Whats This

Hi
New to XJs
I starting to try to retore this 81 XJ hooked up a battery it would turn over but now wont turn over

I think it may be electical when I switch the kill switch back & forth the item pictured clicks
Its not the battery eather i am using a car battery with jumper leads
May be in the switch some times I get a liottle turn over thought it may be earth
Fuse box not looking to good but works tested fusers
I crossed the two solinoed points with a screw driver & it tuns over

Any help or ideas would be grat

 

I may be wrong but it looks like the blinker flasher box pictured above.
The XJ looks to be in bad shape, it looks like to be alot of work you have ahread of you.
Goodluck.

 

Wereiswally, You DOG. I'll give you $50 USD for your lift! Very sweet. Sure beats sitting on a bucket all hunched over whatver you're working on.

WAMAXIM

 

I'm a 550 guy so I can't be 100% sure which one that is BUT: Based on the symptom you're describing that may be the safety relay or sidestand relay you have there. These bikes have a safety interlock system that prevents the bike from cranking if it is in gear and the sidestand is down. (Or if a problem makes it THINK that.) The sidestand has its own relay too, and a problem with that, the sidestand switch, the neutral switch or the safety relay itself can cause it to not spin. You'll need someone with a book or the same bike to identify what you have pictured by the color of the wires. The SAFETY relay itself can be unplugged as a diagnostic measure, to bypass all that silliness but you really shouldn't leave it unplugged.

 

I broke down and bought the Air/ Hydraulic lift from Harbor Freight. I love it!! Its the best investment I have ever made as far as tools go. I just put my bike up there and its so easy to work on rather than bending over and wreaking my back. That relay looks like the side stand safety relay. You need to get a wire diagram and trace those wires out. Try to bypass your side stand switch first before you jump that relay out. Good Luck

 

It's the starting circuit cutoff relay. When it's "on" it should be feeding 12V to the starter solenoid coil. The fact that it's clicking sounds like a good thing.

 

Thanks

Bit of a job allright
May get to much for me when a XJ on ebay in good nick whent for $1500 Aus recently

 

Replaced the solenoid with a spare I had from a XS650
turns over now but wont fire
i removed the carbys can see now why she wont fire

 

yuck, petrified petrol.
I hope your in a cleaning kinda mood

 

i have removed the Diaphragms float bowls & jets can I soak the rest in a kero bath with out removing the butterfly shaft
Two of the floats wont move seems to be very much stuck in one position

 

Are the carbs in the above post Hitachi's? It looks like the 2 center carbs have a slanted side to the hat. I am assuming that the slans are in another piosition on the other 2 carbs. If I remember correctly I think Rickomatic said that the slant on the had meant Hitachi and the dimople in the top meant Mikuni.

If so, I have a set of Hitachis.

Am I right?

 

1 of 2 things

starter circuit cutoff relay or the sidestand relay.

hope this helps you

 

DON'T SOAK THE CARBS!!! Unless you take them completely apart first. The THROTTLE SHAFT SEALS are delicate little buggers (that you can't even see) and you do NOT want to wreck 'em.

 

Thanks
I want to soak them & I don’t wish to remove the butter fly shaft (To hard I here)
I will pick up some carby spray cleaner & give a gentle clean up as best I can

Every thing that was removed is soaking in kero
These carbys Hitachi are the carby tops meant to face the front & the two centre ones face the back?

How do you remove the floats to clean them?
This bike was a Courier bike so it seems the side stand switch has been by passed

 

Remove the four float bowl screws, then remove the bowls. The floats are held in with a pin that may just fall out when you take the bowl off. If not, just push it out and the float and float needle can be removed. You will probably need to scrape off the old bowl gaskets.

 

Not as hard as you might think. I've done the throttle shaft seals on my Hitachis. Have a gander at this file and see if that helps. If the bowls are that bad, I'm not holding out much hope for the seals, truth be known. You'll be wanting a good-fitting phillips screwdriver to get the butterfly screws out, though.

Nope... best I know, all the slants on the carb hats should face the rear. If funding permits, Chacal just started stocking those carb hats. Chrome and Gold flavors. [Witness my pitiful attempt at writing ad copy]. :mrgreen:

 

I think this is to much work for me to do anything with so if there is anyone in the Sydney Australia area out there who wants a parts bike for the right price PM me

 

Oh, come on now you're giving up too easily. I would buy a spare rack o'carbs off eBay. They show up all the time and can go for as little as $30USD. As bad as yours are, it shouldn't be too hard to find a better set.

I would at least get the bike running before I decided whether to continue the resto or scrap it. Maybe you can find a better bike as a starting point since you already have a "parts bike." An XJ is a worthwhile endeavor once you consider the rewards.

 

I agree with Fitz. You're probably just feeling a bit overwhelmed right now, and that's understandable.

Don't rush things; take it one step at a time. You've already got the carbs broken down and the various bits soaking, and that's a good chunk of the work right there.

 

OK OK
Ill clean carbys up & see how I feel then Once she starts ill probable change my mind.

 

wereiswally,
I just finished rebuilt my carbs and I took a lot of pictures during that process. I'm creating a photo gallery that I will upload to myphotoalbum.com probably this weekend. It will shows how to put them back together, for the cleaning process you can find a very good detailed posts here.

 

"Don't give up the ship!" Capt. James Lawrence

I had a devil of a time with my allegedly "clean" xj550 carbs.
It took me several weeks of poking, prodding, cleaning, fixing and redos then one glorious day it finally started!
Persistence pays.

 

I've had sets that bad and they are a bit of work but when she runs the first time you will forget all about it. One way to help loosen up the junk is to soak the whole carb, diaphragms removed and bowls off in kerosene for a couple of days. It didn't seem to damage the throttle shaft seals at all. The other product I use to get the old fuel off is varnish remover. Now that you do not want to get on the throttle shaft seals

 

SIMPLE GREEN and hot water will work well also.

 

wereiswally,
Listen don't give up just yet. I was terrified of taking apart my carbs just a week or two ago. There are lots of HOW-TO's on this site for your carbs, they really walk you through step by step. Afterwards you'll realize it's not that bad. Let us know how you make out!
Mac

 

trust me wereiswally after you get those carbs cleaned everything else on the bike feels like a cake walk...just take your time and she will fire up and purrrrrrrr and that relay is the starter relay book said headlight but its not on mine its the starter relay headlight was down by the ignition box

 

Keep at it wereiswally! My Maxim's carbs were pretty varnished up and full of "goo" too when I inherited the bike. It had been sitting for years. I cleaned what I could in the carb bowls and floats, cleaned the spark plugs, dumped a couple bottles of carb cleaner in the fuel, hooked the battery to a charger/starter and kept turning over the bike. She eventually fired off, choking and sputtering.

Not being an actual cycle mechanic I opted to take it to a local shop for tuning and have been driving it every day since!

Just don't give up on the old beast - your pipes get rusty too if you just sit around on the sofa all day!

Cheers,
Kim