Yard Art

RJames

XS650 Member
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I just bought an 1983 XS650 for the total sum of $40. The bike had been named "yard art" by the lady I bought it from. She had no idea what was wrong with the bike that ended it up being parked, probably sat outside for 15 years or more. My first order of business is to see if I can get it to run. I'm no stranger to these bikes, owned a 1980 XS650 and two XS750's. Both of the oil drain plugs were just installed loosely and the oil had already been drained, no metal showing on the drain plug magnets. On the 750's ( and a lot of Yamaha models), the petcock(s) would go bad and allow gasoline into the intake pipes and the crankcase oil would get diluted (gasoil), which on the 750 would seize the main and or rod bearings. I searched "gas-oil" and nothing came up, so I'm wondering if the ball and roller bearings in the 650 are immune to diluted oil? It kicks over and has compression, 35-50 lbs. initially and then 100-120 with motor oil squirted into the spark plug holes. Valve clearances are within specs. I'm wondering if diluted oil is even a factor with this bike and why it was parked, or something else. Is there something else on the XS650's that I'm not aware of? You guys may be able to help, all responses are appreciated. -RJames
 

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Why was the bike parked 15 years ago? Best guess, most common cause......The battery wasn't charging and a new battery didn't solve the problem. You'll reach that eureca moment when you discover what went bad, coil, rotor or something else.

Welcome to the best forum, Scott
 
Sure crank getting flooded with gas from leaky petcocks is common, but like you say roller bearings don't die near as fast as plain bearings. More likely result; death by piston/cylinder scuffing. But with a parallel twin an overfull crank is going to send ALOT of oil/fuel out the breather and into the carbs, You'll be fogging mosquitoes up until the plugs foul.
 
Gary, thanks for the tip on mosquitoes. I'm now officially calling for all mid-Florida based parallel twin owners to overfill their crankcases between the months of May and October. They don't send the mosquito spray trucks around here anymore since they've all been sent to South Florida to protect our border from South American mosquitoes.

RJames, good luck with your build!
 
I might suggest you peruse the TECH section. It can be found by clicking the TECH button near the top of the page. Once there scroll down to find "Getting To Know Your Bike."
This is a good place to start.
Leo
 
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