Just got a 82 Seca... Few issues I need help with!

Hey guys,


A couple days ago I got a 82 Seca. The bike seems alright, although there are a couple issues which prevent me from enjoying it right now...

First of all, the turn signals won't blink. The clicker seems to be working, as I put it on my 82 650 Maxim and they did blink there. What else should I be looking at?

Secondly, there are some idling issues there. I will somewhat idle with a little bit of choke on, but will die almost instantly when choke is off. The idle screw adjustments did not help, as then it will quickly rev up and not rev down. When I just got it, my first idea was to simply sync the carbs, but strangely enough all the bars showed 0 at idle. Rev it up a bit more, and they all got up a little bit and they were all even. Then I pulled the carbs, cleaned them up a bit, although they were quite clean and all passages were okay. Next was the colortune - there was absolutely no flame in the first cylinder, and idle mixture screw had no effect. There was flame in the rest, although mixture screw did not really have any significant effect. Any ideas what to look at next? Thanks!

 

The first thing I would do is check why the one cylinder isnt firing, Swap the plug see if it still doesnt fire, Then the next thing I would do swap the coils from side to side and see if that cylinder fires then. Can you get spark at all from the bad sylinder even if you pull the plug and lay it on the cylinder?

If you are getting spark maybe no fuel in that cylinder. I wil tell you I pulled my carbs 6 times before I got then right. Someone wrote on here when you thing you got them clean go back and clean them again. Which I did. Do the clunk test, I thouhgt my diaphram plunger was clean enough but the third time was a charm.

Get the cylinder firing first (spark). If you got spark go for fuel issue,

 

I have the spark there - I can see it well with the colortune. However, there is no flame from the fuel, and it appears only once in a while. It does, however, reappear at higher revs.

It seems like I'm not getting the fuel there, but I can't really think of a reason. Pulled the carbs, clunk test was okay, all the passages seemed clean.

 

If they seemed clean then they might not be clean. These bikes are touchy with their carbs. You have to take EVERYTHING apart when you clean them. If you spent less than 8 hrs on cleaning them chances are you didn't get everything. Either that or you rushed through it. Either way you probley missed something. Sorry not trying to gripe on you to much or insinuate you didn't do those things. Could be your fuel passage is pluged to that carb. I have seen quite a few carbs that looked clean until you break the rack and the fuel passages are filled with gunk.

 

Every single time I have hear the same story you are telling; the problem turned-out to Manifold Vacuum Leak.

Before you do any Fine Tuning ... The Carbs NEED to be is Sync.
Not just because the Engine runs better when the Carbs are Synced.
BUT, <--- That's a Big But, ... to PROVE the Carbs CAN be Synced.

If you are under the impression that 1982 Bike won't have a Air Leak problem ... think again.

The Intake Manifolds are Sealed against Air Leak by a Rubber O-Ring.
The O-Rings break down with age.
They LEAK when the Manifold Vacuum is Present ruining the Air~Fuel Ratio and, ... if severe enough ... shutting-down the Hole from getting any gas from the Carb.

Get a Vacuum Gauge and make a restrictor.
Do a Manifold Vacuum Pull Test across all four Manifolds with the Throttles FULLY Shut - or the Manifold capped and taped.
If there is quite a disparity, ... you need to SEAL the Air Leak.

On an AIR Leak of the Intake Manifold where the Manifold meets the Head.
Seal around the Manifold.

Don't RISK ruining your Summer by trying to Loosen a SEIZED Manifold Bolt.
Just run a BEAD all-around the Manifold with a High-Temp Sealant and TUCK
the Bead into the space between the Manifold and Head.

Mask it with tape to not make a mess of it and ZIP the tape OFF ... BEFORE the Sealant hardens-up.

 

Won't the YICS passage invalidate this immediately? This is a YICS engine.

Will the YICS blanking tool seal vacuum reliably enough between ports?

Doc, for clarity, which SECA is this? 650, 750,...?

Do the turn signals light but not flash, or do they stay off? If they light but don't flash, then you probably have the wrong bulbs in them. If they don't light, then you should try disconnecting the canceller unit (relay-like box connected to the flasher module by the Y/G wire).

Let us know what you find on that.

Cheers,
Paul

 

Thanks! Well, this was one of my thoughts initially as well... Would this explain why I was not able to sync them? Like I described previously, I tried to use the carb tune sync tool, but the weights simply would not even lift up at idle! Anyway, I'll try to take them off tomorrow. What kind of sealant do you suggest to use?

Also, what can I do about the non-blinking turn signals?

 

Thanks for the reply!

This is a 750 Seca. I thought this was the only way they came in!

Anyway, the turn signal will go on, but won't flash. Is does that mean its wrong bulbs?

 

If both front and rear are lighting, then yes, either the wrong bulbs, or the voltage from your electrical system is a bit low.

The bulbs should be 27W 1156's.

They should flash if the battery's providing 12V or more.

It is also possible that oxidation in your turn signal switch, connectors, or (most likely) the stock fuse box clips, is causing a voltage drop that's not allowing the flasher to get enough voltage to operate properly.

If you still have glass fuses in the plastic fuse box under the seat, one of your first projects should be to swap that with a blade-style fuse box like those Chacal has available. The stock fuse boxes are a huge problem. The clips oxidize, then get brittle and snap off when you try to tighten them.

Because of these various problems, there are a number of people on this site that have XJ's where the turn signals won't flash unless the bike is revved a bit above idle. That is not the correct behavior, but it's not uncommon.

Cheers,
Paul

 

By the way, Carbtune can be used "right side up" or "upside down".

Regardless, is MUST be hanging vertically by its lanyard and clip in order to give useful information.

If you're not getting enough vacuum with it "right side up", unclip the lanyard and attach it at the other end so that the gauge bars are hanging down. That will increase its sensitivity to low levels of vacuum and allow you to see the synch state of the carbs.

 

Yes. I forgot about need to insert the YICS Tool or otherwise close-off the YICS Passage.

Thanks SQLGuy.

 

Thanks for all your replies guys.

I'll look into trying to seal off the maniforlds tomorrow. Also, I had no idea that carbtune could be used upside down - for all other XJ's I've used it on it would work very well with the right side up, while this Seca does not seem to exert enough vacuum to lift up the weights.

 

do you live in Pigeon, MI by any chance?

 

DW, behave.

lithdoc please add your bike info to your signature and put your location in your profile; it makes it easier for us to answer your questions without having to ask a bunch.

Secas came in 400, 550 ('81-'83) and 650 ('82) and 900 ('83) as well as the 750s here in the states; the 750 was around longest but they came in every size.

 

Okay guys, I have some progress to report. First of all, I updated my signature with all my beloved Yamahas.

Anyway, I took off the manifolds - they were barely screwed in and several of them could have probably gotten unscrewed by hand! I took some silicone gasket maker, put plenty of that on all of them and now it seems to be tight. Unfortunately, I don't have vacuum gauge to test them but I can say this - all four exhaust pipes are now hot at idle, which was not the case before!

On the not-so-good side, I still cannot get the idle. I synced the carbs, but same issue still persists - even though I will get it to idle at around 1025, when revved up it will have a hard time revving down, and often shut down after returning to baseline. What are other things I could look at?

Also, I have not yet been able to solve the not flashing turn signal issue. I have noticed that it will start flashing when revved up, but I'm yet to spend more time on it.

Thanks!

 

Check the Length of your Alternator Brushes.

You might not be making enough power to keep everything going.
They need to be 11mm or not below the wear marker.

You could be close after finding the Manifolds loose.

 

Thanks! I'll read how to do it and try to look for it.

Meanwhile, would an out-of-setting mixture screws cause anything like this? Unfortunately, this did not come with brass plus which would probably ensure a proper mix.