Maxim 550 starts, then dies immediately and won't start again

Hi everyone,
I bought an '82 Maxim 550 (XJ550J) and it was running fine during the test drive. The PO overfilled the oil, but I assumed that it would drip out of the crank breather and be fine (my first mistake). After handing over the cash, I drive away with it, and pull over after ~10 miles to check directions. At this point, the bike dies and won't start. It also is now low on oil, though I don't imagine that would impact starting too heavily? I cranked it over quite a few times, so the battery was likely low when I left it in a parking lot. I picked it up today and got it home. It has a foam filter, which I cleaned up. I also made sure to clean up the airbox. The spark plugs look fine, some carbon deposits but nothing too major. I started it once, and it caught and ran for about a second and then died - after that, the battery was too dead to turn over the engine properly. At this point, the battery is very dead, so I tried jumping it with my friend's car. The bike turned over, ran for about a second, then died and won't start up again. I have at least a half tank of gas, so that's not the issue.
My list of potential culprits is:
- Spark plugs, maybe they are worse than they look?
- Battery, might not have enough charge to keep the bike running? This doesn't make too much sense to me though, the bike was hooked up to the car battery when it started up for those two glorious seconds
- Carbs, perhaps oil sucked through the crankcase vent hose settled into the jets while it was sitting in the lot?
- Petcock, though this seems unlikely given that the bike was running fine before it quit, and it quit after I pulled over - the engine wasn't having fuel issues before that.
If anyone has had this problem and could help, that would be great. Thanks everyone. The bike was a great time while it was running, and I'd love to get it back on the road.

 

From recent experience.....check the voltage to your TCI, below about 10v it will not have spark, but will still turn over strongly....and, as I understand it, you can fry the TCI if you are not careful jumping it from another vehicles battery.....

 

Thanks, hopefully I didn't fry anything too sensitive. I'll try a new battery this weekend and see if that makes a difference. Any idea on where to get a new TCI if it is burnt out? Junkyard?

 

Buy a new battery..recommend AMG battery no messy electolyte ...yes cost more but has better cranking ability . I paid like 89$ from batteries plus a great investment . Jumping a battery that is already ran down will not cut it ...your TCI will not function correctly bike will crank but weak spark.

 

tcis do not fail that often.
first get a new battery then check your charging system then ohm out your ignition system.
you may be able to pick up a tci on this site

turn petcock to prime if you suspect a bad petcock

read this link for relay function and location, specks on charging system and ignition system.

The Ultimate Relay, Switch, Sensor, and Diodes Guide

find your oil leak look into your airfilter it may be full of oil

 

you are checking oil on centerstand correct? NOT SIDESTAND

 

Perfect, I plan to get a new battery today after work and try that out. My oil filter was pretty oily, I cleaned it out and cleaned the foam filter. I tried turning it to prime, so the petcock must not be the issue - some good news at least. And yes, centerstand on a level surface, so I'm fairly confident that the reading is correct. Thanks for all your help! I'll update once the new battery is in.

 

I hope your oil filter is oily

 

Whoops, I meant the air box! Had some oil in there, cleaned it out now.

Bad news, I replaced the battery and the same thing is happening... Still turns over strong, almost catches once, then dies and won't catch any more. Any ideas on next step, TCI perhaps? Is there a way to test my TCI before I replace it? Thanks everyone.

 

Also, if it helps - the car was not running when I jumped the bike from it. Not sure if this makes a difference so far as the TCI goes, but thought I'd mention it if it did.

 

best way to test it is in another bike you could send it to a member who has a 550 and they can take it for a ride on their bike.
car not running is the way to jump start your bike..

have you checked your valve clearences?
do a compression test.
do you still have original glass fuse holders? you could replace it with a new fuse box or just use inline flat blade fuse holders. and start by replacing ignition fuse..
have you ohmed out your ignition system yet?
that would be the ignition coil packs ,primary and spark plug wires , pickup coils and sparkplug caps

try starting it without the air filter and if it starts you should just replace the filter with stock paper one

it is time to check out the systems of your bike.
is vacuum hose connected?

also are you using choke when starting the bike?

 

So after days of fiddling with the electronics and telling myself it wasn't the carbs, because the bike ran fine before...

It was the carbs.

The good news is, they're clean now and the bike runs like a champ. Thanks to everyone that helped, this is a great forum! At the very least I learned more than I ever thought I would about the bike's electrical system, which I'm sure will come in handy.