New Member - XS400 ID help needed

[C41n]

Hello all!

I just got my first ever motorcycle. It is a 82 Yamaha xs400 something or other. After reading a bunch of confusing threads about what model has what and looks like this or that I decided to just start a thread and post pictures. Hoping you can help me out!

The pictures are not the best, I will take some better ones soon.

Starts right up and runs well. Not knowing anything about motorcycles kinda makes it hard to find a good used one. I had my buddy come test drive it and he said it was a good deal at the price ($550 with a bunch of gear as a bonus) under 17,000 miles.


Let me know what you think!

Couple of other questions.

What does PO stand for?

Is it possible to fairly simply replace the headlight with something brights LED perhaps?


Woot, this forum supports tapatalk!

 

[willem]

You've got yourself a Maxim there! It's a DOHC (double overhad cam shaft) engine, (so it has two camshafts). 5 gears, slightly more powerful than the earlier SOHC models (which is nice) and you'll need the manual for the Seca model. That's the '82-'84 manual in the sticky thread at the top of the garage page. If you compare your bike with the SOHC bikes you'll see you have no frame supporting the bottom of your engine (it's not sitting inside your frame, but your engine hangs from it) because they made the DOHC's so that the engine is a part of the frame, making it a stressed member.

anyways, it seems like you've got yourself a good deal then 550 for a well running bike with low mileage is pretty decent.

PO stands for Previous Owner.

If you want more light I don't believe LED's are the way to go (at least I haven't seen them used by anyone here) but I have heard of more powerful bulbs which can be put in.

Here is something to get you started on maintenance

Oh and welcome to the forum!

 

[Maxim-umm]

Welcome! That's a 1982 xs400j. Maxim model, DOHC. There's a few of us on this site with the same bike.

PO = previous owner.

You can convert your headlight to accept H4 bulbs, or change it to HID. There are a lot of threads about lighting on this site. Just make sure you do your research beforehand.

 

[C41n]

Thanks guys!

 

[xschris]

Welcome to the forum

 

[Lou Ranger]

Welcome to the Forum!
Very nice Maxim, looks to be in great shape and I think you got a very good deal.
You'd have had to pay much more for a red one ...

 

[C41n]

Better pictures

They had to be shrunk to upload. Full quality Hi Rez pictures here:
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B3gKSS18TgiCbDBENHIxZ0xQa1k&usp=sharing

Took her out around town today. Rode almost 40 miles. Took a video too, see if I can figure out how to upload that. Wondering what you all think of how she sounds.

Seems like the front dips way too much when stopping. I see in the thread linked above on basic maintenance that a fork oil change is recommended. Will doing this help reduce the amount of compression when stopping hard?

Another question, on my ignition there is a faded mark for "locked". No mater what I do, what way I position the handlebars, press in or not, use the whole key or part, it will not go to lock. Is this common? Easy to fix?

One more question.. The helmet latch is right above the muffler.. Is it just me or is that a really bad place to hang your helmet, over a hot muffler?

Loving the bike so far. I got her up to 55 today, and it was at 6k RPMs. That seems really high, but the red line looks to be 10k RPMs. Is this normal?

I kept shifting at around 3-4k RPMs and ending up in 5th gear at city speeds. When do you guys shift?

Is the oil light supposed to come on when the key is on and engine off like a car would? It goes off when the engine is running.

Thanks!

EDIT - Not sure I have the right manual. It says the fuel switch should have a RES position, but my fuel switch does not have that. Unless of course I am missing something.

EDIT - Videos:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3gKSS18TgiCMFlidGJEbUwwVXc/edit?usp=sharing
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3gKSS18TgiCU0Z3bDZEQkdEYzg/edit?usp=sharing
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3gKSS18TgiCcUtJMXBXanhaTHc/edit?usp=sharing

How does she sound?

 

[willem]

Better pictures

They had to be shrunk to upload. Full quality Hi Rez pictures here:
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B3gKSS18TgiCbDBENHIxZ0xQa1k&usp=sharing

Took her out around town today. Rode almost 40 miles. Took a video too, see if I can figure out how to upload that. Wondering what you all think of how she sounds.

Seems like the front dips way too much when stopping. I see in the thread linked above on basic maintenance that a fork oil change is recommended. Will doing this help reduce the amount of compression when stopping hard?

Fresh fork oil will definitely help your forks perform better. It dampens the compression and the extension after braking. I also found it made my bike more stable on the road.

Another question, on my ignition there is a faded mark for "locked". No mater what I do, what way I position the handlebars, press in or not, use the whole key or part, it will not go to lock. Is this common? Easy to fix?

The handlebars should be all the way turned left. My guess is that the notch which is controlled by this turning of the key hasn't been used alot, and therefore stuck. Grab the exploded view from partzilla or cmsnl.com to see where the notch is. A little WD40 should do the trick nicely. EDIT: nothing to see in the exploded parts diagrams. Try spraying some WD40 in and around your ignition (in the keyhole, for instance) and try to spray from the bottom up into it. Let it sit over night and try again. If that doesn't work, dissemble it and see what's up.

One more question.. The helmet latch is right above the muffler.. Is it just me or is that a really bad place to hang your helmet, over a hot muffler?

As long as the helmet doesn't touch the muffler, not much can go wrong.

Loving the bike so far. I got her up to 55 today, and it was at 6k RPMs. That seems really high, but the red line looks to be 10k RPMs. Is this normal?

yep, completely normal. These bikes like to rev, especially the DOHC engines (which you and I have). There are always lots of people adjusting sprocket sizes to shave off a few rpms at high speeds, to make for more comfortable cruising. But honestly, these are more city bikes than cruisers or touring machines.

I kept shifting at around 3-4k RPMs and ending up in 5th gear at city speeds. When do you guys shift?

I don't have a tacho on my bike (PO took it off), but I tend to shift up quite quickly as well, and often spend time in 5th (or in my case even 6th) gear at somewhat lower speeds. Unless if there's space for me to throw the bike around a little, then I almost only use 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

Is the oil light supposed to come on when the key is on and engine off like a car would? It goes off when the engine is running.

Thanks!

Yes. Same way as a car. To check if the light works.

EDIT - Not sure I have the right manual. It says the fuel switch should have a RES position, but my fuel switch does not have that. Unless of course I am missing something.

EDIT - Videos:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3gKSS18TgiCMFlidGJEbUwwVXc/edit?usp=sharing
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3gKSS18TgiCU0Z3bDZEQkdEYzg/edit?usp=sharing
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3gKSS18TgiCcUtJMXBXanhaTHc/edit?usp=sharing

How does she sound?

From what I can tell from the pics (too bad there's not one of the petcock close-up) you have a standard petcock, so it should have a RES setting. There's ON, PRI, and RES.
Also what I saw is that your inline fuel filter (the cone-shaped thing) is the wrong way around. Get a new one and put it on right, it'll save you the trouble of stalling somewhere in the middle of nowhere because your filter is clogged.

can't watch the vids yet cuz I'm at work but I'll check em out later!

 

[C41n]

Thanks willem! I will take a picture of the petcock tomorrow.

Fuel filter was installed by PO. Since you pointed out it being upside down, I will definitely replace it with a new one asap!

cmsnl.com - Awesome resource!

 

[Lou Ranger]

Here's a thread which has a really good picture of what the stock petcock on the Maxim looks like - along with proper fuel filter installation.

http://www.xs400.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7574

Whatever you do don't just rinse and try to reuse the current one as it is presently accumulating any detritus on the inside of the screen where you can't see it. When the new one is in right-way-round, any detritus will accumulate on the outside of the screen and, if you happen to dislodge anything big, you will be able to see it and know about a pending blockage before you are left stranded.
It is possible that a PO replaced your petcock with a manual one without a RES, however, hopefully it is simply a matter of the RES being hard to read up under the tank lip at the top.

As to your steering lock, WD-40 definitely helped mine to be smoother. But I couldn't get it to work until I was told that you can't just turn it to lock after pushing down on the key. You have to push it down, release it and then turn it to Lock. I know, weird.
Mine works with the steering either all the way left or all the way right.

Changing the front sprocket was definitely something worthwhile given how I like to ride. You may want to read about my journey with this issue:

http://www.xs400.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7592

 

[willem]

Sounds good! sound is a bit weird in the first vid, but I think thats the wind and the phone (?) recording

idle rpms are good, throttle responds nicely. Was that full throttle there or not?

 

[C41n]

It looked close to red line, so I let off before hitting the end point on the turning of the throttle. Pictures later, after work.

Think you are right about the wind.

Lou that is really weird about the lock. Will give that a try. Thanks! Gonna check out that thread later also.