A new rider...

[Brian Moffet]

I read this : " you need to check the compression on a warm engine otherwise the values are wrong." on all the websites i read (french and english)

This is true.  The values will be wrong. However, follow David's advice on the oil in the cylinder (not a lot) and you can get close to the true values.  The reason you want to measure when warm is that the rings, cylinders, pistons will all expand with the heat.  You will get higher readings generally when warm.

Having said that, I measured my pressures when the bike was cold, and the pressures were low but not bad.  I was checking more for pressure and lack of pressure.  I wasn't checking for an actual value. 

Brian

P.S. we adopted our cat from a friend of a friend who is French.  Our cat kept the name Zazou.  So yes, I can hear the accent when I read your posts as well.

[YellowJacket!]

Thank for the advise David. Be sure i will do that.
No one said anything about my idea to use this bike for every day. So I suppose it's not a bad idea. What you think ?
J-Et.

I ride mine almost every day during the mild weather.  Pretty much all spring, summer and fall.  I avoid the winter not just because of the ice but mainly because of the salt on the roads to prevent the ice.
The Vision is a great all around bike.  I get good fuel mileage and it is relatively comfortable to ride.  Highway riding is acceptable but it really shines on the curvy back roads around where I live.

David

[Brian Moffet]

I commute on my bike in San Francisco.  Pretty much every day. It's not a great ride (view-wise) but the Vision handles it exceptionally well.  In the city, I get around 40 mpg, on the freeway that would be as high as 50.  If you learn to ride it well, you can swing it around almost like a dirt bike.

Brian

[jasonm.]

J-ET, There is no adjustment for the cam chain. It has an automatic tensioner. BUT if someone tried to adjust the valves' clearances by removing the cams. Then they could be "out of time". There is/was a tool to avoid having to remove the cams.  Question is , when is did run. DID it run smoothly and did the rpms rise quickly? And how much has anyone attempted to test ride it?  See the 10,000rpm on the tach. If it made it that far...it's not a cam chain issue.

[Rick G]

J-Et, lucky has a drawing to convert an end wrench to the Vision (factory) valve adjusting tool. The drawing may even be on his CD. 
On the first occasion when I reassembled my XZ engine , I accidentally set the rear cylinder, one tooth off . I dropped the engine down in the frame , far enough to remove the rear valve cover. 
The symptom was that it ran like crap (merde?) on the rear cylinder.
If this is the problem , then Jason is right . The Vision has hyvo chains driving the cams and they won't "jump time"  Some one had to mess with them.
I have on occasion used the Vision as sole transportation , it has only let me down twice in nearly 10 years . I had to push start it to get home once and on a tow truck once. I ride hundreds of miles from home , into the Great Mojave desert, year round  and depend on this 26 year old bike not to let me down. I'd ride it every day , with out concern .

Don't worry about compression testing on a cold engine , its done all the time to determine  the future course of  repair.

I'm a bit confused by Davids description on how to turn the engine over . It sounds like he is suggesting you remove the clutch adjusting cover , but there is only the 6mm (10 mm wrench size ) clutch free play adjusting nut in there.  I remove the cover on the left front of the engine , (with the YICS emblem on it, two small screws)  and rotate the engine CCW  GENTLY. Its a 14 mm nut  and you don't want to over do it (remove the spark plugs first) If you feel any binding STOP IMMEADATLY 

To rotate the engine with the electric starter , simply jump it from a nonrunning automobile.
Keep us posted ;) :)

[J-Et.]

Hy,

Tnak's for so much advises !

Can I get more informations about the Lucky's CD ? A search on the forum show me that you'r often said "you will find this on lucky's CD" but no more... 
What dose it contain ? Specifics technical instructions ? the history of his bike rebuild ? I suppose I have to send him a MP for ask to the CD.

I will take time to read again all your technical advises for being sure to well understand everything to this week-end.
Everything you said let me think this bike could be a nice first bike ! Even if it's older than me  ;) and if i well rebuild the engine...
This week-end i gonna talk Philippe about the bike rebuilt if he's definitely agree for let me doing it, I think the first thing i will do is to buy a tool for check the compression and do it firstable to anything else.

I near forgot, i get a date for the theoretical exam of my license in a couple of weeks. If i get it i gonna begin the driving lesson. :D

Rike your translation is fine ;) can you help me to understand " the rear cylinder" and "The Vision has hyvo chains driving the cams and they won't "jump time"  Some one had to mess with them." I relay not sure to well understand...

J-Et.

[YellowJacket!]

Rick,
Thanks for pointing that out about the left side cover. Its been a whili - fortunately - since I had to do that.

J-et. I'm not sure about "hyvo" chains but "had to mess" is a term we frequently use to describe when someone does something that they are not sure what they are doing.  If they knew what they were doing, the correct term would have been "tried to adjust" them.  ;D

David

[Rick G]

J-Et, The Vision has two cylinders , front (towards the front of the bike )  and rear( towards the rear of the bike)  The one nearest the petcock  (gasoline tap)  is the rear one .

A standard cam chain is much like a bicycle chain . It has the sprocket teeth coming through the chain. A Hyvo chain, (I believe it stands for high velocity)  uses a sprocket , that looks like a gear , t he chain consists of a series of plates riveted together. The chain wraps around the sprocket and the teeth do not protrude through.
I wish I had a Vision manual in French , it would be much easier to describe, even with out the proper punctuation.

[J-Et.]

Hy,
Your basic explanations help me to be sure of the deferents words, thank you  ;)

Don't spend to much time to help me yet i don't want you to lost your time for nothing if i can't repair the bike...  sory, if i can't have to mess  ;D
I will take pictures of the bike this week-end and take a look to the mechanic manual who is in french and english.

J-Et.

[YellowJacket!]

J-ET

After reading you first post about the problems the bike has, I really thing it is a combination of two or three problems that are common to the Vision.
1. The carbureators are dirty - very common for this bike especially if it has not been run in a long time.  The symptom is either that the bike will not start or it will run terribly.
2. The "rev limiter" circuit is bad.  The rev limiter is a function of the ignition system that prevents the motor from going above a certain RPM limit.  If the circuit malfunctions, it will make the bike act like it is running on only one cylinder.  That will make it seem like the cam chain is not working and the timing is off.
3. the carbureators are badly out of "sync".  Translation - each carb is not drawing in equal amouunts of air.

The good news is that each of the problems can be fixed quite easilly and with a little help from us over the internet.  ;D

Best Regards,

David

[J-Et.]

David
I hope you'r right !
(if "sync" mean synchronism, i've understand but thank's for the translation  :) it could be usefull...)
I'm impatient to see the bike by myself to mad my own idea about that.

If it was not clear : Every thing I said about the bike is what Philippe tell me about what append almost fifteen years ago... He never toutch the bike to that time ! That's why there is so much "bordel" (in french) around the bike and why I only can see the front wheel yet.
The only thing I can said from what i've see is the red color of the bike ;)

I tell you more after the week-end...

J-Et.

[Tiger]

so much "bordel" (in french) ...

...in English...brothel :o  :-[  :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

               8).......TIGER....... 8)

[YellowJacket!]

Oh, one other thing I forgot to mention is oil in the starter.  Once again, it is a problem that is somewhat common to the bike and is caused between a poor seal between the starter nose and the engine case.  If there is oil in  the starter, the bike will not crank (the starter will not start the motor)

Regarding synchronization - it is when both carburetors draw in the same amount of air.  Sometimes it is called "balancing the carbs".  It involves adjusting the airflow through both carbs until it is relatively equal with regards to the amount of air that each cylinder needs to operate properly.

David

[J-Et.]

I'm learning useful things about the bike and the words  ;D ;)

I've read in a frech website how to "balancing the carbs" easily with only two old bottle, oil and plastic tubes.
If anyone knew this way (read if you ask me for  ::) ), i will translate it. If it could help some one...

J-Et.

[YellowJacket!]

J-ET,

Here is another website that we often refer to that has lots of tips and instructions how to do things.  Its owned and operated by our own ROV member "Lucky".
Its in English but pretty easy to understand and has lots of pictures.  It also has a section about balancing the carbs and instructions for making a very simple tool for doing the job.

www.xz550.com

All the best,

David

[J-Et.]

I gonna spend many times on this website, thank's for the link.
i may have no internet on the we, so see you next week for the pictures of the bike !

[J-Et.]

Hi,
A good and a bad news.
The good one it's ok, i gonna repair the bike !  :)
I hope to bring the bike to my parent's home for chrismas. (i find no place near to my home yet... and i have to clean the garage first...)
A picture of the bike (after removing many, many stuffs... and bring everything back after...)



The bad news is the top of the front cylinder is open as you can see but, after a quick look, i think nosing is missing.

The bike as 43000km.
I bring home the "XZ550'82 service manual" who is in French, English and German. it could be usefull  ;)

What you think about the bike ?

I also had one question, I find compression checking tool but there are tree sizes 10,12 and 14 mm. I find the kind of spark plug in the service manual but not the size... I also take a look on the internet but i find no where the size of the spark plug hole...

J-Et.

[Night Vision]

the spark plug threads are 10mm

go back and look for parts that belong to Vision .... like the gas tank ;)

[Rick G]

The plugs are D8EA , NGK's  they are 12mm ,  C plugs are 10 mm  such as C7Hs .

Many compression test gauges come with adapters to cover all three sizes.
You need to find all the parts , the right, removable frame rail is not visible  it the pic,

It looks like some of my garages , buried  in stuff! :D :D :D ;)

[J-Et.]

All the missing parts (i think) are in a bag you can't see on the picture (back to the bike)
I just hope all the screw are in the bag... the tank gas is easy to see all the littles things....  :-\
When i gonna move the bike to my parent's home I will take picture of all the bike and parts and have a check list of all the different parts i get. To be sure noting missing.

Rike, I think most of the garage in the word are like this  ;D (I want one !  ::)) Actually there are 5 bikes on Philippe garage but only one is usable (a Kawasaki 1400 GTR) and the XZ is not the oldest...

The spark plug in the service manual are : DR8ES-L (NKG). I misunderstand or you disagree about the sizes Rike and Night V.
I will look for an other gauge with different sises adapter from 10 to 14 mm, it will be fine.  ;)

Is that a big trouble the top of front cylinder to stay open from 18 years ?

J-Et.