Just bought my first bike..

So I'm new here, and I just bought my first bike, a 1981 Yamaha Midnight Maxim 650 (I actually traded for it, and so far have under $100 in parts into it).

So the bike has just over 16,500 miles and had been sitting for an extended period with the previous owner (exact time unknown). Here is a breakdown of the problems that it had when I received the bike:

-Left Turn Signals nonfunctional, all bulbs good, right signals functioned perfectly
-Horn nonfunctional
-Did not start without quick start spray
-Mirrors broken/missing
-No battery
-Engine ticking
-Front brake seized
-Seat torn at seams

Here is what I have done so far in the past three days since I have taken posession:

-New battery installed and charged
-Turn signals fixed (just had to re-solder one wire)
-Bled front brakes and lubricated grease fittings
-Determined electric horn unit needs replaced
-Cleared fuel lines (engine now starts easily)
-Did an oil change with Yamaha 10W80 oil as recommended by my local Yamaha dealer

So after spending <$100, I am left with the following engine issues to contend with:
-Severe ticking coming from upper part of engine (sounds like valves)
-Clutch does not disengage completely
-Oil leak from sheared-off bolt in bottom of crankcase at driveshaft (slow drip, leaves a wet spot on pavement after ~10 minutes)


Also, a brief history of the bike as told by the previous owner:
Bike starts with quickstart, Valve Tick needs addressed. It has 16,500 original miles, which means it has sat a while (10,000 new miles since 1994). The bike has been garaged for the past few months, I am unaware of the storage conditions prior to then.

Now I plan on using this as my daily driver. I live in NJ and have an atrocious driving record, making my car insurance rates on average $4000/annually. This is the primary reason I purchased this bike, it is cheap to insure and it was practically free. I will be using this as a daily driver year-round, so I want to make sure I take proper care of it to extend its life as long as possible.

My biggest concern is about the engine ticking. The previous owner told me he thought it was a valve tick. After doing some research on this fine forum, I have come across a few diagnoses including valve tick, loose exhaust pipes, worn/destroyed gaskets, and a loose timing chain. I managed to loosen the valve cover but I was unable to remove it completely with the engine still in the bike.
1. Do I have to remove the engine/transmission from the bike to service the valves/valve covers/timing chain
2. If it is not the valves/timing chain, what is it likely to be
3. What other maintenance should I perform (aside from the mirrors, brakes, etc) before using this as a daily rider?

I appreciate everyone's input and time in helping me get on my feet as a new rider. I have a decent understanding of car engines (working on a Toyota Sienna valve cleaning due to a design flaw that is now out of the lawsuit's timeframe) but have limited time to work on the Maxim (the next five days working around the Sienna's repairs and Thanksgiving events). I do plan on ordering the repair manual as soon as possible, likely tomorrow.

 

Welcome to the forums, can't help with the valve cover and valves but seems to me that it is possible to remove the cover with motor still in frame. Be sure to check the rear brakes, the pad material tends to separate from the shoes when setting up for a extended time.

 

I didn't think about the rear brakes going bad, thank you for the tip. I was able to find a full, detailed tutorial http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=1 ... +tool.html which goes over the entire process of valve shim maintenance. With any luck tomorrow I will be able to get the bike up to full potential tomorrow! A trip to the DMV and two trips to the parts store should do the trick!

 

WELCOME from TN!!! Just can't see not being able to remove valve cover without going through all that...

skillet
BTW If your driving record is THAT bad in a car, be REAL careful on 2 wheels :wink: ...

 

You can remove the valve cover with the engine in the bike.

You may have to remove things like horns or relays to gain clearance; but valve adjustment is a regularly-scheduled maintenance procedure and it doesn't require pulling the mill.

I'm concerned about "lubricated grease fittings." Exactly what grease fittings are you referring to?

I'm also hoping "10W80" was a typo, that's not the correct oil if it isn't.

A "valve tick" can quite often be an exhaust leak at the head/pipe junction.

 

I went to my local Honda Yamaha dealer (Deptford Honda Yamaha) and explained my experience level and situation, and they told me which oil and filter to purchase. If it was 10W80, what are the consequences of leaving the oil in the engine?

The Lubricated grease fitting I am talking about is only a grease fitting on the front brake caliper that allows the caliper free motion to loosen/evenly tighten on the front brake. It was the only grease fitting present on the bike and it made a huge difference in brake performance after I topped off and bled the front brake with DOT3 Brake Fluid.

When I pulled the valve cover off, the gasket was clearly damaged (half stuck to the valve cover, the other half stuck to the engine). If the engine tick is coming from an exhaust leak, can I use the 'wet towel' method to confirm this? (Wrap a wet towel around the exhaust pipes and see if the tick goes away)

 

10W80 is WAY too heavy; your bike calls for 20W40 (10W30 in cold weather) but 20W50 is an acceptable substitute. You can leave pretty much any oil in there, but I wouldn't run the motor on it.

Gotcha. Didn't realize the Maxim's pivot pin had a grease fitting.

Since you've got the valve cover off, probably best to start by checking the valve clearances.

Is this a YICS motor or no?

 

I just checked the oil bottle and it is 10W40 that I purchased and is currently in the bike.

I am going to head out to Advance shortly to rent the tools to measure/check/replace the valve shims. If I am correct, these are 29mm diameter valves so I should be able to purchase 29mm shims from any auto parts store. Please correct me if I am wrong here.

This motor is NOT a YICS motor as far as I can tell. I did not see 'YICS' on the valve cover or on any of the other engine/frame components.

Also looking for a low cost supplier of accessories such as mirrors. The Yamaha dealer has them for $20-200 per mirror, is $20/ea about the best I can do, or are there other parts supplies I can go to for such parts?

Also if the dealer does not have a new valve cover gasket in stock, can I buy one of those tubes of engine caulk designed for sealing engine components? In the past I used a similar product to put a new seal on the water pump in a '97 Ford Escort.

 

-good. Switch to 20W50 in the summer, you'll be fine.

-you stand corrected. Yamaha shop maybe, auto parts highly unlikely. Doubtful they will have the shim tool as well.

-ok, good to know going forward.

-eBay is the best "supplier" of low-cost accesories; I personally went thru a couple sets of low-cost replacement mirrors (they wouldn't hold adjustment at highway speed) before I ended up with some decent ones.

-I wouldn't. Get the proper gasket or you'll be sorry, trust me.

Discover our resident parts source: click the banner icon for XJ4Ever at the top of the webpage.

 

This will be my daily driver year-round for the time being (I can't afford car insurance or gas prices), so is there any extra maintenance care or oil recommendations I should be aware of?

I called around and Autozone claims to have a shim measurement tool I can rent. They claim to have a tool that will do what I need, so I am picking it up shortly.

I normally would use eBay, but for right now I just need something to get me up and running in terms of mirrors. Down the road I do plan on doing a complete overhaul of the bike including rust removal, full cleaning, new paint, trim, mirrors, eventually saddle bags, etc. to make the bike look better and offer me more storage/functionality.

I put in a call to the dealer, just waiting to see if they have the parts in stock that I need. Hopefully they will have exactly what I need and I'll be able to get up and running by the end of the day.

I will certainly check out the XJ4Ever, I very much value knowledgeable owners' opinions and a community willing to help each other.

 

Measuring the valve clearance is done with a feeler gauge, but if the shim is out of spec, then you have to hold the valve open to remove it. The "tool" is just a small peice of metal that bolts to the engine through the valve cover bolt holes and holds the valve shim bucket down when cam rotates away from it. The shape of the tool follows the rounded part of the cam. Alternately, people also use something to hold open the valve, through the spark plug hole. Either way is a pain, and if you're ordering parts through chacal, the tool is cheap.

Chacal (XJ4ever) will get you parts in two days (he's based in Georgia, and I lived in MA when getting most of my parts). He's full of info and very responsive. Send him a PM. You'll be plesantly surprised.

 

Welcome! My first bit of advice is to get enrolled in a rider safety course. Given your history, you NEED to start off right on a bike, your life depends upon it. No sense throwing money at a bike and then getting knocked off on it.
BigFitz is spot on with the words of wisdom, you would do well to heed them.
I am anxious to see photos of your recent aqcuisition, post some when you can!
Enjoy your bike, it is a sound and reliable piece of engineering that we all love (and even hate at times).

 

You can always find cheap accessaries at JCWhitney.com, BikeBandit.com or J&PCycles.com. But like FITZ said some cheap mirrors will not hold adjustments in the wind.

 

What is the technique holding the valves open through the spark plug hole? I am trying to get this done as much as I can today since I would like to have the bike on the road by the weekend (and Thanksgiving means one day I won't be able to pick up parts) and I really don't want to have to pull the heads to get to the valve shims.

 

Go to the Intro page. Click on XJ FAQ Suggestions. Go to the post Airhead Valve Adjustment with pics. (by BigFitz). That is a how-to with pics. It's GREAT. Chacal has the shims for $8.50 (I think) apiece. The Yamaha shop in my town wanted 8O $22.50 8O and then couldn't get all sizes!!!

skillet
BTW there is a pic of the tool you need

 

So it looks like I will be able to do the valves no problem (I found the zip tie method in the spark plug holes).

Today I got the bike insured (half the price as what I thought it would be) and went down to DMV to register it. It seems like I will have more problems at the NJ DMV than I will have doing the valves and carbs.

Here's a bit of history on the title/ownership history of the bike:

The title in my hand was issued in 1994 to a guy in PA. Since that point, it has been signed by the previous owner and sold to a few different owners without registering over the past few years. At some point, one of the purchasers wrote their name in the 'buyer' line. Hoping to be able to register the bike anyway, I put my name and information in the 'co-owner's information' section of the title. Once I arrived at the DMV, applied for a motorcycle permit and filled out ALL their paperwork to register the bike, I was turned down because the title was 'altered' as described above.

I contacted the previous owner who informed me he no longer has the contact information for the person he got the bike from. I did a phone number look-up on the previous owner as listed on the front of the title (a long-shot, I know) with little success.

So for anyone who has had to deal with the DMV (specifically NJ and PA DMV's), does anyone have any advice for me? I am about to try to remove the ink with acetone or nail polish remover, hopefully it'll be the trick that'll work.

 

Seems to me that would be worse, might could get into trouble for altering. Depends on how good your skills are, if you get away with it we could do some business together. :lol: Just kidding of coarse.

 

So title aside, I have another issue I keep forgetting about until it makes itself unpleasantly (and dangerously) noticeable.

When I leave the bike fully assembled to sit (say, for the three hours I was gone today attempting to register it), there is a prominent leak from around Carb #3. This is assuming that I leave the tank set to 'primary' while I am gone. As it is configured, the main fuel line runs from the tank's main output (the larger hose) to the fuel baths. The aux line (the smaller line) runs directly into the rubber boot between the carb and engine cylinder on carb/cylinder #3.

So I have a few questions in relation to this:

1. Am I supposed to turn the fuel tank off whenever the bike is sitting (whenever I am not actively running the engine)?

2. Is the aux fuel line hooked up to the correct spot, and if not where should it be run?

3. The carbs were cleaned just recently by the previous owner. The bike starts no problem when fully assembled. Do I really need to clean the carbs again, or is the fuel leak independent completely?

At this point the only thing left to do for me is to gap the valves and fix this fuel leak and the bike will be fully functional. It will need new tires soon and I will probably change out the brakes within the next month or so, but I want to be sure I get it mechanically sound before continuing with the legal issues.

 

So after a long day of work on the Maxim, I have had rather successful results before the holiday weekend. As I said in my first post, there were a number of problems with my bike before I started working on it.

Work I've done to date:
-Replaced horn
-Re-soldered wires in turn signal control, fixed Left signals
-Replaced broken mirrors
-Oil change
-Greased/cleaned front brakes
-Installed battery
-Insured bike
-Checked valve clearances
-Got NJ Motorcycle permit

Work to still be done:
-Register bike (having some trouble with the title)
-Replace three valve shims
-Remove sheared off final drive oil bolt and replace
-Fix fuel leak from smaller line from gas tank

So it's been a rather successful few days since I bought the bike. Once I get a chance to order the parts I'll finish it and hopefully have it running and on the road early next week!

 

Bass--never leave the petcock in the "prime" position. This allows the fuel to run freely to the carbs, even when the bike is not running. This, in turn, could lead to large quantities of fuel leaking in to the crankcase, especially if one or more of your carbs has a sticky float. Before you run the bike again, make sure there's no gas in the case.
As far as your "leaking carb" goes, that could be any number of things. It may not even be a carb leak at all. It could be fuel running down the hose from the petcock and collecting at the point where you can see it. This would be my prime suspect, given that you said you only noticed the leak when the petcock was left on prime, and the bike had been sitting for a while.

 

I believe the small line your talking about is a vacum hose that is supposed to help vent the petcock. If you added the inline shutoff, gas will flow thru to the 3rd carb (had the same problem but forgot to mention). I had to close off that line with closed nipple hoses on the 3rd carb manifold boot and on the back of the petcock.

 

The little hose doesn't "vent" the petcock, it is the vacuum line that operates the petcock.

The petcock should automatically be off when in ON or RES, if the motor isn't running. PRI is just simply on all the time, ON and RES are vacuum controlled. IF the petcock is operating correctly.

If a carb is flooding when the petcock is on PRI then there is a problem with that carb's float valve.

If there is fuel in the small line from the petcock then the petcock has a diaphragm issue.

When everything is working correctly you can leave the bike in PRI for hours (not recommended) and the floats will keep the flow of fuel shut off.

 

Everything you never wanted to know about the Yamaha vacuum-operated petcock: http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/p=2 ... tml#213052

 

Honestly, you might want to wait to put more money into the bike until you get the title sorted out in a state that requires one. Unless you expect it to be a show piece :roll: , there's little sense putting lots of money into a bike that you can't even register.

Maybe you can get the original title holder to get a duplicate title that can be signed over to you? There's always title services too. Talk to your DMV and see if there are other options.

 

So tomorrow I am going to the DMV to try and get the bike registered again. I did find the titled owner's address and phone number, so I plan on contacting him tomorrow to see if he will agree to sign a notarized bill of sale to me so that the NJ DMV has proof that I legally purchased the bike. Hopefully he will be understanding, and luckily he only lives about 35 miles from me (still in PA).

If all goes well, tomorrow I will be able to get all of this taken care of and the bike will be registered legally! I also read through the Motorcycle manual and tomorrow I'll be taking my written test to validate my permit.

Once that takes place, I can fix the valve shims and be on the road! Wish me luck all!

Also on a side note, I did figure out the fuel leak issue. I had the tank set to 'prime' and I believe the floats in the 3rd carb are sticking, so I just switched the fuel line to ON and checked the functionality of the petcock (it works perfectly, no rebuild needed). I drained the old gas out of the tank and plan on filling it with fresh gas when I get the bike on the road. Eventually I'll fix the carb issue, though it seems to be okay as long as I don't have the valve set to 'prime'.

 

The Maxim is Registered and on the road!

It was stupid how easy it was to get the bike registered in NJ. After all the trouble I went through at my local DMV, I decided to play it as safe as possible. I wrote up a notarized statement of how I obtained the bike, took pictures, a VIN rubbing, printed out about 5 different forms from the DMV website, loaded the bike into the back of a truck and drove it up to Trenton to the DMV there, expecting a major ordeal. When we got to the DMV in Trenton, it was stupid how easily I got it registered. The clerk took the title, looked at my name not caring that I had erased the watermark on the back of the title, and printed out a new title for me. She didn't charge me extra for it being dated for October 8th, and I was in and out in 30 minutes, including the 25 minute wait in line.

So now I have been riding it for the past few days, and I have run into one problem. The bike does not want to start when cold. Cylinders 1-3 do not fire (cylinder 4's exhaust gets warm as 1-3 are still ice cold - today I woke to a layer of frost on my seat, mirrors and tank). It took me over an hour to get the engine to turn over and start with the assistance of a car battery, jumper cables, and a 12V automotive battery charger. The first thing I did was take the bike to the nearest auto parts store and pick up a can of aerosol carb cleaner, which I was able to use to get the bike started after I got off work. I just put in new spark plugs, but did not replace the wires and still have not completely disassembled the carbs to clean them.
I also purchased two bottles of carb cleaner that goes in the gas tank (each one designed to treat 25 gallons of gas) and put about 1/3 bottle in a full tank of gas to help clear any blockages.
Once I get the engine running, if I rev it up to around 4.5k RPMs I can get it to stay running smoothly, with the idle set at around 1300rpms.

Now I won't have a chance to really pull the carbs and rebuild them for a few days at a minimum. I am hoping that the gas treatment will help clean the carbs enough to clear any mild blockages.

Also, I will have pictures of the bike coming up soon. To date, I have put less than $400 and an HPI nitro R/C car and have gotten it running, registered, and insured. Overall, I think this was a great investment despite the cold weather.

PS: I have been layering up like crazy to cut the cold: Thermal underwear, Jeans, TShirt, Long sleeve shirt, waterproof pants (to cut the wind), a light jacket, a pleather jacket, a snowmobile suit, gloves, boots, and a scarf do a great job. Yesterday I rode it approximately 50 miles straight from my parents' house where I was working on it to my current residence, and the clothing kept me fairly warm. Unfortunately tomorrow night's forecast is rain, so I'll be getting a ride from a friend to work, but it feels good to have transportation again.

 

Congrats on getting it legal!! I know that's a big weight off your shoulders. I'll let the resident guru's comment on the mechancial ills but it sounds like pretty minor stuff.

I ride year round so layer up, wear a wool scarf around your neck and think about some windguards for your hands and you'll be set.

jeff

 

But it's NOT "ok." You just can't see it. It doesn't pee on the floor BUT there is still a sticky/stuck float, so it's dumping fuel anytime the petcock is flowing, which is now only when the motor's running (if the petcock is in the "on" position.)

But it's still dumping fuel. Into the motor, which will throw off how it runs, and can still lead to fuel in the crankcase as well.

Until you actually fix the carbs, make sure you monitor your oil level for a sudden rise; and periodically give it the "sniff test" to be sure you aren't running an increasingly fuel-diluted oil mix in your motor.

No sense blowing it up after going through all the hassles.

 

Thanks for the heads up. I will keep a close eye on it and my fuel efficiency. I won't be riding tomorrow due to inclement weather, so perhaps tonight I'll take the carbs off and rebuild them tomorrow.