1982 Xj650 Fuel capacity

How much fuel does your tank hold? I've been reading online specs for the 1982 Xj650 gas tank and its been listed as a 13L tank. I've notice mine holds about 8L which is significantly less than listed on specs sites. Is this correct to the original tank size or is this off from what the original tank should hold?

 

13 Liter Total 3.4 reserve

petcock has a Prime, on, and reserve position

3.4 US gallons total with .8 gallon reserve

 

you can swap the tank for a xj750 maxim tank it will direct swap
17 Liter (3.74 imp gal,4.49 us gal) total
4.1 L (0.9 imp gal, 1.08 us gal ) reserve

 

Awesome thanks for the tip on Swapping the tank for the 750 model. Im wondering now if the current tank was dented a some point and then filled and painted. Cause from reserve to full I am only putting in around 8L. This is giving me and average of 150km from full to reserve.

 

My 85 XJ only holds about 9 L just on reserve to fill, I only get 120 km to a tank... I gotta let off the throttle or get a bigger tank myself! Lol!

 

that would be an lot of filler to = 5 lit
could be you do not have a oem petcock .

 

I have an 83 xj750k tank in black this nice one and a not so nice one if you want a cheap one to repair both nice inside

 

Thats a great idea i think its time to find a new petcock. Or maybe just modify the old one by chopping the tube that slide up and down.

 

What tube that slides up and down? There shouldn't be a tube that does that.

 

I concur with k-moe... Wtf you talking about?

 

some people think the tube on petcock inside the tank moves with the lever position

 

just FYI i have used Electrolysis (with water and washing soda) very successfully on tanks with rust inside. I fill it with solution and hook up a battery charger to the sacraficial anode (which must not touch the tank) and leave it for a few days. Pretty sure I set the charger to 12V trickle charge. It's amazing how everything comes off the tank and to sticks to the anode. It's kind of a fun process to witness. I bought a large rubber stopper at Ace that fits snugly in the gas tank filler hole and drilled a hole through it to hold the anode nice and straight and keep it from touching the tank.

 

what do you use for the "sacraficial anode"?

 

a threaded rod - not too thick, you want to be able to bend it with a pliers to extend down the length of the tank. I had these laying in my motorcycle parts tub......

 

thanks . i use an expansion plug when I paint tanks it has a hole built in .tight fit

 

a plumbing expansion plug is what I wanted to use too but I needed the rubber mass to really hold that anode rod firm and steady. although it is a threaded rod so you could just spin two nuts/fender washers on to hold it tight against the plug (as long as you do it before you bend it)

 

K I'll admit I've never looked at my Xj650 petcock. However I've take my petcock and cleaned it on my Xl500r, I assumed that tube moved up and down to control the reserve. I imagined this is how the petcock worked on the XJ650. I'm probably wrong however clopping the straw would still be a decent mod if the petcock isn't functioning proper.

 

There are two tubes at different fixed levels. On the XL500R petcock the tubes are nested inside of each other. The XJ series uses two tubes that are side by side, and part of a single moulded component that also incorporates a screen to keep big chunks of crud out of the carbs.
The valve switches between the tubes, drawing fuel from only one at a time. All other petcocks are a variation on that theme (excluding the petcocks that are just electric switches that move remote fuel valves).
Clipping a tube is not going to do anything useful, and may result in unexpectedly running out of gas if you shorten the wrong one. The valve and the seals within are what makes a petcock work, no matter which type one has.

 

you can hit reserve on the left side of the tank and still have more on the right side. i know for sure you can run out and still have gas in the tank

 

If you simply look at the shape of the tank, you can also see that there is going to be gas in the tank that is totally below the level of the petcock. You CAN'T draw from that. That amount stays there.....yes, it mixes in with the next fill up, but that amount is not available. The upside to that is, that if you have water in your tank, it will also stay below the petcock.......UNLESS YOU HAVE SO MUCH IN THERE THAT IT'S FULL OF WATER UP TO THE PETCOCK. The solution is to put some seafoam in every now and then to keep it out. OR..... If it's that full with water, Siphon the whole tank out......let it dry, treat, then fill with good fuel and be more careful from now on.