82 XS650 Starts then dies

Wow this is still going? Sounds like your nearly there Cal, I’m missing the forum and XS friends, I’ll post up what’s going on, was planning to re build a T160 75 Bonneville, went to the shop and saw a couple of XS’s in different states of disrepair.......then felt the twinge, you know that kind of twinge........
BTW, I did ride the bike back from Tasmania to North Queensland a few weeks ago, there’s a story in that lot too....
Good luck Cal with the rubbers, Ha!
Cheers Mick
 
Wow this is still going? Sounds like your nearly there Cal, I’m missing the forum and XS friends, I’ll post up what’s going on, was planning to re build a T160 75 Bonneville, went to the shop and saw a couple of XS’s in different states of disrepair.......then felt the twinge, you know that kind of twinge........
BTW, I did ride the bike back from Tasmania to North Queensland a few weeks ago, there’s a story in that lot too....
Good luck Cal with the rubbers, Ha!
Cheers Mick

I mean it runs and stops and all the lights work. All I am doing now is cosmetic and just touching up little things that have been missing for years! It will never be "done" because I will keep working on it as I own it. But I am excited to say that the majority of the major rebuild is done and I am excited to ride it more than around my neighborhood (which I did before I took it back apart to clean and paint) So how many XS's did you buy???!?!?!

Had to look up your ride... wow that was some mileage (kilos)! Do that on an XS?!
 
Well I got those brackets but I'll hold off til you check the locals.
Be a bit careful they changed through the years but all LOOK like they are the same, there's left and right also.
Unfortunately that lower LH cover is the proverbial hens tooth, rubber stuff, yeah we are all looking for that.

Gary,

Thanks for offering to send me stuff but I was able to get the parts from 5Twins who also had a lot of useful information for other aspects of every part of the bike.

I am still on the hunt for those side cover rubber grommets, life caught up to me and I was unable to get to the local Yamaha dealer that has parts. I see they have them at Mike's XS worst case. I am still looking to find a place that sells the relay rubber grommet. I have one but the other was dried out and broken. It looks something like the one below, I found on a quick google search. If I can't find one I might just 3D print a plastic holder that looks similar, or buy 3D printable rubber and make my own.
49340_1.jpg
 
I prolly have those, which relay?

Not sure which relay it is but it is mounted to the side of the battery box on an additional mounting bracket. The relay is #31 in the image below. But all I need is the rubber "holder" because the relay works it just is kind of hanging there right now and I am going to ziptie it up soon as a temp fix.
MjIyMTM0OA-c47b6011.png
 
Actually, you should do away with that relay. It's the one for your clutch safety switch, that little switch up on the clutch hand lever (remove that too). It cuts power to the starter if the bike isn't in neutral unless the clutch lever is pulled in .....

qO7iCqh.jpg


However, power to the starter solenoid flows through the relay so if you remove it, you'll need to install a jumper wire between the two R/W wires to restore the power flow .....

bJwJB3o.jpg


Then you can just tuck the plug back in out of the way .....

7kVPN4p.jpg
 
Actually, you should do away with that relay. It's the one for your clutch safety switch, that little switch up on the clutch hand lever (remove that too). It cuts power to the starter if the bike isn't in neutral unless the clutch lever is pulled in .....

qO7iCqh.jpg


However, power to the starter solenoid flows through the relay so if you remove it, you'll need to install a jumper wire between the two R/W wires to restore the power flow .....

bJwJB3o.jpg


Then you can just tuck the plug back in out of the way .....

7kVPN4p.jpg

Interesting my relay is on the other side of the bike and I was wondering why the wire was so long. I will be using a jumper wire then and calling it a day. ggGary I guess I don't need the rubber part. Thanks anyways.
 
Wait now, you may be talking about a different relay then. There is another on the other side of the bike, similar looking, but for your sidestand .....

Sp7Ct9O.jpg


But, you can (and should) do away with that one too. In fact, I feel it's the more important of the two to eliminate because there are problems with it more often. Also, it acts upon your TCI box, cutting the spark when activated, so if there are problems with it or the sidestand switch, you'll lose spark and the bike won't run. Thankfully, elimination is simple. Just unplug and remove the relay and the sidestand switch, no jumper wires are required .....

6a0usoz.jpg


But you must remove both. If you just take the switch off, the bike will die when you put it in gear. There are two "triggers" for the relay, the neutral light and the sidestand switch. One of these must be "on" (sidestand up or neutral light on) to open the relay so it doesn't kill the TCI box and spark.

Remove all that junk and that will pave the way for you to switch to an older, simpler sidestand, like we talked about. The big benefit to that is easy sump plate access. As you can see in the pic below, all the stuff to the left of the spring gets replaced with just the two items to the right of it .....

04ypiqc.jpg
 
Wait now, you may be talking about a different relay then. There is another on the other side of the bike, similar looking, but for your sidestand .....

Sp7Ct9O.jpg


But, you can (and should) do away with that one too. In fact, I feel it's the more important of the two to eliminate because there are problems with it more often. Also, it acts upon your TCI box, cutting the spark when activated, so if there are problems with it or the sidestand switch, you'll lose spark and the bike won't run. Thankfully, elimination is simple. Just unplug and remove the relay and the sidestand switch, no jumper wires are required .....

6a0usoz.jpg


But you must remove both. If you just take the switch off, the bike will die when you put it in gear. There are two "triggers" for the relay, the neutral light and the sidestand switch. One of these must be "on" (sidestand up or neutral light on) to open the relay so it doesn't kill the TCI box and spark.

Remove all that junk and that will pave the way for you to switch to an older, simpler sidestand, like we talked about. The big benefit to that is easy sump plate access. As you can see in the pic below, all the stuff to the left of the spring gets replaced with just the two items to the right of it .....

04ypiqc.jpg

No I am talking about the clutch safety switch relay (I just didn't know what it was called). My wiring harness was pulled while trying to trace gremlins through the system. I now have both of the relays on the left side of the bike and clutch safety switch relay has a much longer wire because it looks like it is supposed to route behind the battery box. That has to be the first relay we are talking about (I will test of course) I just don't have it in the right spot. I was going to use the airbox mounting point on the battery box to mount the relay mount I found for the clutch safety switch relay.
 
No, those are light checkers I think, or maybe self-cancelling units. The mount is built into the whole unit housing. What he was after was the rubber sleeve mount that slides over the metal relay housing. But, he doesn't need it now, he's going to eliminate the relay.
 
No, those are light checkers I think, or maybe self-cancelling units. The mount is built into the whole unit housing. What he was after was the rubber sleeve mount that slides over the metal relay housing. But, he doesn't need it now, he's going to eliminate the relay.
How am I going to get rid of all my crap if you keep talking them out of using it? :lmao:
 
Being within driving distance, I think I'm Cal's 1st choice in "crap" dealers, lol. I met him the other night when he came by to pick up his needed parts. He's a nice, young guy and came on a modern sport bike but still seems to be genuinely interested in fixing up and keeping his old 650. I'll help him out any way I can.
 
Being within driving distance, I think I'm Cal's 1st choice in "crap" dealers, lol. I met him the other night when he came by to pick up his needed parts. He's a nice, young guy and came on a modern sport bike but still seems to be genuinely interested in fixing up and keeping his old 650. I'll help him out any way I can.

I hate to say it but he has a point 20 minutes away from me is awesome to have the Guru and "crap" dealer. I am 100% keeping the XS650 don't worry it isn't going anywhere but on the road, even if I have 2 other motorcycles. After it is running maintenance will be nothing compared to the journey we have been on together. I hope the next time I ride down to see 5Twins it is on the XS. I am fighting with the DMV for a plate right now and I am finishing paint.
 
Morning everyone! Long time no see. Lots of wrenching was done between last September and yesterday. But I wanted to let everyone know that the bike is running and moving well under its own power.

After re-assembling the engine and running it a while last fall the engine was running strong and idling well but then began to start backfiring and skipping again. Took me way too long this spring/summer to just re-do the valve spacing adjustments and clear that problem up. I am assuming because the engine sat for so long and things had to warm up and cool down a few times to get into 100% position.

I may need a new battery as it is 4.5 years old and has been used and abused and recharged but not fully running in a bike for a long time. But I will also be checking the charging system now that I can actually run and ride my bike.

I went for a few laps around my area last night and got almost 20 miles on the bike before I decided to turn around. I "ran out of fuel" a block from the gas station and was too thrilled to remember that the petcock has a reserve. Put just another gallon in there because I do not want to fill the tank in case something leaks, figured I would test slowly.

Still more to do but I wanted to thank everyone who has been here for any portion of this project, this site has so much awesome information and members! Also 5twins you are in trouble now, I can just ride the bike down to you when I have questions.
 
It is still alive!!! So I've been riding it around Buffalo a bit and getting more and more miles on it. I have found that it isn't 100% functioning. The battery is not charging and after running through my repair manual it appears I need to replace the rotor. I tested everything in line as the repair manual said then I hooked up my volt meter to the green and brown wire from the stator/rotor and I get 10.7 ohms where manual says it is supposed to be between 5-7ohms and if it isn't replace the rotor. Which isn't a big deal for me as this bike never charged the battery since we purchased it years ago.

While going through the electrical system it appears that the stator housing is cracked. The forged aluminum (I assume) housing around the stator has a nice crack in it and appears to be shifted a bit. So I guess when I replace the rotor I will be replacing the stator as well.

I also found a tiny tiny oil leak from the pushrod seal. So I might as well replace that while the generator cover is off. So as much as I am going to keep trickle charging my battery and still riding around until the lights slowly dim on the bike I should replace all of these parts and get the bike charging so that everything is within spec.

Gonna spend some time searching the forums for the best stators and rotors. I found a RaceTech rotor online that had a nice replacement video for the rotor but I couldn't find the rotor on their ebay page. I will keep hunting. Ride safe everyone!
 
No! don't order a rotor yet!
rotor test must be conducted with the probes directly on the slip rings NOT through the brushes.
It sounds like someone did not align the stator with the pin on the crankcase when installing.
Used stator would probably be fine, they seldom are the charging problem. Check the windings where they might contact the rotor if the stator was installed crooked.
If I'm working on a late model charging after battery, and various and sundry electrical connections, grounds, switches, fuse box etc., the voltage regulator is my next check, the OEM electronic voltage regulators are tending to fail from old age these days. Do NOT cheap out with an inexpensive regulator they are usually VERY short lived.
If a rotor is needed Jim's rewinds are the only way to fly. ;^)
 
SON OF A... This repair book is full of these little discrepancies in procedure which are really annoying. Scratch almost everything I said. Another issue with my rotor is there is a small dent on the outer slip ring. I am assuming I want the slip rings completely smooth and that this dent might cause problems or premature brush wear.
 
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