New to me 1982 XJ550J has an underside oil leak

Hi everyone, I my names Anthony and I'm new to the forum.

About a month ago I got licensed and picked up my first bike, a 1982 XJ550J Maxim that looked to be in excellent shape. The previous owner had it for around 15 years and had worked on it extensively, having also picked up another 550 to swap engines and have spare parts. This engine has 19k miles on it, and the P/O said that the motorcycle has been sitting garaged for a couple of years.

I figured this would be great to learn how to ride on as well as do some repairs and modifications. Well, now the repairs must start.

I've put about 300 miles on, without any issue other than it needing a new battery, in mostly short cruises and commutes. I've now discovered an oil leak that's been forming on the bottom of the engine. Apparently the oil has been slowly working its way down to the kickstand, and today was the first time I was prompted to take a look.

Attached are photos (i.imgur . com/8RRpSGm.jpg & i.imgur . com/TrQumln.jpg in case it doesn't work) of the underside. For placement, you're looking at the spring of the kickstand in the top left of photo one, and the front of the engine on the second one.

Any advise on what's going on or where to start?

 

Congrats on the new ride. Many will tell you, and from experience I will agree, that you should not trust how the bike was maintained. Check the braking system first (I still have old lines, but will replace them this winter - possibly sooner), then the carbs, tires, and drum brakes in the back. A bike that can go is worthless if it cannot stop. There is a tremendous amount of information here and folks are incredibly willing to help you out (I would give up without these folks). Search the forums for tips and you will find an incredible amount of information.

 

To me, the stuff on the front looks like your average road gunk.

The stuff leaking down the kickstand looks pretty fresh though. sometimes if you're a little too liberal with the chain oil, some will come out of there since the front sprocket is right behind that plate for the shifter. But since the bike has been sitting, I doubt that. It's time to diagnose! Clean the crud out of everything, and see for yourself where the leak is coming from. Timing cover? Shifter oil seal? Countershaft seal? Could be anything.

I fully agree with the above post. While the weather has been awesome and you wanna ride, the necessary steps are required to do it safely. Brakes are a good place to start. And then valves and carbs.

One step at a time. We're here to help.

 

Oil is clean that's good. Could be coming from the sump drain plug or maybe the filter housing and running back as you ride. Clean it off with some degreaser and a rag and run up the engine stationary then lie on you back and watch..

 

oil could be from filter housing over torqued, oil level sensor o ring , shifter seal, front sprocket seal, drain bolt crush washer or tach seals.
do you see any oil above the filter?
do you oil your chain regularly could be the excess flowing off at kick stand.
where to start.
did you replace large the oring in the filter housing > I would suggest that you put a thin bead of rtv sealer around the housing where it mates to motor first and torque it properly.
then remove the shifter side cover and see how much oil is there . remove the left front foot peg, then shifter lever then the shifter side cover 2 seals under cover.
next time you change oil remove oil level sensor and replace oring and crush washer for drain plug.

if oil is above filter replace the 2 tach seals

do you have a factory service manual

 

Certainly. I've been browsing the old threads here and definitely want to work on the drum brake as well as replace the lines to being with.


Thank you all, looks like a great place to start!

I don't have an FSM yet, but I'll definitely be getting one (or more) asap. Do you have a recommendation for which ones to get?

 

give me a few minutes i will upload one that you can down load it has 2 fs manuals one has the maxim supplement
also has carb mikuni rebuild book .
seca parts catalog and maxim owners manual

look in your in box for the link

anyone else want this info? it is for xj 550 maxim and seca.
just ask.

 

Get both books and cross reference them. Clymer and FSM. Each one has little details that the other might be missing. I relied heavily on the FSM book for the fork rebuild since the pics in the Clymer didn't work for me. But the Clymer's section on electrical is phenomenal.

 

EXCEPT the coil check section..

 

Touche. I used the Information Overload Hour for my coil check

 

Haynes is preferable to Clymer in my opinion. All three are good to have though.

 

Got around to changing the oil. Definitely needed it and I should have done it first thing—but I was too excited. P/O put a hard plastic washer in lieu of the standard crush gasket, and the oil plug worked its way to nearly finger tight as a result. New wix filter and gaskets installed too. Looks like that solved the oil leak.

Which leads me to another problem: when the engine is warm, if I shut the bike off and come back to it before it's cold, I can't easily get it to start. I'll be hearing some solid cranks (the battery is brand new), but no compression until about the 4th time, giving it throttle each time.

This happened during my first major outing each time I stopped for a quick break (5-30 minutes in some cases). Today I pulled up to a light and didn't flip to reserve before the main tank ran out, killing the engine, and leaving me trying to get it to start as the light turned green with cars behind me.

Looking through previous threads didn't get me anywhere conclusive (quite a few even said they lived with it), so does anyone have any idea what's going on here?

 

There's a large rubber gasket in the gas cap. Open the cap and see if it deteriorated.

Gary H.

 

Have you checked valve clearances? This can affect starting.

Mine catches cold or warm without any throttle. Have you tried starting without choke and no throttle when warm?

 

+1 on valve clearances. Add to that fuel mixture and carb synch.

 

Gas cap doesn't look too bad, small micro-cracks in the gasket.

I have tried to start with and without choke, and without throttle. Also I tried to start in prime before flipping to reserve this morning but nothing changed each time.

I figured that valve clearances would be a good starting point based on prior threads. I found the write up on the process here and think I can handle it.

 

you should not need or use the throttle to start bike

 

Right, it starts cold every time without any issues whatsoever. Only when the engine is warm I have to crank it.

 

Shouldn't have to at all...ever (or at least very, very rarely).