Hello! and a few problems with my 32 year old Seca

Well, I am manic because I have bipolar disorder, haha, but I am on some pretty strong medication to prevent my cycles from taking over my life, even though manic phases show through in some cases like buying a new riding machine.

And what I meant by "fixed itself" is that the leak stopped after I changed the fuel from prime to on. I think the floats have been stuck open temporarily because I was moving the carbs around so much, but they settled down and freed up once the bike ran for a minute and the vibration released them.

I have some faith in the previous owner, as I have been texting him a lot over the past two weeks, and he is totally honest about everything he has done to it and what he has found from the previous owners' work. They were very good to the Seca I now own, despite not riding it regularly for a few years. They helped me change the oil and oil filter on the spot when I went to buy it and made sure that everything was working well enough for a 100 mile ride home. Perhaps they knew about these problems, but I believe they knew it would be okay for another 100 miles.

Also, I listened to my valves today and they actually sound beautiful. Just couldn't hear them because of my helmet, but once I put my face near the cover I could really hear it 'stitching' away at idle and at speed.

I went to register the bike today and I opted to take a sticker for 2016 instead of this year to keep me from riding it until I fix everything. I think this was a good choice.

And one last note: I'm currently in the process of getting hired by an Amazon warehouse, so money should be no object over the winter, and I will use it wisely to repair my treasured motorcycle (edit: Properly.)

 

Oddly enough the pulling has completely gone away. I was pretty sure it was the 7 year old tires but it's not happening anymore. Perhaps there was a flat spot from sitting for a few years, but I will be checking the fork fluid and replacing both tires anyways just because safety.

 

Okay, So I'm working on addressing one problem at a time. I completely tore apart my brake caliper. Pads, metal things, cylinder, seals, and all. Put it back together, almost breaking my piston by putting it in sideways, but I felt it coming and used my clamp to press on the high side and get it realigned. I scrubbed the perfectly intact seals until they were shiny and cleaned out the piston chamber with a nice clean blue towel. Boy, was there a lot of crap in there. I blew it out and the little bits of metal or whatever hit my face dozens of times. It hasn't drug since and I hope I fixed it for good!

On a side note, I did find a wet spot on my left fork at the bottom. It extended out as far as the speed sensor cable bottom nut.

Now, after I get out of school tomorrow, I would like to diagnose and solve my tachometer problem. I'll write about it again so you don't have to fish back through all these 52 posts, plus I think I understand it better now after riding it during brake testing.

Anyways, like I said before, it works from about 6000 and up, but from 3000 to 6000 it will read low by about 1000 sometimes depending on what I do with the throttle. 1/4 to 1/2 it works great, but anything outside that and it will drop down by 1000 to 2000. Looks like it's automatic. Very weird feeling.

I suspect two things under different circumstances:
1. The meter is pneumatically controlled
If it's pneumatic then I suspect vacuum leaks.

2. It's mechanically operated (more likely considering there is a square metal wire that runs through the tube)
I really have no clues, but maybe there is a loose connection somewhere? I checked both nuts and they are both very tight after I tightened them with pliers to keep them from loosening due to vibration. Symptoms got worse as it rattled loose, eventually dropping to 0 rpm when it disconnected fully.

Actually, now that I think about it, I'd bet all my $12 (yes I'm broke right now) that the cable is misaligned and is not making full contact with the meter input shaft. I will pull it apart tomorrow and see what's going on if I don't hear back about it.

EDIT:

One more thing. I bought a new battery for like $50 and the guy at the store overfilled it, thinking that on is required to use all of the acid supplied for a proper job. Apparently not, as it boiled over in the "slow" set industrial grade charger. Anyways they got out their battery testing device (again pretty serious grade) and it said the battery was all good. Turns out it was fine. My voltimeter reads about 1/2 a volt higher on average now. Later, to keep the acid from coming out any more than it already had on my way home, I pulled out a plastic oil tray and dumped some out of each chamber. I'm glad I took the time to empty out the nasty acid, because it's been working flawlessly since. While I was taking it out, I thought there seemed to be some kind of valve that controls the acid going out, because I couldn't get more out than the "upper level" as labeled on the battery. And all 6 chambers were perfectly level as far as I could tell when I got done. So yeah. Pretty exciting to have acid all over the place. They dumped baking soda EVERYWHERE to clean it up, but I bet that made even more work for them to do. Probably best to chemically neutralize it though. I imagine that's how I should have cleaned my tray out but I just cleaned it up with rags and we will burn them tomorrow as my father suggests. Not sure if this is a very good idea but what else does one do with hazardous materials that can't be thrown away, diluted and flushed, disposed of by my store, or anything else logical?

 

I'm glad that you tended to the brake calipers. While the seals are intact, they are still most likely over 30 years old and are going to be prone to failure. Be careful, and plan on replacing them and the brake lines this winter (if not sooner).

The tachometer is mechanical. You probably have a broken cable and will need to replace it, along with the tachometer drive seal and o-ring (they are also old and will eventually spray oil all over).

 

Ok, great to know about the tach and I will be inspecting potentail Mr. McCable-Failure later tomorrow. Also glad to be hearing some praisey things instead of constructive criticism as I usually don't take that very well

Yet Another EDIT:

About the brake lines... Which ones do I need? I just yesterday notice that there are actually two brake lines on the bike. I assume there are power brakes in the front and that's why there is a black box on the frame with upper and lower line attachments.

 

There should be a down spout on the left hand side of the battery. A length of clear tubing should have been supplied with the new battery. The tubing connects to the down spout and routes down and underneath your bike to release acid as the battery boils. It should also be attached to the battery during charging.

Gary H.

 

It did come with some clear tubing. That's how I knew what smelled so bad when I got home after buying the battery- it was wet inside. I installed the tubing and it now leads out to a gap between the swing arm and the frame, although it's a bit short and sometimes hovers over the swing arm. Hopefully I removed enough acid so that it will not boil over and out again so no rust should happen if I'm lucky.

 

Huh. So that's what that was for. I found that tubing just resting under the seat. Duly noted.

 

You need a longer piece of hose, so that it routes below the swingarm/frame/everything else. Otherwise, any acid overflow (or even the fumes) will eat away at whatever it comes into contact with.

Hope and luck are not tools, and this sentiment and outlook will eventually get you broke ($$), maimed for life, or killed when dealing with a motorcycle that you ride. The advice from Busted Knuckles above is something that you might want to take seriously and to heart......

 

Ditto. There are marks on the side of the battery denoting the proper acid level. The concentration of acid is an important part of the chemistry of how a battery works, and it should not be monkeyed with if at all possible. If the acid level needs to be adjusted for any reason you must take great care and wear the proper PPE (personal protective equipment), and be mindful of using the proper technique for handling and disposing of acids. Trips the the hospital are not fun.

Some reading material for you: http://www.batteryuniversity.com

 

There should be a bendable holder welded on top of and in the center of the frame's crossmember in front of the swing arm. Route the breather through there and point it toward the ground to keep acid off the bike as Chacal stated. There also may be a diagram on the inside of the right battery cover.

Gary H.

 

k-moe,
Honestly I got it everywhere, felt really stupid. Dripped on the floor and a little bit on my hands because I have no gloves
Even though I did get it on the floor and my hands I did put on safety glasses because I like seeing things. Also immediately washed my hands every time they got wet.
I know I should have been more careful and cautious but I was very manic, and actually did it by impulse. It's hard to control this bipolar thing.

Chacal,
I will zip tie the tubing to the frame and add a spacer so that it will always point in the same direction- directly to the ground.
And I made sure that the levels were all exactly the same, but as I said the most that I could get out was down to the "upper level" as I think there is some vacuum limit or something holding it in past there.

Everyone,
Even though I completely cleaned my calipers, that's not where the dragging issue was, apparently. I now think that the issue is in the little pistons under the master cylinder. I'm not sure how to clean them or even get them apart, so some advice would be much appreciated. (EDIT: found a video)And on a side note, I got a new air filter and signal lens for the bike. Couldn't believe how dirty the old one was. It was literally black and brown with grease, in contrast to the bleached-looking new filter. Just amazing how much dust and dirt is in the air.

 

Okay, I fixed it for good, I'm now pretty sure. The guy in the video I found said that the return hole in the master cylinder could become clogged and cause dragging. Took small drill bit and turned it clockwise and and some brown liquid came out and is now in my cylinder. Not sure if I should bleed and refill to keep the brown liquid from clogging up the holes again, but I figure that won't happen for another 10,000 miles or so.

I took about a 5 mile ride to confirm that they would not stick again, and I was right for once! It even firmed up like a real brake lever and I couldn't be more satisfied after chasing this problem down every day for about a week. Hard to believe it was some dirt clogging it, no need for a caliper cleaning or brake fluid flush, just some dirt in a hole.

My mom's maxim 550 is the same way mine was: draggy. I think I remember some brown liquid diffusing from the return hole a few weeks back when I did my first brake bleeding, so I will open it up today and take a look at that as well.

But I still have one question: Where did the dirt come from? Is it brake dust? Is it a plane? Is it from the brake lines deteriorating for over 30 years? Hope to find out soon.

 

Could be deterioration of the brake lines, there's a BigFitz52 thread out there about the life expectancy of them out there somewhere. Could be rust from the mc or calipers, or it could just be what happens to brake fluids when they age. One guy posted a pic of his mc - looked like someone baked a lasagna in it! Who knows what previous owners are capable of.

 

Haha lasagna doesn't belong in a brake line!

Yeah I opened up my mom's maxim's master cylinder and above the rubber seal, there was all kinds of crystals. But they were mushy and wet. Still have no clue what this could be. Or how it got ABOVE the seals... Of course the previous owner let his dog jump on the gas tank and never fixed the starter button. He just zip tied an RCA cable to it to bridge the spring and contact in the back of the housing. It's so redneck, but it's actually growing on us and it makes for a great party piece.

 

I understant that. I have several bipolar friends. Many of my comments about safety are directed to the people who will come along and read this thread while looking for advice. When details get left out people tend to make assumptions, and there are a lot more viewers of forums than there are participants.

The crud in the master cylinder is the glycol brake fluid doing its job. Glycol is hydroscopic (attracts and absorbs water). The crystals are the result of water being absorbed to the saturation point. This is why brake fluid should be changed annually in wet weather areas, and every other year in dry areas.

A note on videos: There are a lot of videos out there that are made by people who don't quite know what they are doing. While the video you found sounds to be accurate, I reccomend that unless the video is linked from somewhere on this site that you just ignore it; particulaly if you are looking for XJ specific information. A google search with the following command after the keywords will get you results from here: site:xjbikes.com

Example: master cylinder rebuild site:XJbikes.com

 

Very true about the viewers. I always feel like everything is to be taken severely personally, but I understand now that this like a public debate. Advice given is for all to take away at the end of the day.

 

Did you replace your rubber brake lines with braided stainless steel ones?
You will notice ALOT firmer braking action with the SS lines.

 

Not yet. I haven't heard anything about what kind of lines to use, even though I've asked twice.

 

Ok, so my tachometer is totally out. I just need to figure out what's wrong with it. I'll examine the speedometer and see if there is any mechanical or electronic difference if I don't hear back soon, to compare and contrast and hopefully find the issue. I know it's in the tachometer because the cable turns fine and is firmly attached. I pulled out the inner spring wire thing and it's totally intact. I even checked under the valve cover and there's nothing wrong with the gear. The only odd thing I can find is that the little metal ring around the engine side of the tach cable rotates about 15 degrees. Perhaps If I find nothing wrong with my tach gauge, I will try to tighten that up or even clamp it temporarily to see if that is the problem.

 

Chacal sells a set of braided stainless steel brake lines that are a direct fit, and that will outlast the rest of the bike.

 

They are reasonably priced. I will be purchasing replacements as soon as I can get the money together, and I will avoid riding until then. Plus my tach is crappy so that's no good either.

 

Alright, since I can't sleep again, I'll write about what I did to my bike tonight.

So here's silly me again, spending the last $20 I have in my account on a new tach cable right before i take the whole thing apart to diagnose it.

I disconnected the tachometer wire, and it spun pretty well when I ran the engine. Very linear, I think. Haven't measured it but it sped up slightly when I sped the engine up to about 3000 rpm.

I then removed the gas tank, steamed up some gasoline on the hot carbs, and pulled the bolts on the cam cover and then gently removed the cam cover itself, only to find everything looked fine to me with about the gears controlling the tachometer. Pulled the whole control cable from both ends and took out and inspected the wire inside. Perfect condition. Held torque perfectly even when I bent and twisted it violently. Then tried to send an order cancel form to the parts supplier, but it must be done manually and cannot be completed through their website.

Then I thought it was the tach itself. So I reassembled the bike for half an hour, then disassembled it again at the front this time. Cowling, headlight, connectors, instrument box, screws, bolts, washers, more screws, some gentle handling, and finally the tach mechanism was out. Here's a simple and unreliable way for me to find out if my tach is malfunctioning. I spun the magnetic piece as quickly as I could in the counter clockwise direction (from the front of the whole bike, all assembled) with my finger and it raised to about 1000 rpm then promptly returned to 0 when the magnetic bit stopped turning quickly enough. Likely not the best test, since my tachometer always works below 2500 rpm, but worth a shot, right?

Now, I don't want anyone to actually take apart their motorcycle to give me some rough, subjective number, but if you have played with one before, let me know what yours did.

Vigorously scrubbed the insides of the plastic gauge covers to remove the thin film of white o-ring residue around the edges, then reassembled my motorcycle once again, thinking that I had surely fixed the issue, but then at a loss of guesses for the night as it once more jumped around in the 4000 to 5000 range as I let off the throttle. Then rage quit.

Now, at 4 AM, I think that, as I said earlier, the gearing could be going wrong, or maybe something else is causing the tachometer cable to not spin correctly from 2500 to 6000 rpm. Perhaps a loose connection, despite my best efforts to securely attach both collared nuts on the tube with pliers, or perhaps a broken cable after all. I have no real clues to go off of anymore.

EDIT:
Oh! And i just remembered. One of the screws holding in the face plate fell out a number of years ago, and it was the first thing I fixed when I got the bike home. Maybe this has something to do with it. It was out for a while, because the paint on the metal face plate is actually shiny where the screw was randomly bouncing around and scratching and polishing the paint to a fine finish.

 

Was the tach cable covered in grease? If it wasn't that could be the problem. Unless the cable is lubricated it can rub on the sheath and catch/stutter, which would cause the tach to jump.

 

Yes it was very greasy. I think it's something in the gearing. Maybe a slipping tooth or something. I'm just not sure.

 

Have you cleaned and lubed the needle bearings and such?

http://xjbikes.com/forums/threads/speedo-and-tach-dissection-with-pics.15303/

 

Yes, I cleaned them with an oil based spray and the needle feely spun all the way from peg to the other side of the peg. Not sure if WD-40 was the right thing to use, but it worked very well. I figured it would be less messy and less permanent than lithium spray, which was my first choice.

 

WD-40!?!?!?
Don't tell Big Fitz!

 

Yeahh...

I know it's probably not even close to the right thing to use, but it sure freed it up!

 

Although their DO make a lubricant, the standard WD40 is not a lube, it's a water dispersant. That's what the wd stands for. The 40 is 'cuz the first 39 attempts kinda sucked.

 

I did say cleaned, didn't I? I have always found that WD-40 has excellent water and grease displacement properties, making it an ideal mutli-purpose cleaner and therefore "lubricator" in some ways as well (because it removes dirt clogging the system.) I also like how it evaporates in about two weeks, leaving the parts nice and dry as well as keeping away grease and other dirts for months to come.

 

But once it's dry all of the lubricating properties are lost.

 

The way I understand it, you may use WD-40 to clean something but after you should use something else to lube it.

 

Good points, guys. I will probably use WD-40 and then lithium grease where appropriate in the future.

 

Silicone spray is a pretty good lube for specific applications.

 

So, I've been using carburetor cleaner fuel additives to help try and clean my carbs and engine out a little bit. It's just a temporary measure until my JIS screwdriver set comes in and I can really tear them apart and really get them nice and sparkling clean. I know they're a little bit of a placebo, but the engine actually runs better with the additive mixed in. It claims on the bottle to improve fuel economy, so I assume it's also an octane boost or something. But whatever's in there, it works well to help my old, old motorcycle run better, so we bought a bigger bottle tonight- about a half a liter.

Anyways, what I'm posting to talk about is that carburetor slide four just snaps right closed and the other three relatively slowly slide down like they should. I'm very worried that I will have to steal something from my mom's bike (haha jk) or purchase a costly replacement diaphragm. I looked up diaphragms and they run for more than $230 OEM NOS. I was wondering if there's any other way to repair a damaged diaphram without replacing it. Maybe electrical tape or epoxy?

I think this might explain my recent idling problems and it could explain my loss of power at high engine speed, and it could explain the jerky stuttering power that's been going on when I have been running on about a half tank of gas or lower, and it could explain my 55 MPG that I've been calculating. I usually accelerate very quickly and cruise in a lower gear, so I would estimate that I should be getting somewhere from 40 to 45 MPG.* **

* Oh Wait! I just realized why my mileage is good. I can't actually use full throttle or I get a reduction in power regardless of engine speed. I can usually get about 3/4 and then it starts to die on me? **

I'll find out for sure on Friday or Monday when my screwdrivers come in and I can actually see what's going on up in there, but until then, I thought it would be good to gather some third party input.

And some questions to provoke responses:
Are fuel additive like injector cleaner any good?
Why does my motorcycle seem to run out of gas when it still has half a tank left? Shouldn't it need reserve when it's about 1/4 full? On = 3.1 gal, Res = 3.1 + 0.9 gal
Could cylinder four be running on less air and therefore less fuel? Will this probably damage my engine? I imagine so.
What other reasons could be causing the snapping-shut slide other than a damaged diaphragm?
And...
Could cleaning and/or repairing the carburetor rack solve many of these problems?
1. Poor idling
2. Depressingly long no-fire delay before starting WHEN COLD
3. Loss of power at high engine speeds (8000+ RPM)
4. Lurching engine or stuttering engine below 6000 RPM
5. Temporary loss of power when starting from a stop at less than 2500 RPM
6. Suspiciously good fuel economy**
7. Odd "second and slower rotating engine" sound during loss of power
8. Quickly closing slide in carburetor 4

Thanks for reading and helping out!

EDIT:
** Just realized that my last half tank was about 1.7 gallons instead of 1.4
Turns out I'm getting a more reasonable 45 MPG.

 

Bite the bullet, send your carbs to Dave (Hogfiddles) for a complete and proper full rebuild, check and adjust valve shim clearances while the carbs are off, synch the engine and adjust the mixture screws when you get the carbs back, and live happily ever after.

 

I just read this thread from the beginning and I can't see anywhere that you check your valves to make sure they are in specs, You must achieve that first otherwise all time and efforts on the carbs will be worthless.

 

I think it came up a few times that I needed to do a valve adjustment before tuning the carbs, and then I responded with a few posts about how I promised to do that.

Well, I'd like to perform the operation with my uncle who's bimmer crazy, but if that doesn't work out I will probably end up shipping them off to hogfiddles if I can't get them open or something terrible and depressing happens again.

By the way, how much will he (or "you" if you're reading, hogfiddles) charge me for a rebuild if the diaphragm is in fact broken? I suspect I cannot afford it until I start my job

 

One way to check the condition of your diaphragms (once removed from the carb) is too hold it up to a strong light source and if any holes are present light will be visible.
I did this once when I was 1600 km away from home and found 6 pinholes in 1, 5 pinholes in another and 4 pinholes each, in the other 2. I repaired these holes with small patches made from a nitrile glove and RTV silicon gasket maker. "it takes about 24hrs for the RTV to set and thou this repair wont last forever it will get you out of trouble"
Oh... BTY in regard to point 8 above its my understanding that "Quickly closing slides" are the way to go for optium performance

 

CHECK your valve clearances and Cylinder compression if they arn't any good your wasting your time and money fixing things...........................

your slides should all drop fast when manualy lifted and dropped. there is a clunk test in the
The Information Overload Hour
or

IN THE CHURCH OF CLEAN
threads.
to under stand your carbs better read
THE SECRET LIFE OF CARBURETORS
TALKIN' TECH: Various thoughts on various issues
Your carbs like you've never seen them before!
http://www.xj4ever.com/inside your carbs.pdf

holes in diaphrams can be fixed with liquid electrical tape.
45 mpg is what you should be getting on a 550 seca , my maxim gets 50 mpg consistantly.
around 125 miles out I have to switch to RES because the bike starts to run "strange" ( lack of fuel flow)

you could buy a set of carbs on ebay for spare parts (diaphrams)
slow closing probaly means slow opening slides and could be most of your power loss problems above 2K rpm.
have you ohmed out your ignition system, Checked battery voltage drop when starting?

what do you mean by cold starts cold motor or cold out side
poor cold starts = enrichment circuit (choke)
1&5&6 point to pilot jet/mixture circuit need cleaning

I use berrymans B-12 Chemtool fuel treatment when I use somthing. I fuel up with Citgo gas 89 octane. Citgo claims It's Fuel is designed to keep fuel injectors and intake valves clean. So I do not feel the need for aditives after the first 500 miles of the season.
for gasoline regular is 87 oct next grade is 89 my side panel states all tests done with 91 octane fuel.
I just reread this entire thread

 

Psst ! Hey Joe, yeah you, look what I've got here - under my coat - it's called 'oil of snake' only 10 bucks an ounce, works wonders..

 

I had the same problem with one slide dropping straight down on my Virago. The issue was that Mikuni - in those BS34 carbs, at least - used plastic rivets to attach the diaphragms to the slides. On the one carb, the "peened" bottoms of the rivets had broken off, and the slide was no-longer connected to the diaphraghm. I repeened them with a soldering iron and, so far, so good. JB Weld would probably have been an option, too, as it is one of the few fuel-proof epoxies.

I have heard of people using liquid electrical tape to repair diaphragms, but I've also heard that it doesn't actually stand up to gasoline. Here's a link a guy put up where he tested a few things. His conclusion was that Gorilla Glue and nitrile gloves make a good repair solution: http://www.kawasakimotorcycle.org/f.../91930-carburetor-diaphragm-repair-works.html

 

Some Googling also brought this up - aftermarket diaphragms that apparently fit the BS-28 carburetors for about $20 a piece. I'd certainly recommend replacing all four if you go this route, since they make not behave exactly like the stock ones. (TK-63 is the replacement number). http://jbmindustries.com/YDLS.html

 

this is a link from the link from someone who did it for the xj 550 carbs. looked pretty smooth its a tutorial on doing it
http://www.caferacer.net/forum/tech...ragm-replacement-tutorial-mikuni-bs-28-a.html

nice find SQL