[Squishy forks on xs400]

Proper amount to begin? I'd say better best change out the fork oil. Manual say to flush old out when you changed it? Not to mention specified quantity?

This in another thread from Drewpy:

Posted 12 September 2009 - 02:51 AM

i use 20w fork oil for 200 lbs bloke

I'm about 165 lbs most of the time. Owners manual wants 142cm³ or 4.8 us oz. Isn't that just a bit less than 1/2 a can of pop? I admit I have a lousy measuring container Doesn't seem like much. I didnt flush it out but it drained for weeks while I struggled getting the caps off over the winter. Looking back at the manual, I neglected to, "slowly pump the forks up and down to distribute the oil" before putting the spring and cap back in. I didn't think the motor oil seemed right since my service manual talks about 'yamaha fork oil'. I'm going to get some specific fork oil tomorrow and try again without missing a step. I'll look for a more accurate guage too. Any ideas where to find a graduated cylinder or something of the sort? Pharmacy?

[Squishy forks on xs400]

I'm noticing the front fork is pretty saggy. My manual calls for 10w30 oil so I used that, and now I don't like how it is handling. Anyone know if I just dump more of it in, will it stiffen things up?

[Upgraded xs400 to Electronic Ignition]

I did it again last week, it backfires when its wrong way round.

go for it....

Just an update, cleaned the carbs out some more, reassembled, switched the wires over, and it started up like a champ!!

Just took it out for a 200km scoot, everything seems good.

[Upgraded xs400 to Electronic Ignition]

just connect and see, it won't do any harm as the sparks will still happen just at the wrong time.

I do it all the time and never bother writing down which is which.

Hey drewpy,

I've been having issues starting after reassembling the bike. I am getting spark and gas.. it never occurred to me that the the coils could be wrong. That would mean spark at the opposite time which makes sense because my bike isn't even thinking about starting just getting occasional backfires after running the starter a while. I thought I had read somewhere the HT wires cross over but that is not how I currently have it rigged. I'm gonna switch them and see what happens - nothing to lose!

[82 XS400SJ Master Cylinder]

A good site I found to locate part numbers for our bike is Star Motorcycles.

However, something very odd I found is that they do not list the 82 xs400sj as having a front disc brake. So, it is pretty confusing but by looking at the J and RJ models, I believe it is the same setup but I have yet to confirm it. They use part # 2RJ-25870-00-00, and this resembles what I have on mine. I wonder if the disc brake was an optional feature for this model.