Couple of questions...

Hey guys, I'm new here, and I'm on my second summer with an '83 XJ750RJ Seca.
My bike stresses me out (go figure) because I am deathly afraid of breaking something that I don't have the funds to fix(I'm a poor college student). Anyways, my first question Involves a disturbing noise. My bike runs fine, starts and idles great. However, after about 30 miles when the bike is good and hot, I get this high, fast tick that sounds like it is coming from the right side of the cylinder bank, goes away sort of at idle. I've thought of a number of possibilities.
- Worn cam chain rattle? (wouldn't be from left side though)
- Valve clearances off, need shims?
- some sort of piston wear issue (this seems fairly unlikely, as the bike only has 22,000 on it)
whatever it is, I worry about it and would appreciate any help on a diagnosis.
My second question I'm afraid might get me laughed at. I just changed my oil and filter. I used a 25w50 oil with 10% lucas oil stabilizer. My manual recommends 20w40 for hotter ambient temps, so I figured I'd be ok. Was this a wise choice?

 

Welcome to the forum !
I can only really comment on the oil issue. I do not recommend using Lucas in your oil. You should not use any oil additives. Just MHO., others will probably reinforce this opinion.
25w50 might be a might heavy. I recommend a good 15w40 or 20w50.
The fast tick sound might be a valve clearance issue.

 

Thanks for the reply, I think it is pretty likely that it is a valve clearance issue, but I have the annoying habit of conjuring up all sorts of destructive scenarios in my head. As for the Lucas, I have heard that oil additives are usually a bad idea in bikes, but it doesn't have any of the clutch slip promoting "friction fighters" and I've had great luck with it in every other engine I've had.

 

I understand but let me pose a question to you,
How are you sure that the Lucas actually helped the properties of the oil do a better job? What data do you have that it really does work other than what the mfg says that it does?
I am a sceptic by nature so my position is if I don't have proof or good data that it actually helps then I'm not going to bother with it.
Just my .02 worth. :?
If you use a good quality oil (not a wal-mart brand) then you don't need to add anything to it.
Be safe.

 

Welcome to the fold JSfirebrand, and I'm with Tony on the additives. You should just run quality oil (20-50 is fine for your beast). You should put your mind at ease with the worst case senario, these XJs are pretty darn hard to kill. Just make sure you perform regular preventitive maintenance and it should give you many, many hassle-free miles. Keep at the books, it will pay for itself in the long run.

 

Although I agree that the Lucas Oil Stabalizer isn't such a hot idea in a bike, I have seen the live demonstrations of it's "oil bonding" capabilities. I'm a natural skeptic too, but that demonstration was pretty dang convincing.

JMHO. :wink: