New Rider, Old Bike... shavings in oil... >.

I recently got a 1982 750 Maxim from my pop, used to ride on the back of it to preschool and kindergarden ha ha ha. It has been in the shop, was setting for 6 or 7 years in a garage. Carbs, front forks, front brakes rebuilt, new front tire, tank cleaned and coated, ive taken care of a few electrical problems today. Over a grand in the whole on this thing ha ha ha, but its worth it i think. Need to get the book and check valve clearances and timing.
Changed the oil today and it was a little sparkly... Not good i know. I have worked on a few cars here and there, but not a pro by any means. What are the possible problems? And how expensive to fix? Im a grand in the whole and cant afford anything else.

 

Your guess is as good as anybodies.

If you don't hear anything knocking or making any unusual noise ... and, it runs without you looking like your spraying to kill mosquito's ...

Run it!
Ride it.
Do another ... "Diagnostic Oil Change" in 1000 Miles.

Have a beer and get a Sunburn!

 

Well, just got off the phone with the PO, he said that because it is a wet clutch that that is probably what i was noticing in the oil. Plus the fact that it set for so long the reason why it is running funny. I am going to keep driving it, change the oil 500-1k miles for the first few times to clean it out and save up for a shop to do the full service maint. (valves). If there is anyone in the area (Long Beach) who knows how to do this, i would rather learn how to do it myself than pay bookuu bucks for a shop that wont show me how ha ha ha. I dont have any money though ha ha ha. Broke myself on gettin this thing running. Anyone know the valve clearance specs on this bike though? 1982 Maxim 750, not sure on the letter after it.. XJ750... it is odd looking at the OEM parts and other catalogs onliine, they give different letters >.<.

 

Isn't the magnetic tip on the drain plug supposed to catch any nasty metallic shavings?

 

shmuckaholic, yep, now i know why it was coated with gunk, probably too much stuff for it to hold on to. Thanks Rick, didnt see your post :lol: appreciate the advice though! My pop works midnights and he was up, both on the money though. Keep driving it!!! Yay! Now to just get a license so's i can drive in darkness... Sooo much better, traffic is so bad here in so cal, a bike makes it much more bearable.

 

The only type of metal that can be magnetized is ferrous, meaning to contain iron. Ferrous metals usually are steel, iron, etc...

However, aluminum and copper are nonferrous so they will not be magnetized to the magnetic tip and still may move around in oil freely unless the filter captures those. If so, you may find those between pleats in the filter.

As part of airframe & powerplant course that I took a while ago, we were taught to cut all oil filters open and take the paper or material out and spread/stretch (after squeezing all remaining oil out) it out and use a magnet pick up pen to scan and pick up metals. Any metal not attached are considered aluminum or some kind of nonferrous metals.

Also, remember that oil flows through the transmission parts so it could come from any of gears.

 

Ciscobird on the Oil Filter search!

Darn good advice.
Messey, it can be ... but helps tell the story.

 

Use a table vise or something to clamp the filter. Use a hacksaw, saw through the paper 90 degree to the line/pleat until you hit the core. Go all around, then do again on the bottom or top (the opposite side).

The whole thing will stretch like an accordion, gather the whole thing together until it looks like a box air filter.

Use the table vise again, place the soaked pleats between vise (with the pleat lines parallel with the edge of vise) and turn the clamp. The oil will squeeze out, be sure to have some thing under to capture most of it. Rub a rag across it to soak up more.

Once you think you can't squeeze any more out of it, unclamp the vise and spread it on a clean or, at least uncluttered, surface. Stuff, debris, whatnot will be tucked along each line.

Normally, you should see a bit of stuff size of grains or dirt. Don't worry too much about those. The only thing that you should be concerned about is any shaving or broken bits.

Aluminum are usually from the piston (depending on engines). Steel, from cam, rod, gears, valve etc... Other soft metal might come from bearing or bushing.

Once, I've seen an opened filter coming from a Cessna 150 with aluminum shavings 2 inches long all over. You never know what you find.

 

I drained the Oil out of my Peugeot 505 to find a Crankshaft Thrust Bearing hanging out of the hole when I got ready to put the Drain Plug back-in.

Got a new engine for finding that before the thing self destructed.

 

Jackncoke, I just finished a semester and will have a bit (just a bit mind you) of free time over the next three weekends. I could possibly give you a hand if you are interested. You're about 2 hours away. I'd offer my place as I have all the tools but that would only work if you have a means of getting it here. I could be tempted to wander down your way... (chocolate chip is my favorite flavor cookie).

 

Thanks for the offer Robert, I'm tempted to take you up on it, but I wouldnt be able to reimburse you for your time, so thanks for the offer! I will tear into the old oil filter and see what i can find in that sucker. The only thing that i think i need on it is just a full service maintainance, and i will just drive it easy for now and save up for that. It rides fine though. By shavings, i did see a few smaller ones that might have been from the bike, but i just noticed how sparkly the oil was, and in cars that means that something is very wrong. But i am hoping that the material that was in the oil is just normal wear from the clutch, tranny ect. I will probably change the oil in it next payday and see if it is any cleaner. If it is I probably wont worry about it too much.

 

If it runs good, Don't leak. Don't smoke. Don't knock. Don't slip out of gear. Shifts clean and takes the power. Has no unusual XJ-noises.

Climb aboard and twist the Throttle Open. Don't worry about it!
These Engines are HARD to kill. Hard!

Have some fun!

 

:lol: Dont leak, dont slip, decent power, maybe a possible slight knock, but i dont know if its just the bike or not... ha ha ha! Definately a biker newbie... Gonna buy the cd (cant afford the manual) and do the valve adjustment on it, probably fix it right up. I wanna be able to tear this thing down and rebuild it myself. I might start looking for a cheap model the same or similar in a few months. Probably be worth the investment, and a good thing to learn off of. This bike is gonna be my main source to and from work very soon. Gonna take my drivers test on monday. I can already drive circles with the steering pegged in either direction. Only took about a week. Thanks for the help guys, with work i try to post, but work and school is very time consuming.

 

Yea ... you never know when you'll have to do some tight 360's after getting your license.

I don't know ... you might be in a Parade some day. Come-in handy, then!

 

Jack, you needn't worry about paying me for my time, that isn't required. I offered my assistance to a fellow XJer. Drop me a PM if you change your mind.