1992 Seca II - Sounds like a Harley? Please help.

Just bought a 1992 Seca II which has only 1137 miles. It was not ridden since 1994.

Replaced battery, fuel in tank, did oil change, checked plugs (look OK physically), sprayed a bit of oil into each cylinder before running.

After a few tries the engine started but the sound at idle more more like a Harley than a Yamaha.

Finally, I noticed that the exhaust for cylinders #2/4 was cold...in fact I could put my hand on them w/out getting burned....while #1/3 would sizzle a wet rag.

To confirm, while the engine was running, I pulled the spark plug wires for cylinders #2/4 and the engine kept running normally. I couldn't do this with either cylinders #1/3.

So...I suspect that I have an ignition/spark/coil? (I don't have a repair manual yet) issue with cylinders #2/4.

Any suggestions or 'typical' Yamaha issues for me to be aware of?

I figure next I could pull the plug wires and plugs out to see how the spark at the electrode compares for all 4 cylinders.....or swap plug wires (both ends) for the working/non-working cylinders to see if the cold cylinders move.

It could be one of the the coils, could be wiring but after 11 years of not being run, you can consider the carbs need serviced also ( cleaning the carbs and fuel tank interior) I dont remember which coil fires which two cylinders but I would look for a spark between the plug wire and something metal on the engine. Hope you checked the compression before you bought it.

betabilly...thank you for your input. answers:

Cylinders #1/4 share a coil.

Cylinders #2/3 share a coil.

I've noticed that for both non-running cylinders, they are powered by the LOWER plug wire coming out of the two different coils.

As a next step, I plan to swap wires for cylinders #2/3 to see if I can get the cold cylinder to change from #2 to #3.

Stupidly, I tried to swap plug wires yesterday between cylinders #3/4 and nothing followed but backfiring (I forgot that the coil timing for cylinders 3/4 should/may be different).

It would have been easy if both cylinders were tied to the same coil.....but it appears that I'll have to hope for a "positional" issue for coils to be the issue. Both ends of the coil that mount to the frame were quite rusty...but not sure what impact that might have.

I do realize that I may have to get into the carbs but that is my last preference at this point, until I can verify that it is not electrical.

Other suggestions welcome from all...particularly any current/past Seca II owners.

I can't seem to find much on the net for there motorcycles....other suggestions to find those riders are appreciated too!

This site is maintained by XJ owners, and they are very willing to give advice.

http://www.xjowners.com/index.html

This site has some parts that I had a hard time finding. To include the full fairing if you want it.

http://www.targa-acc.com/main_powersearch.html

I also have a 1992 Seca II. I haven't had any problems with it yet, besides the battery and spitting the chain, both with in a week of buying it.

I have a few other sights, but will need time to relocate them. I am just recovering from a reformat.

One more thing. On the first link (XJ Owners) website, if you look around, you will find a XJ Maintainance CD. Those people live by that CD. I haven't bought mine yet; however, I did ask if it was worth it and was overwhelmed with outstanding reponses about it. It is supposed to cover most maintainance on almost any XJ. I did look and the 1992 XJ600SD/C are included in the CD. If it is as good as they claim, you might want to invest $10 in the CD.

Jeremy

Madd-man.

Wow...I am really happy to hear that there is a small group of enthusiasts out there for the XJ. I'll give it a look.

I'll pick up one of the parts-guide. I'm sure I could use it.

Thanks again for the sites...any others, as time permits, are appreciated.

Good-day!

Not sure how often this issue has been seen, but after receiving my Clymer repair manual, found that when checking the secondary coil resistance -- for both sets of coils -- that the resistance was ~ double of the allowable specification (~ 33,000 ohms). I'm not sure if this is the only issue, but Clymer said to replace the coils.

What does everything think?