The Reliability Of A Yamaha

I was out riding my '82 XJ750 Maxim today, and I noticed my odometer rolling over to 37,000 miles! Such a great feeling knowing that you have the reliability and power of a Yamaha engine under neath of you! I looked over at my friend's '82 v45 Magna which is leaking from the cylinder heads, and in need of fork seals, and it only has 14,000 on it. Just proves mileage doesn't mean a thing with proper maintenance.

 

These bikes have been seen with over 300000 on the clock.

 

Read the comments of the Cycle Press regarding the XJ Engine.

My two favorite quotes:

"Bullet Proof"

"You have to severely abuse the XJ Series Engine before it will break down. Not just neglect. Abuse. But, even then, they are hard to kill."

 

Over 50K on mine, and I did 150 miles of slab yesterday without skipping a beat.

 

The Honda V4's were known for wearing out their cam chains and sprockets early, requiring a massive amount of labor.

My 750 is at 48,000 and holding up just fine.

 

Sounds to me like that particular V4 just needs some maintenance.

I'm lucky in that my highest-mileage bike only has 27K on it, 9000 of which are mine. I am impressed by the "turnkey" reliability, once brought up-to-date on maintenance.

I had my easiest spring wake-up ever yesterday with the '83:
-Aired up the tires
-Drained floatbowls and ran on PRI until nice clean gas was flowing out
-Reinstalled battery
-Unplugged the pipes
And fired up the bike. And since I've switched from motor oil to engine fogging spray, no giant cloud of smoke any more.

The weather man lied though, and it only ever got to 48 when it was supposed to be 59. Bit nippy but sure nice to be back on my XJ.

 

The term "bullet proof has been tossed around for years. When I owned my CB350 Honda, I was told by the dealer it was bullet proof and found that to be pretty true. Same goes for my 850 Suzuki I owned at one time.
There are alot of bullet proof bikes out there. Not only Yamaha, but Suzuki, Kawasaki and of course Honda that have a good history of reliability over the years.
I guess if I were to buy another bike (more than likely) I will first do a search about the history of the particular bike I'm looking at to see what the problems were with that particular year/model to get some kind of idea what to look for if I buy it or ifI even want to buy it in the first place.
I guess I've never heard that term mentioned around any Harley riders, but maybe there is one there to?

 

"The Honda V4's were known for wearing out their cam chains and sprockets early, requiring a massive amount of labor."
This is why I had the cam chain tensioners replaced at 10K, never had a problem...ever ('till that ignitor went intermittent on me 50K later).

 

I have had only two major problems with all 4 of my xj's. Was at a concert one night and had an informal burn out contest.. Lost a valve but that was after several minutes of smoke from the rear tire(probably mid 80's). It was fun. Wound up finding a motor at the local pickapart.
Second time was was i 94, crashed the bike in turn 8 at Willow Springs. I remember sliding down the asphalt and seeing the bike doing cartwheels in the dirt. I finally get to her and pick her up, not bad, frame doesnt look like its bent. Had to replace the allen head screws below the crank on the engine...they were ground off. During the race the next day, engine quit from the pulse sensors on the crankshaft.. Took me a few tries until I figured that one out.. Yup they are pretty bulletproof. I thought the crash had killed it, They just seem to get better with age.
Now the turbo.. hit by a mustang and will be back on the road soon


Sean

 

Hey dino, ever think of changing your name to "LUCKY"! 8O
:twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

 

92,xxx miles on my 82 650 maxim. Runs like the energizer bunny.

 

Re: the Honda V-4's: I never liked the idea of the cylinders being cast integrally with the crankcase. I had a buddy that had an original Interceptor; I rode it and simply wasn't all that impressed.

The only Jap bikes I ever looked twice at after years and years of British twins have been Yamahas. I still want an XJR1300.

 

"I rode it and simply wasn't all that impressed"

I can understand that Fitz, given your background on Brit bikes. The Brits understood all along that weight was a killer and didn't place the importance of HP above that as did the Japanese. That's why some of the twins might not have had "good" 1/4 miles times but were some of the best handling bikes outside of Italy. After owning a T120 briefly, I could attest to it's silky smooth handling. I could also understand why so many guys put up with all its "demons". It was like riding a completely different machine then a Japanese bike. Good different, not bad different but it was different, even came with it's own sheet of cardboard for the oil leaks.

I should have kept that bike. Even though it was only a 650 and in 1977, my '70 t120 looked like a antique, it was a still a torquey little machine and probably worth quite a bit today.

jeff

 

bigfitz - "And since I've switched from motor oil to engine fogging spray, no giant cloud of smoke any more." what is fogging spray? (forgive the ignorance) :?:

 

It's a spray oil formula that coats and protects the cumbustion chamber and cylinder walls against rust and corrosion during storage.

Widely available; Yamaha even "private labels" one; I got mine at the corner NAPA.

For years I used a couple of tablespoons of motor oil; which seems to have worked fine but produces one heck of a cloud of smoke when the engine is first fired up in the spring.