow some penetrating oil (don't use WD40) or if you get engine fogging spray use that, into your mufflers through the exhaust outlets and into the little drain holes you'll find somewhere on the bottoms of the mufflers. Then plug the exhaust outlets. I spray a paper shop towel with penetrating oil, then fold it up and roll it into a plug. Keeps moisture, wasps and mice out.

You didn't mess the bike up but you really needed to change the oil before storing it. Just be sure it's the very first thing you do in the spring.

And as Wiz said, cover it up but not with plastic if it's inside. Use an old sheet or other "breathable" cover.

If you killed the battery, just buy a new one come spring. If the date code on the battery shows it to be three or less years old, put distilled water in it and see if it will take a charge. DO NOT use an automotive battery charger, you're going to need to invest in a trickle charger (1A max, .75A preferred) anyway. (Which can wait until you have a battery to charge if that one is beyond hope.)

 

Welcome, and sorry to hear of your troubles. The good news is as above, you've not hurt anything by leaving it a month but all the above advice is worth heeding, especially IMO draining the float bowls is a good idea as modern fuel doesn't like to sit & can turn to gum over a few months.

Also, now it's winter it's a good time to do some reading on here as regards getting your bike in tip top shape ready for next season. There's plenty of great advice, the first things I'd point you to as a new owner are the drum brake, brake hose & tyre threads in my signature below as these are safety related & you might also want to read through the Church of Clean or Whole 9 Yards threads regarding carb cleaning/setup... Oh and the valve clearance checking/setting threads too.

Not wishing to overwhelm you as a new guy, so take it at your own speed & above all feel free to ask if you're ever stuck, just thought I'd put those threads out there so you know about them.

EDIT-: just a thought, you said the battery died & was empty. It would probably be worth checking your charging voltage (@ >3000rpm approx.) when you get the bike running again to make sure the voltage regulator is doing it's job.

 

Cant really add anything to what these guys have already said... just wanted to say sorry for your loss.

 

Hi everyone and thanks alot for the help. I am the least mechanically inclined person on the earth so I'm sure this is a dumb question but what are and where are the float bowls? Is there a video of someone draining them? I googled (How to drain float bowls on a 82 650xj) but nothing.

The reason I bought this bike in tue first place was to learn how to fix it and how everything runs because it is my first bike so I guess I got what I wanted lol

 

if worse comes to worse and I can't get this fixed until spring will the bike still be ok? I hope to get everything done in the next few days but have been spending most of my time with my grandmother at the hospital. Srry for all the questions.

 

Hey Joey, check out this link; Part #12 should be your drain screw; once the pic comes up you can zoom in and on the top left side you can click on it and move the box around to the lower part of the carb to give you a clearer picture. Hope it helps.

http://www.cmsnl.com/yamaha-xj650rj-sec ... ml#results

 

This helps alot thank you. First thing tomorrow morning I will try to drain them.

 

Thank you

 

Here you go. These are Mikunis, but your Hitachis are very similar.

The phillips/flat screws on the bottom of the float bowls are the drain screws.

(The only other screws in the pic are the airbox boot clamps.)




You loosen the drain screws and fuel runs out the little spigot adjacent to the screw. If you find your drain screws are buggered up and/or stripped then don't make them any worse. Fixing stripped drain screws is a common chore of taking over one of these bikes.

If you don't do anything more to the bike this fall you won't seriously "hurt" anything; you will just have a bit more work to do in the spring. Throw an old sheet over it and take care of your Grandma.

 

Thank you. I drained the right float bowl no problem but it was never 100% drained? It was still dripping a little bit (very slow drip) and I waited about 5-8 minutes. Should I shut off the petcock valve? I need to drain all four right? The left side was and still is stripped pretty bad what should I do?

 

Your fuel cock doesn't have an "OFF" position, it's automatic.

If the carbs keep draining the fuel cock is leaking. Something to be fixed.

In the meantime, you can pull the fuel line and cap the nipple on the tank.

 

MiCarl, that's a good point about the petcck.

I've seen numerous posts about trying to resolve if one works right, but I have yet to see anyone recommend to just pull the fuel line and check if the nipple leaks when not on prime.

So simple

 

Joey,

These are Hitachi carbs....mine original float bowl drain screws have been changed with allen head type......much easier to loosen......carbs are upside down.....

 

Wow Five, those are some seriously religious carbs!