Well boys, I got a mess on my hands...

All kinds of good ideas! I think Fred already mentioned it but I would say before removing anything else I would drain oil, yea that's probably already done, then dump in a couple quarts of kerosene or fuel oil and shake the bike around a good bit. Then maybe let it set for a day or two and shake some more and then drain it out.

Of course be sure to strain and catch every thing that comes out, how you did that the first draining, if still no sign of missing clip then remove the right side cover and starter and play around with magnet some more.

Now for some bad thoughts, are you sure they were careful when they took off whatever they did to figure out the ring was broken or missing? Just wondering if it is actually still in there.
 
Hey all. Thanks for the advice - I've got the right side cover off an have done quite a bit of probing. I think I have a line on another motor that I may pick up this weekend. The shop that did the work originally said they would take off the PMA and Pamco that I installed and install it on a new motor for a pretty reasonable price because they felt bad that this happened in the first place. I think that might be the path of least resistance at this point as I'm pretty much a n00b at working on the insides of these things. I am gonna keep the old engine and use it as a trainer, as I feel like owning a bike that's older than me will require knowledge of these things.
 
They messed up the first time and to scared to try and fix their mistake................and will give a good rate on the second time?????..............Don't think i would be interested in letting them near my bike again.........

The money saved could be spent on some tools and do it yourself with the help from the members here..........yea can be scary, but there have been many who knew nothing and done the job from the training garage of XS650.com..............Hell there have been guys who have never been into a motor and done top end rebuild with our help.............

Want to learn, now is the time on a couple of simple projects like the PMA and Pamco............another advantage is there may be associated things that could be, or are problems not known, and these things may be picked up by pics or descriptions as we go along............

Going to use the other motor as a learning experience !...........why not take pics of the problem and ask questions now even if you decide to take it to the shop you will at least be able to question the mechanic and keep him honest.

Could start another designated thread or keep it all in this one............
 
Hello gents. It's been a while since I posted on here, so I'll start with a bit of back story.

I bought my XS650 while I was deployed to Afghanistan with the goal of building a little street tracker for cruising around town. It's a '75 with around 6,000 miles. I slowly started buying and collecting parts. I eventually got to a place where I was ready to start installing stuff, and after digging in to the wiring up the new parts I had purchased, I realized I was in over my head. With a deployment looming, I brought the bike to a reputable local shop and told them what I wanted done.

The install of the parts took a while, and near the end I asked that they tune the bike for me (I had a couple of race carbs thrown on it because, well, power!) I got a call from the shop with some pretty unfortunate news; while they were starting the bike to begin tuning it, the starter made a god-awful noise and when they dug in to it, they found that the circlip on the end of the starter had snapped, and was now a free radical in the engine. Its been a couple of years since I received the bike back, but I am fairly certain the circlip being they're talking about is the one in the picture I attached.

I'd really like to get this thing going. It has a lot of sentimental value due to where I was when I purchased it. I've called all the local shops and none of them are willing the split the cases on a bike this old to remove the old circlip. I'm hoping to get some advice from you experts regarding the following:

What is my best / cheapest option to get this problem fixed? (Money is tight)
What year engines will be a direct drop in for this bike?
I've epoxied some magnets to the drain plugs and tried cranking it over to move the oil around to try to trap the old circlip - no results. Any other tricks you boys can think of?


G'day Gnarly from Down Under,

Nice machine but mate you must get a square arse from that seat, LOL

GeeDub
 
I don't think I'm understanding the scenario that you've been told by the shop... Before you go buy a new motor, and have additional work done...send us some pics of the Left side cover removed and let's see the missing clip? If I recall, that thing is very hard to break...Furthermore, if it did break, did they get part of it out?? (I'm assuming you were looking to go with a kick only bike and remove the battery/starter, etc...?)

From my perspective, I would try to assess the situation of your current motor, before inheriting a new motor which could have other issues. Granted, I'm not against having a back up to learn from, etc. But I do enjoy problem solving--and I'm also very cheap. LOL
 
Yes, as mentioned earlier, if that circlip (#9) broke and fell off, several other small parts directly under it (#6, #7, and #8) would quickly fall off too. I would think that you'd find at least a few of them inside that right cover.

NVibC8M.jpg
 
there have been many who knew nothing and done the job from the training garage of XS650.com..............Hell there have been guys who have never been into a motor and done top end rebuild with our help.............

Like uh...ME! There are some great guys here with lots of support and information. And you’ll get to know your bike better!
C4D42BC4-881C-4F71-A839-906602C5F540.gif
 
If it were me I think I'd just wash it out with kerosene and see if it comes out. Once the kerosene is out maybe blast some air to see if that'll knock it loose. If it still isn't recovered at that point I'd probably just run it. If that amount of cleaning and magnet fishing hasn't knocked it loose I don't think running the engine would likely knock it loose to where it could do much damage. Maybe just change the oil more often and drop the little pan each time to see if it appears?

If your other option is to swap motors... no hard in trying this first i guess.
 
If it were me I think I'd just wash it out with kerosene and see if it comes out. Once the kerosene is out maybe blast some air to see if that'll knock it loose. If it still isn't recovered at that point I'd probably just run it. If that amount of cleaning and magnet fishing hasn't knocked it loose I don't think running the engine would likely knock it loose to where it could do much damage. Maybe just change the oil more often and drop the little pan each time to see if it appears?

If your other option is to swap motors... no hard in trying this first i guess.

The clip the Garage lost holds a lot of things together...........refer post #29
 
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