junker

ok, now Clymer gives this huge step-by-step oin how to test the geni, and in the following section titled ; "Regulator and Rectifier" it bluntly says that Yamaha provides no info on how to test this component. Do You know how to test it? What should the voltages and amperes be? I feel that you are right, and i have found a replacement already, Rick's Motorsports Aftermarket Parts... So yea if you know how to check it, let me know. I have touched it with the back of my hand and it never feels overly hot, at all. That's about all i know on the rec/reg. Thanks in advance, Junk

i never got to check my components today, as i forgot about an appointment i made before work. Anyway, i started wondering; would corroded terminals really do that? Making there be almost no charge at low RPMs and Super charge at High RPMs? I am going to replace the plug no matter, but i was just honestly wondering. I am good with solid, metal, exploding gas things, and electrical issues always puzzle me... I am trying to broaden my knowledge on the subject. From my current understanding, i would think that if there is a current flow at one set of conditions, and the corrosion issue is a constant, there should be current flow with another set of conditions that are supposed to function, regardless of the constant corrosive effect. Basically my question is: -Does the bad effects of nasty connectors get exponentially worse as a voltage decreases? Also, what would cause smoke to come out of the crankcase breather. I think my bike was at one point a California, USA model, with all the emissions systems and tubes, wires, and mechanisms that seem to have been very cleverly removed and turned into other things by a previous owner, like the breather! instead of going into the air box (which doesn't exist anymore) it is just a tube and a breather filter at the end. Only problem with it is that it smokes. A lot after riding or revving high for long periods, not so much at idle or below 5k RPM. The oil level is ok according to the sight-glass on the clutch cover. Water Vapor would have boiled out after one ride right? It does this every time i ride it and come to a stop, it smells like burning oil, but there is no liquid oil coming out of the breather or smoke from the exhaust, just a chimney for a breather... The Bike Is Awesome At The High End, -and if i don't have to ever pass a smog inspection! my brain hurts... bedtime

getting the carbs off shouldn't be that hard... you just need to improvise tools and make up a strategy. This is how i do it. Take a Black & Decker (or Whatever Brand) electric drill gun, Drill gun not really required... take the long extension bit with the drill and insert the correct size Hex key in the end, i think it is like 7mm or something.... Find a socket wrench and choose a socket that will fit onto the drill-side of your extension bit. Also have a regular allen wrench handy. Slip the homemade long allen Wrench between the two outer carbs on each side and begin removing the upper bolts that mount the intake boots to the motor (ONLY TRY TO REMOVE THE OUTER CARB BOOTS!) Next take the regular allen wrench and remove the bottom bolts, they are pretty accessible, but use whatever you need to if they aren't for you. With the outer carb boots off, loosen the two scissor clips on the middle two carb boots. Make sure they are really loose. Begin to pull the carb assembly toward the back of the bike, you may use the frame for leverage, but BE CAREFUL! Carburetors are very delicate. Do not pull upward, as this will make it harder to remove and encourage cracks in older carb holder boots. the carbs should 'Pop" right out with a little finesse. Take the carbs, do your thing, clean em out, fix the float heights, reassemble them and "pop" them back in. Getting them into the boots is a little harder and may require brute strength, but I can now do this entire procedure in under 1 hour. (regular cleanings are on my to do list everyday almost )

Thank you. Did You Know there is a post in this forum regarding you? You are really cool, i have to agree! Thanks for the guidance on where to look, i will test my generator and rec/reg unit today. Clymer says the resistance between any two wires from the generator should be .5-.6 ohms. I remember them being badly corroded and nasty looking, i bet that is the problem or is contributing to it in a large way. I should have thought of it before, but you jogged my memory - thanks again!

On second thought, it also seems a lot like a clutch issue, do you ever have problems with shifting or slippage or any weird noises coming from the crankcase, like a chattering???

also, the pilot mixture might be a little off. At those RPM's i think it begins to transition into the idle circuit in the carbs... just something to consider. If that is the case i don't think balancing the carbs would have much effect, i would have a dealer check those pilot screws.

FUSE! Check the fuses! Yamaha Likes To put certain lights on one circuit, while seemingly related lights go on another. Even if the fuse is not visually blown, i suggest replacing them all, sometimes it is hard to tell, and fuses are pretty cheap! You got nothing to lose

First i want to say that i really appreciate all the help i have gotten from this forum over the past couple of years. You guys rock, and you basically got my vintage bike on the road for me! I try to help out with advice for others when i can, and i hope it makes a difference for those people. My 1988 FZ600 has had issues with the wiring for as long as i can remember but i finally got the courage to tear apart the wiring harness and using a wiring diagram thanks to Clymer, i tied up all loose ends with the electricals! - so i thought. I figured out the main problem with the starter being super slow and stopping and squealing is the battery not being juiced enough. I had not considered this because it was a brand new battery, charged with a automatic float charger specifically for motorcycles. However it is drained, but not while the bike is off, hmmmmmm... I found something very interesting while riding it again. As i went to turn, cars kept honking or acting weird, like they were confused, and speeding past me. I then realized my blinkers were barley working at all, at any RPM below 3,000!!! After revving past that, they were brighter than hell, and blinking really fast too, so the blinking speed changed with my RPM... ? Also now aware of this, i put on my high beams and looked at the dash lights, and the gauge lights, they dimmed at anything below 3,000RPM again!!! I got it home and hooked the battery up to my volt meter, the battery was charging at any RPM above..... you guessed it: 3,000-3,500RPM! Below that, the voltages actually began decreasing, leading me to believe the bike was running off the battery! Is my Generator bad? Is this somewhat Common? Does Anyone Know where to get a stator rebuild kit for an '88 FZ600???

the intake manifolds are known as carb holders, or carb boots, and mine are all cracked and nasty too. You can get them from places like bikebandit.com or denniskirk.com, just input your specific model and they usually go for around $10-$60 each. If you order them specifically for your model it can get pricey, but if you measure the diameters and such, you may be able to get cheaper universal ones that will fit. good Luck, please tell how it goes, cuz my FZ-600 is all whacky with the stuff you mentioned too, (same engine as XJ adn YX Radians).

first off, your FZ makes my mouth water.... If you are going to rip it apart, maybe you might want to sell its remains?? anyway, from what i have gathered, the xj, fj, yx, and FZ all share the same time period and also the SAME ENGINE. There is a debate on another thread regarding the differences within each model number of the engine but i am going to tell you: "IT IS THE SAME ENGINE!" The FZ used Mikuni BS-30 Round-slide (30mm) carburetors (took me a long time to find that out.... ) that are now very hard to find, and no longer made by yamaha or mikuni. I believe the YX Radian used slightly different carburetion as to balance the difference in exhaust between the two bikes, but in reality, i truly doubt that this small difference would halt the radian's engine from running. Now, if you have the old carbs for the Radian, they may just need a good cleaning, this is not a very hard task, and that way, you would retain the radian's factory carburetion with no potential problems. The battery is a battery, go to bikebandit.com and get a 12V12A battery or go to Wal-MArt and get a motorcycle battery. All the battery does is quickly rotate your starter which gives your engine a running start, any 12v motorcycle battery should do fine. The FZ, Radian, FJ, Xj and even the FZR's all the way up till 1999, and FZR-400's all used the same brake master cylinders, front and back, so if you want to swap handlebars, there should be no problem getting them to fit- except now looking at your photo it seems that your race-modified FZ had a brake swap, probably a YZF reservoir. USE this! it will give you better braking and it obviously fits! if you dont want it, name a price and i will take it off your hands! Also, if you want to do a mod like putting clip-on handlebars on the radian, be prepared for some modifications that may be necessary, like finding an aftermarket headlight bucket and/or fairing. Be creative, who says you have to keep all the old stuff? The entire ignition between the two bikes are the same, except the CDI box, which you can just use from the bike you want. the major differences between the bikes is the frame, the suspension and the gas tank/body work, not much else. Now apparently there are some differences between the specific intricacies of the YX-600 Radian, and The FZ-600 motors regarding the generator and a wire connection, but buddy, if your generator on either motor is ok, don't go ripping the engine apart, it is a big headache. you can just leave one connector un-connected and it runs fine. The wiring harness may be a bit different in certain places but nothing that may halt the project, so no worries. They are basically the same machine! if you find parts for the FZ, it should fit the YX, and FJ parts will fit into a XJ, and all possible combination in between. What they bicker about in other threads is whether the 2HW motor is water-cooled or not. The FZ-600 Is AIR COOLED however, there is a radiator looking OIL COOLER mounted in the front, you can trace the oil lined coming from it all the way down to the place where you put your oil filter cover.... i guess you might say the FZ and it's common motor is "Oil-Cooled", lol. P.S., don't get a steering damper, if you learn to ride with it and then go to a bike without one (99.9% of all bikes) you will be really uncomfortable, something you don't want to be at 70MPH. They are meant for track bikes to dampen the cause of the speed man's wobble at 200MPH! what you shoul look into is frame-sliders and or bar-end-sliders that will keep your bike pristine if and when you drop it. Go to a microfiche website like bikebandit.com or ronayers.com and look at the schematics for both bikes and see for yourself, part numbers give a lot of info

wow! when did this all go down!?! where was I? I am only 17 and love my '88 FZ-600 like a friggen god, i even started listening to 80's rock more frequently, so seriously don't feel weird Nath, you have a way to come if you wanna compete (fun note: there is a nostalgic glimpse of a Yellow FZ in the movie clips to the old game "Road Rash 3DO" that came out in mid-90's) Anyway, I didnt know the fz and radian engines had so much different, i know one thing for sure though, as far as the ignition goes, the pickup coil on the side of the crankcase is the same, so that would suggest the timing is likely to be about the same. And the only thing that might negatively effect the change in timing might be the valves (i've heard stories of them snapping off in older GSXR's when the piston hits em) and the ignition coils that you obviously have from the FZ and the Ignitor which control the sparks, so besides the valve and cam timing, there should be no electrical swaps needed for the job right? Oh and to Jim and the other guy that were arguing for awhile there, i know that my 1988 FZ600 IS NOT water cooled, however it has a radiator-looking "oil-cooler" mounted in the front.... I'm pretty sure no FZ's were water cooled until the FZR came out in '89. Perhaps the fellow who claimed to have a water-cooled model actually had a FZ with an FZR engine swap?????? possibility... so how has it come Nath, is it done by now, on the road yet, or are you still hitting into Yama-hahaaa brick walls. P.S. i have an oil somewhere on the lower half of my case, it drips onto my exhaust that is under the oil pan and makes a smokey, smelly, nasty experience when it idles. I have narrowed down the search to something below the clutch cover due to lack of oil anywhere above it. My first thought was the oil filter cover, but feeling around there gave no oily evidence. I just thought that with you having the knowledge of stripping our mutual bikes down to bare bones that you might know of some sneaky little place under there that oil might like to seep from when the bike is running (not much of a leak when bike is off). Anything might be helpful, thanks Also, like chris said, any wiring diagrams you might have would be a hugely-astronomically-awesome help!!! thx, junker

mine were doing that, they are overflow tubes, and careful! the gas will mess up the paint if it sits on your generator and starter housings! I made a video on this on youtube: U can Basically Fix This problem By taking off the carb bowls, holding the floats' retaining tab (in center, connected to bottom of shut-off valve) with a flat screwdriver while EVER SO SLIGHTLY pulling down on the floats themselves. DO not tug, yank or punch! the tab is made of cheapo yama-haha butter-brass and breaks very easily! Remember, you will probably be looking at the carb at upside down of its natural position, and you want the floats to actuate the shutoff at a lower float level in the bowls... so pull upward on floats when the carb is inverted This is not approved by any top mechanics union or anything and please, don't hold me responsible for anything you break, it is just my quick suggestion to a problem that you and I share. Remember that carburetors are delicate! P.S. if your carbs are a little weathered, i suggest replacing all the screws for the float bowls, (4 Per Carburetor), home depot has stainless and brass ones for cheap, or any hardware store does too, and you will not have to worry about easily stripping carb screws again for awhile

looks pretty sporty for a dual purpose

yea! the Bridgestone BattlAx! Supposed to be great tires, nice mixture of performance grip and touring lifespan. they're relatively cheap too! as soon as i get my bike on the road im probably going to get BT-016's, they're the more race/performance oriented BattlAx's.

were the carburetor joints (intake Boots) of the FZR-400 ('88-'89ish) metal? I saw a video on youtube of a guy polishing what he claimed to be the carb holders for a fzr-400! Another Question I Have is if the carb holders are compatible with a first generation fz600? I also read on a summary of the fz-600 that it was basically a bored out fzr-400 motor, if thats true, then there should be a lot in common. But given that if they are metal; there wont be much room for error as like the cracked rubber ones that i have that are very forgiving to bending, and squishing.

OH MY GOD! -I took the time to look at all the different schematics and cross reference all the part numbers and found that the 1988 FZ-600 has identical brakes to all FZR-600 Years up to the end of their production in 1999. On Top Of that they also are identical to those used on the FZ-750, The early ('87-'88) "Genesis" FZR-1000's, FZR-400's, the 1986 FJ-1200 and from the trend appearing probably all other years as well. Talk About Not Wasting Anything In Production! "Make One Brake System For Every Model!" Lol! Wow, that was a big discovery for me.... The Early Yamaha Sportbikes All Have The Same Master Cylinder, Part No. 34586-001 Now my next question is: Would one of those master cylinders from the later FZR-1000's or the YZF's give me better braking>? and if so do you think it is possible or rather relatively easy to swap them out?

oh, thanks man! so like an 89-90'ish should fit! i thought so... I mean it just mounts onto the clip-on right? so the only limiting factor would be the handlebar size, fluid-line fitting, and the caliper possibly if the fluid lines don't match up right?

I will Admit, i am not super familiar with the 400's of the FZR family. My FZ-600 has a pair of wires that are supposed to come out of the bottom-front end of my tank (dosen't function, but i dont really need it). Look There for the connection, given that you have an FZR-400 it is probably ripe in age and this slip-on connector may be corroded. Also if this is a reserve inside the tank, than there is probably a connection to the petcock, you should easily find the wires there and trace them into the rest of the circuit. Having an 1988 FZ i know how difficult the task of finding wiring diagrams can be for older bikes, however i beleive i do actually have a wiring diagram for an FZR-400 or early 600 but im pretty sure it is a 400. I forgot where i got it from but i will try to post a picture. Email me if you want me to send it to you, my email is [email protected]

I know that on My '88 FZ600 that there is a lot of stuff bolted to the "oil Cooler', i'm not sure if your water-cooled FZR has an oil cooler, but it would only make sense that there should still be one within a five or so year difference, look for threaded holes around the radiator itself and front parts of the frame or block that look like something belongs in them... good luck man

Ok My first Question, I Feel Needs A Little Background So People Dont Call Me A Tard: When I got My Fz600 It seemed Like Someone Probably Raced It Before, Probably back in the late 80's, Judging from the passenger foot pegs looking like the bike got dropped at a high speed and slid on them for a mile or two...lol they are now sharpened little spike-pegs (replacing them soon). Anyway, there is also other mods, the most notable being the tail fairing, which is definitely not stock FZ-600, or FZR600 (which the side Fairings Are). The Front Wheel Is A HONDA, Given That It IS Stamped Into The Rim... Also A Yoshimura Slip On that is apperently no longer made, I looked. This waqs definitely intended for performance, if not racing. Anyway, I Rode It around my Yard and ended up dropping it on a hill with wet grass, Broke the windscreen and snapped the brake handle. I found a zero gravity windscreen for $75-ish at their website, but when i orders another brake handle, i realized that the front master cylinder IS NOT STOCK! That is awesome to know, had i not broken the lever. Apparently it is a NISSIN Brake System in the front. I looked Far & wide and cannot find any replacement levers for this specific cylinder! My thinking is; why not just revert back to the stock cylinder, in case i ever drop it again, finding replacement levers will be easy! But Then I got To thinking, a NEW Stock cylinder is around $100-ish from bike bandit, however a newer and more technologically advanced FZR or YZF brake Cylinder is about the same price! I wonder If it would fit my handlebar? the Mounting bracket seems to look the same, but unfortunately there is no exact measurements that i can compare against... I wonder If the FZR or YZF Master Cylinders would match my existing fluid hoses To the Caliper? They must be fairly similar, right? Has ANyone Ever Done This Swap Before? Would I have to get FZR/YZF calipers and maybe even a new wheel to match, or could this be possible to just replace the master cylinder????

a cheap dremel only cost me $25 in New York Here, and the little cutting wheels this thing has is perfect for cutting off bolt heads! Awesome Tool, and small enough for almost any application on a bike (I use it a lot!) -Hope This Helps With Your Stuck Bolt Heads!

When i first bought my 1988 FZ-600 there was much wrong with it. Among the many things was a very strange headlight issue that i actually procrastinated with for a year because it definitely seemed like a bad wiring issue. What would happen is that the headlights worked when I first bought the bike, then after getting it running and connecting a few things that were disconnected, the lights simply wouldn't work, very suddenly! i later figured out that the High beams would work, BUT they acted as a kill switch when the bike was running... so it was either no lights or no engine. The fuse was fine, but i replaced it just in case. -the plug was on snug (duh) and everything seemed fine except that they didn't work. So I prepped my bike for winter and got a new job, blah-blah-blah anyway it got put in the back of my mind until now that its spring and i wanna ride it! I got to thinking and remembered that the battery was dead when i bought it and i thought it was a little strange that the key was in the "ON" position when i picked it up. "Hmmmmmmm..... maybe the bulbs burned out because the last guy left it on for a night, or two..." - i thought. So being as stingy as I am, i Bought one new headlight ($9.99) and popped the sucker in! Voila! It works! Both! So, this is not something i need help with, but just felt an obligation after all the help this forum gave me last summer, to post to help someone else out if they get this same puzzling problem with an older Yamaha, i know the YX Radian, FJ600 and XJ600 share alot of parts and systems with my FZ600, so chances are that the wiring is the same. HOPE THIS HELPS!

ok, the shift knob head thing was scraping against, and sticking to; the sprocket cover, there was a nice shiny gash in the paint when i removed the shift arm from the shaft with the splines. I figured out that it was previously installed upside-down and backwards... and the kid told me he was a "mechanic" probably on lawnmowers... Anyway, the bike does shift slightly better now, being free to shift in either direction. And I did find all the gears, even 1st, it is below Neutral like most motorcycles (thank God). It is just hard to put into 1st or 4th, 5th, and 6th... you have to snap it either up or down very, very quickly, but to get into neutral it only takes a slight push... go figure. My new question is; Is this average for a bike that has sat for a long time? And with normal riding and shifting will it loosen up whatever is wrong with it? Is it still sounding like the clutch plates? If not, what does it be a part of? Thanks - Junker

My 1988 FZ600 Has a temperamental transmission. The clutch does nothing until almost all the way out, then it is like a hair trigger engagement. Also, I can't figure out why, but after it goes into neutral, i keep pushing it down and there seems to be NO first Gear! Was The FZ600 equipped with a GP style shift Pattern? Or is there a major problem with it? Also, I don't know how many gears there is supposed to be; I have ridden it around a few times and it seems like there is only two gears, Neutral and 1 click up. I can hear it click in after one push up, but after that i don't think it goes to anything else, is there something special i have to do, like get it rolling or something? This is very confusing. Just looking for a quick answer from anyone who knows specifically. thx.

i guess you don't know my whole saga on my FZ600... lol The charging system is fine, when i get the bike running it doesn't even want a goddamn battery taking up space on its back ... But the kid i bough it from must've just left the bike sitting for over a year, maybe two. The battery looks new but is completely dead, Gas was gummed up in the carbs and the oil was really gross when i changed it. I believe the battery is dead-dead because it lost it's charge over time and lack of use and recharging. I called NAPA Today and they told me that NO, you cannot add new acid to the old acid that is in there or it will blow up in my face! They said I would definitely be better off buying a new battery. I am going to try Wally-World like Welch mentioned. Thanx Peoples