Sir Puma

Just finished taking a safety course offered by Pacific Northwest Motorcycle Safety Inc here in Washington state. I took the beginners course as the only thing I've ridden other than a bicycle was a moped some 25 years ago in high school. I did so well that not only did I get the highest score in the class which had a couple long time riders, but I got offered a job as an instructor. Since I'm self employed and don’t make enough to help out with the household bills I’m seriously considering it. And it’s loads of fun. Marcus

Yes there was a LOT of fuel in the oil, but the bike had sat for a few years before I got it. It has a vaccuum controlled fuel valve and if it's been leaking fuel while in the On position then I need to either rebuild or replace the valve. Since the little handle for the valve is broken and hard to turn with just my fingers I'm leaning toward replacing the whole thing. I just wasn't sure if there was an actual Off position.

So in my intro I described lots of fuel in the engine oil. I was wondering if there is an "off" position to the fuel tap. If it drained a lot (several pints) of fuel into the engine oil then I'm guessing that there is more fuel than what's in the carbs draining. If there's no "off" position then I may have to replace the valve if I can't find a complete rebuild kit. Thanks for your help. Marcus

Thanks for the welcome. I looked at the floats when I cleaned up the carb and they seemed ok. I can pull them back out though and toss them in a bowl of warm water. As I said, I'm not new to mechanicing but these motorbikes are different machines than the cars, trucks and aircraft that I'm used to. The next major investment will be new tires. The front one is in rough shape (warn and cracking.) Already got a finger shaking from a friend of mine who is a long time biker and wants to make sure I get new tires.

Greetings. I'm a first time motorcycle owner and I recently picked up a very used Yamaha XJ650J. Now I'm not a total noob when it comes to mechanics. I'm over 40 and been a mechanic of one kind or another for most of my life. This bike has sat for a few years and wasn't in good running shape so I did some work. I dumped the remaining fuel out of the tank and cleaned the petcock fuel filter (had some bits of rust in there.) Cleaned out the carbs (had lots of very fine rust powder built up in there.) Put in new plugs. Changed out the drive line oil and just changed out the engine/transmission oil and filter. Now the manual says the engine oil should be 3.3 US Quarts (with filter change) 20W40 for temps over ~46° F. What came out was about 4 or 5 quarts of watery blackish liquid that smelled strongly of old gasoline. Now I'm hoping that just sitting for about 3 years meant that fuel somehow made it down into the gearbox. Or the previous owner was a complete morron and put fuel into the oil. But I'm wondering if I should be looking for some major wear or damage somewhere. Anyone know how fuel could be getting into the engine oil? Anyway, hello all and thanks in advance for any advice/help. Marcus