New - Member, Rider, XS400 Seca

[VegasNewbie]

Hello!

I researched my new motorcycle on your forum and like the community you've built.

2 hours ago, I bought a 1982 XS400R Seca and am posting some pictures here. I don't have a motorcycle license yet, so I had the PO deliver the bike to my home. He took me for a ride and it rode and shifted smooth. Now I'm having trouble shifting it, so I'll look into why that's happening.

I gave it a once over and fixed 2 things already. The brake light didn't come on when pressing the rear break level and I found the cable was disconnected at the lever. The other was the tube from the battery that was disconnected.

The bike looks to be in pretty good shape, but based on other posts I've read, I think you'll find a couple of things to check out. The rust is surface rust, so it's going to be pretty easy to remove.

I look forward to what you all think of the bike and what you think I should do next - besides learning to ride (class is scheduled) and getting in rides.

 

[VegasNewbie]

I fired the old girl up this morning with barely any need for the choke.

But I did see this leak spot. Could this be: "An oily sidestand is usually indicative of leaks from clutch rod seal and/or main shaft seal." That Willem mentioned in his "What to do first with your new XS400" post?

 

[levdir]

Welcome to the forum! First, props on basically the best "I'm new here" post in ages. Sounds like your bike's pretty sorted, but do you know if its carbs been synced recently? The bluing on the right exhaust is a symptom of that cylinder running lean.

 

[VegasNewbie]

Thanks levdir!

The PO said he just did the carbs a couple of weeks ago. There's a gasoline smell when running - have no idea if that's normal or not. Reminds me of the smell of our snowmobiles in the late '70s.

BTW, I was just a n00b about the shifting. It works when the engine is running. I didn't realize it wouldn't shift reliably with it off and sitting there.

 

[JaredK]

Welcome to the forum, Vegas!

It should shift when the engine is off, too. Sometimes you need to roll the bike forward or back an inch to get it into gear. (I had this problem when I first got my bike - put it into neutral just as I was about to stop, and it wouldn't want to get in first gear when I was ready to go! Found that if I pushed the bike forward just a bit while pushing down on the shifter it would click into gear).

The bike looks great! Good to see it's got a fuel filter, that'll keep the carbs clean. Other wise it's just standard things to check - tires, chain tension, fluids, etc.

 

[VegasNewbie]

Thanks JaredK!

I appreciate the tip on shifting - I'll give it a try.

Class starts on Wednesday and will have my license on Friday

 

[Lou Ranger]

Wow. It's almost brand new. Very nice. Glad you found Willem's thread, and welcome to the Forum.

If the mileage is correct, could it still have the original factory oil in it from 30 years ago?
Unlikely, but, unless your PO can show you that he changed it within the last season, I would assume it is too old and should be changed (N.B. JASO MA rating only!)

Don't know about that oil drip but I would start with easy stuff and work up to major intervention only if necessary.
The easiest thing would be your PO saturated the chain with oil so it would be smooth running for potential buyers - and it's been thrown off and is running down your stand.

If that is not the case, second easiest would be to imagine, with so little use, some seal or gasket could have gotten a little dry. If it were me, I would run it a while with fresh oil to see if it they will come back after a little fully warmed-up extended use.

If not, third easiest would be to consult the threads on here which can walk you through taking it apart and fixing.

 

[VegasNewbie]

Thanks for the welcome Lou!

The drip smelled like gas and I saw the petcock was on PRI. The PO said that was for the primary, but I see it's for Prime. I moved it to the ON position.

I will take the precaution of changing the oil before taking it out for my first ride. Thanks for the warning on the oil rating. I read some threads on here about the oil and see it's a bit contentious

Thanks again to you and everyone else for the helpful advice. I'm glad I saw this forum before buying - it was a big factor on my choice for a bike.

 

[Sesty]

great looking bike, i like that miata too! if you have gas on the garage, gas might have leaked into the crankcase so an oil-change would be best before you ride it!

 

[Lou Ranger]

... The drip smelled like gas and I saw the petcock was on PRI ...

If that's the case then for sure you should change the oil AND the filter and keep the petcock on ON after riding.
And, it could mean you don't have any oil leaking. Could be gas dissolving a little of the "sprocket fudge" - enough to run down you stand

... Thanks for the warning on the oil rating. I read some threads on here about the oil and see it's a bit contentious .

I wouldn't say contentious - unless it's an argument over which brand or grade of JASO MA oil is best.
Some contend that you don't need synthetic since it didn't exist when the engines were designed.
Some contend that it improves performance and lengthens the change intervals so it makes good sense in the long run.
But I don't think anyone contends that regular motor oil will not eventually damage your wet-clutch - though I am not aware of anyone willing to let their bike be the test case - I know I wasn't

 

[VegasNewbie]

Thanks Sesty. I've had the Miata since '91, and will start upgrading that too.

It looks pretty unanimous that an oil change is in order on the Seca, so I'll get on that tonight.

Thanks everyone. I'm in good hands here

 

[VegasNewbie]

Oil change done. And it reeked of gasoline.

Got lucky and the cycle shop down the street had oil filters in stock. W00t!

 

[JaredK]

Oil change done. And it reeked of gasoline.

Hmmm, that's not good. It could mean that your float valves (in the carburetors) are not sealing properly. When you switch the petcock to ON, it's actually vacuum operated - that little vacuum line from the back of the petcock to the left side carb boot uses vacuum pressure from the piston to pull open a valve in the petcock and allow gas to flow through while the engine is running. If the engine isn't running, the petcock is as good as closed. If you switch it over to PRI (prime), it acts as an open valve, so gas can flow freely down to the carbs regardless of whether or not the engine is running.

The float valves in the carbs are designed to let gas into the float bowls so its accessible, but not so much gas that it keeps flowing up through the carbs and into your engine. If gas is seeping through a faulty float valve, it will collect in your air box and into your engine. It could leak past the cylinders into your crank case. If that happened, that explains why you've got gas in your oil. Did you smell gas in the air box as well?

It's not the end of the world. Just make sure your petcock is at the ON position (or RES, if you want) and it should be fine, as long as your petcock isn't leaking too. If that solves the issue (and your petcock isn't leaking, either), then you can take a look at the float valves the next time you open up those carbs.

It's good to see you're making good use of the search feature! FYI, the search box on the left side generally works better than the one on the right.

 

[VegasNewbie]

The air box is dry, clean and no gasoline smell.

Petcock is now in the ON position. The PO thought PRI meant Primary so that's where he had it. I'd guess that's how the gas got into the oil, but I'll keep a close eye on it.

 

[levdir]

PRI is used to fill the float bowls after they've been drained--if you need to remove the carbs for whatever reason, or if you run completely out of gas or what have you.

For what it's worth, properly-set float height and new float needles and seats are a huge help in preventing gas overflow. My petcock doesn't work worth a damn, it's basically always on no matter how I set it. I put new needles and seats in almost first thing when I got the bike and made sure the floats were set correctly and I've never had a problem with overflowing. Still going to fix my petcock, but it hasn't really been a problem so far.