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Getting an XJ550 Running Again

Discussion in 'XJ Technical Chat' started by Antothoro, Dec 15, 2019.

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  1. dkavanagh

    dkavanagh Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    Heh, I was hesitant to say "if they leak, rebuild them", but you basically did it for me.
     
  2. Antothoro

    Antothoro Member

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    Removed one of the my two additional fuel mentioned here and now it's idling all over the board. I feel like I'm starting over with idling. Are there any guides on getting the idle right?
     
  3. Antothoro

    Antothoro Member

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    Got the idle down. Took a while and some singed fingers but it idles smoothly now. I'm needing to tweak the choke and the idler.
     
  4. Antothoro

    Antothoro Member

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    The master cylinder for the brake is damaged. It works. There some mushiness in the brakes but it works. The levers on both sides are broken short so I'm in the market for new levers. Between the two, I'm looking for a new master cylinder and lever. Having trouble matching what I'm seeing online to what I have. I think the cylinder was replaced by a previous owner. Does anybody have a good picture of master brake cylinder for a XJ550?
     
  5. Antothoro

    Antothoro Member

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    Getting the list of stuff out of my head:
    • Lube the Speedo and Tach
    • Replace front forks seals
    • Straighten the rear brake lever
    • Replace levers on handlebars
    • Replace master cylinder
    • Figure out why the headlight does not work
    • Reduce idle speed when hot down from 3k
     
  6. dkavanagh

    dkavanagh Well-Known Member Premium Member

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  7. Antothoro

    Antothoro Member

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    Asking before I burn it out.... Is the headlight a 12v headlight? I'm thinking about testing the headlight by hooking it up to the battery directly. Just to eliminate the relay as a possible source.
     
    Last edited: Sep 8, 2021
    dkavanagh likes this.
  8. Antothoro

    Antothoro Member

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    Installing the clutch lever on the crankcase. The manual says to "make sure that the punch mark on the level should align with the mark on the crankcase cover when pushing the level towards the front by hand". What's the proper alignment of the clutch lever on the spline? do you just leave the spline with no tension and put the lever on where it aligns with the mark?
     
  9. Antothoro

    Antothoro Member

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    Just did a compression test on the cylinders.

    Current state of the bike:
    • Airbox boots are removed off the carbs
    • Gas tank is over to the side with a fuel line running over
    • Some fuel in the line
    • Up on the center stand
    • Console (speedo and tach) is removed
    • Headlight is removed

    Here's what I did:
    • Fully charged the battery
    • Cold
    • For each spark plug
      • Pulled a spark plug
      • Installed the compression tester gauge (link)
      • Cranked until the reading stopped moving
      • Write down number
      • Removed the compression tester gauge
      • Let cool

    With that procedure, I got these numbers
    1. 150 PSI
    2. 155 PSI
    3. 125 PSI
    4. 145 PSI

    Known limitations in the procedure I used:
    • TCI was still connected
    • 3 plugs were still screwed in each test
    • Throttle was closed
    • Engine is cold
    • An adapter was used for the compression tester
    • No oil was infused in the cylinders and the test repeated


    According to the Information Overload I should be around....

    XJ550 engines:
    Minimum: 100 psi
    Standard: 121 psi
    Maximum: 135 psi
    Max. variance between lowest and highest: 14 psi​


    Questions for all:

    What are the symptoms that would align to over compression?
     
  10. Antothoro

    Antothoro Member

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    In other news, I have:
    • I've tried vacuum syncing the carbs
      • mixed results on this
    • Rebuilt the console and lubed the speedo & tach
    • Removed the headlight so I can troubleshoot why it's not working.
      • Initial test with a Multimeter shows that no power is getting to the relay
    • It's having trouble starting now
     
  11. Antothoro

    Antothoro Member

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    Oh, when I was trying to get the bike started to test the tach howing, I noticed that there was smoke coming out of cylinder #1 (far left side). I could not tell where exactly it was coming from but it was the front side of the block.
     
  12. hogfiddles

    hogfiddles XJ-Wizard, Host-Central NY Carb Clinic Moderator Premium Member

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    Likely oil burning off
     
  13. Antothoro

    Antothoro Member

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    I had the bike idling on the kick stand in the drive way without the airbox boots on. After all the recent work that I've done. I wanted to keep a close eye on it for a few minutes. Rev it here and there. When I noticed that a drop of gas from the heat shield. Bending down, I noticed drops on the bottom of carbs 4 and 3 (4 and 3 are the left hand side right?). Tweaking the choke as needed and reving here and there. Next thing I know the closest carb, #4 right?, just starts coughing up gas. Not a little dribble but a spew of gas.

    I'm thinking that the floats are off OR the needles are not sealing. Either way the carbs have to come off. What are your thoughts?

    Is there a document of tests that we can do on the carbs to make sure everything is good and sealing well before we but them on the bike? Like filling the bowels and making sure they don't overfill or something?
     
  14. dkavanagh

    dkavanagh Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    Yes, if you do the "wet set" procedure, that tests them off the bike with gas in the float bowls. You'll be verifying fuel level in the bowl to tweak the float levels. This will also test to be sure the float valves seal.
    I couldn't find a link (forum search says "wet set" is not something I can search on... ).
    • The procedure is to set up the carbs, level on the bench. I used some deck screws into a board to support all 4 corners of the rack.
    • Next, supply fuel via an elevated tank of some sort. This should allow the float bowls to fill.
    • If nothing is leaking at this point, move on to checking float level.
    • Connect a small tube to the fitting on the bottom edge of the bowl near the set screw. There's a drawing somewhere that shows this (I'll try to find it). By holding that tube up along side the carb and opening that set screw, the fuel will rise in the tube to match the level in the bowl, so you can see if it's within spec.
    • For any that are out of spec, you'll need to drain the bowls and remove the problem one. There's a little tang on the float where the float valve needle attaches. By *slightly* tweaking the tang, you can adjust the float level, and thereby the fuel level in the bowl
    • Repeat the measurement till things are all in spec.
    Here's a helpful PDF another forum member put together. (I probably should have led with this!) http://www.xj4ever.com/setting fuel levels.pdf
     
    Last edited: Oct 17, 2021
  15. Antothoro

    Antothoro Member

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    Going upstream, literally.

    Got some Evaporust in the tank to eat up the rust and then will be using Red Kote to seal it up.

    The fuel level sensor. Got any advise on remaking that gasket? I'm thinking a layer of silicon sealant. Thoughts?

    I busted one of the bolts on the fuel level sensor. Dumb but potentially easy question. Do the bolt whispers of Ace have these bolts?
     
  16. XJ550H

    XJ550H Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    xj4ever sells the gasket and bolts get the correct parts thats not a place you want fuel leaking from
     
  17. Antothoro

    Antothoro Member

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    The Red Kote is curing now. I'm noticing small bubbles formed. SHould I be concerned?
     

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