I haven't had a motorcycle in about 8 years. My first bike was a 76 Yamaha XS360-- had a really good time with it and learned to appreciate older Yamaha's.
When I came across this 81 XS650 Special II I snatched it up. The bike needed new tires and a brake line to be rideable so i couldn't test drive it. However, when it cranked up it was very strong and sounded in pretty good shape.
After topping the oil off I went for a ride (55 mi round trip) No problems. 15 minutes later I took it out again it was running fine and it backfired. Stopped at a red light with a light backfire I gradually lost power until it stalled out. Pulled it to the side of the road and tried to diagnose the problem. I noticed the oil cap was loose and when i took it out the part that shows the oil level had broken off inside the bike. I've observed oil on some parts of the bike below the cap as well as on the air filter behind it. I assume this oil was being blown out of the cap area? Or it may be a leak somewhere else.
I checked the fuel line to the carb I'm getting gas.
I took out the side oil filter and it had shards of metal stuck to it.
I removed the bottom oil filter and found 4 pieces of black plastic in the oil pan. There was also a hole in this filter.
I just ordered these two filters online and they're on the way. I never found the piece that shows the oil measurements though, unless the shredded metal is it.
I'm pretty sure just changing the oil filters won't make this bike start back up again.
So my question is what else should I check? What could the broken piece of metal hit that would cause the bike to lose power and not start? or is this just a coincidence and i should be looking for another problem?
thanks for any help you can give me. I'm feeling like an idiot for being so excited to start riding this bike that I didn't check everything out and left the oil cap loose.
When I came across this 81 XS650 Special II I snatched it up. The bike needed new tires and a brake line to be rideable so i couldn't test drive it. However, when it cranked up it was very strong and sounded in pretty good shape.
After topping the oil off I went for a ride (55 mi round trip) No problems. 15 minutes later I took it out again it was running fine and it backfired. Stopped at a red light with a light backfire I gradually lost power until it stalled out. Pulled it to the side of the road and tried to diagnose the problem. I noticed the oil cap was loose and when i took it out the part that shows the oil level had broken off inside the bike. I've observed oil on some parts of the bike below the cap as well as on the air filter behind it. I assume this oil was being blown out of the cap area? Or it may be a leak somewhere else.
I checked the fuel line to the carb I'm getting gas.
I took out the side oil filter and it had shards of metal stuck to it.
I removed the bottom oil filter and found 4 pieces of black plastic in the oil pan. There was also a hole in this filter.
I just ordered these two filters online and they're on the way. I never found the piece that shows the oil measurements though, unless the shredded metal is it.
I'm pretty sure just changing the oil filters won't make this bike start back up again.
So my question is what else should I check? What could the broken piece of metal hit that would cause the bike to lose power and not start? or is this just a coincidence and i should be looking for another problem?
thanks for any help you can give me. I'm feeling like an idiot for being so excited to start riding this bike that I didn't check everything out and left the oil cap loose.