New to riding and XS400!

[TomFX4]

Hello! My name is Tommy and I'm from North Carolina. I just bought my first motorcycle. I've been riding Yamaha dirt bikes since I was young. I'm 22-years-old and just bought a 1982 Yamaha XS400 Heritage Special! I don't know much about the bike at all. I bought it from someone who bought it to learn to ride on. I'm just learning to ride myself. I paid $300 for it!

It needs some things. It has a small oil leak I have to investigate. The wiring looked whacked on it. The rear left turn signal appears to have melted (uh-oh..). A paint job wouldn't hurt. Needs tires. And the worst.. Doesn't appear to be running completely on the left side. The exhaust only gets moderately hot. When I pull the ride side plug, it dies. When I pull the left side plug, it continues to run. The spark plug wire on the left side shocks me when I tough it. I'm going to replace the wires and boots, and clean the carb. I'm knowledgeable with diesel trucks. I have a 2000 F350. So this will be a learning process for me! I can't even find the oil filter on this thing! The guy I got it from said it didn't have one. I'm figuring this bike probably wasn't taken care of that well. I don't intend on getting rid of it.

Sorry for rambling! So a few questions..
Where does everyone suggest getting parts from?
Are these bikes fairly easy to work on?
Are they fairly reliable if taken care of?

 

[Lou Ranger]

Welcome to the Forum.
Here's a link to a thread which will get you off to a great start. If you follow it and don't take any short-cuts, you will have the best chance of NOT giving yourself additional problems to fix, :

http://www.xs400.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10595
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It has a link to the manual for your bike. Among other things, it will show you where your oil filter is.

 

[scifiredneck]

welcome! I have the same bike so I can relate to what you are up against. you have come to the right place for a wealth of info and guidance. best advice I can give to start is look here for any questions you have using the search bar and if you aren't 100% sure about something all you have to do is ask and info will come flooding in to you. cheers and good luck!

 

[BBS360]

Welcome! Looks like a good bike.

I just saw the exact same model for sale here but in MUCH worse shape. Looked like it got dropped on both sides.
Yours should be a lot easier to work on than it would have been.

 

[TomFX4]

Thanks Fellas! I'm going to begin replacing the spark plug wires and boots this weekend. See if that clears it up and helps it any. I just checked (actually just found) the air filters. They appeared to be very old and said Yamaha on them. One was falling apart. I'm afraid pieces may have gotten into the engine. I'm going to rebuilt the carb and try to do some cleaning on it. It has a small oil drip coming from somewhere. I need to find it.