Newbie

Hello everyone,

I recently just bought my first motorcycle the '82 xj550 maxim. It is stunning and I've gotten my permit and taken it on the road. I love riding it and put on about 50 miles at this point. I am not familiar with motorcycles at all, but knowing its an old piece of junk I want to learn everything there is to know about it. I've scanned the manual several times and changed the oil thus far along with the housing (stripped the old one that's another story).

I got the bike on marketplace and seemingly good condition. The front brakes are good tires good guy said spark plugs were updated 3 mo ago.

HOWEVER,
Took it on the road yesterday. Started billowing white smoke in idle from the left side. Now theres black smoke coming from the top of the engine and the bike wont start. Hearing a gunshot like sound from the exhaust when trying. Also when It would start I really had to to pull the clutch and this would result in the bike high RPMing and I would have to release the clutch over the course of 5 min or it would stop if I did too early.

Now I really dont want to take this to a mechanic because I should know everything about this bike and how to fix it to even feel safe riding it. I was looking up videos several forums, seems like spark plug and carburetor cleaning maybe? Any tips to diagnose what is going on would be much appreciated. Thanks!!

 

Check your oil level an do an oil change.
See if the old oil is polluted with water or fuel,

Oil can come through the piston rings and be burnt and also be sucked into the cylinders via the the valve stem seals and be burnt. Both produce the blue/black smoke.

Oil on the headers, a leak, would create the same on top of the engine. (Leaking rocker cover gasket or head gasket.) Pressure clean the engine and check for leaks.

The white smoke may be water in fuel or oil being burnt or obviously just water in the exhaust turning to steam.

Backfiring is caused from fuel ending up in the exhaust system and it ignites when the exhaust is expelled. Too rich and or other issues.

3 issues. Start with one at a time. Check the oil.

 

Thank you kindly

 

How much oil did you put in? As cds1984 stated it can get up past the piston rings which is more likely if you overfilled the engine. Did you change the oil before or after you put the 50 miles on the machine? Remove your spark plugs and look at the colour of the electrodes. And we have all learned much from so called pieces of junk. Those XJ's are tough old motors. Most problems are caused by dirty carburettors on these machines assuming the ignition system is working properly. What is the air filter like, any mouse nests in there .

 

Depending on the temperature you can have some condensation inside the exhaust and that can cause white smoke well water vapour boiling off.

 

I put 2 quarts prior to driving. I'll take a look at the spark plugs today. Air filter appears to be okay

 

What was the oil like you took out? Dirty and or smelling of fuel for example?

 

It was very dirty but no odd smell nothing like that

 

That's good news. While you're at it you should do the final drive gear oil as well.

 

Two quarts? Half a gallon. Hmmm, where did you get that measure from? I'm not familiar with the 550, but that doesn't sound right?
When you change the oil you drain the whole lot, put the plug back in and refill. That way you have a chance to get near the recommended correct level, and change ALL of the lubricant...

 

Wait, sorry. I'm a bonehead. 550 is chain drive not shaft, so there is no final drive gear.

 

The 550 requires 2.6 quarts

 

I just bought myself a 1982 550 Maxim too. I don't have any advice to give because I'm also trying to learn. I haven't even got mine to start yet. The starter switch is messed up. I'm waiting on my Clymer manual to get here before I start tearing things apart. The bike was rode last summer, so I'm hoping it doesn't need a lot. The previous owner said the carbs needed to be adjusted. He had just done a rebuild on them, fresh oil change, newer chain, tires look good. I'm thinking it needs brake work though since it had no front brakes when I was unloading it from the trailer. Not sure about the back brakes yet. I can hardly wait to ride.

 

Where does this black wire go? There's 2 on the red (positive) the black (negative) then this ground wire. Does it go on the frame shown in the second picture?

 

We got that straightened out in our messsging yep….. I’m here, too

For those who can’t see “the whole picture”, the black wire on the right is the ground, and on the left—the top wire coming off of the starter solenoid is the wire to the battery positive terminal. The thing that confuses a lot of people is that on many of the 550’s and on some others), the positive wire is ALSO black. So you have to really check to make sure that the wire from the negative terminal runs down by or through the bottom of the battery box and goes to either a frame ground or an engine ground. While you’re tracing that, make sure that there is a good ground from the engine to a frame bolt, too.

the wire coming off of the positive terminal needs to go directly to the starter solenoid. The big wire coming off the other post of the solenoid need to go to the starter. It’s so much easier when the wire is red, but sometimes it at least has a little red collar on it. But at least three of my 550’s have a black positive lead. So, be aware.

The very thin red wire that has another wire attached right to it is actually for a Battery-tender hookup.

Dave Fox

 

That kind of thing bugs me, so I splosh some red paint or put a red collar / tape on it.
It has saved my ass a couple of times.