First ride of the season...

[Mr Toga]

Just took the first ride of the season and it went slightly better than expected. This has been one of the first times I've not had to push the bike home! It seemed to have been starved for power however. The bike wasn't able to push through 5,000 rpm above 2nd gear. The carbs were "GS Resources" cleaned last season but never synched. Here is a picture of the number 4 spark plug:



The other three plugs looked similar. From my small knowledge, It looks as if I might be running a tad hot with some carbon deposits. The black part was dry indicating that it wasn't oil. Looking for someone with a little more knowledge than me to help though. Thanks guys

[DanTheMan]

The black is a sooty carbon deposit. It's running rich, not hot. Lean and hot your plugs would be very white.
I did my first ride of the season on Friday, didn't put in very many miles but it felt good. Ran up to 75 mph in 3rd, then shifted up, didn't really want to start out with a speeding ticket this year.

[7981GS]

Dirty air filter?
Choke left on?

Daniel

[Mr Toga]

Dirty air filter?
Choke left on?

Daniel

I'll check the airfilter tomorrow when I get the chance.

I never use choke as it doesn't seem to ever work. I simply leave it off

[TheCafeKid]

I'll check the airfilter tomorrow when I get the chance.

I never use choke as it doesn't seem to ever work. I simply leave it off

If you don't need to choke it to start it, especially when it's dead cold, you are definitely rich. Dial back on the mix screws.

[mike_of_bbg]

Yep, rich. Check your air filter. From Brian's tips in the mega-welcome:

9) Clean air filter and reinstall with only the lightest oil mist -- over-oiling and/or letting the filter get dirty is a common and critical mistake, and will make the bike run funny at low speeds and run rich. This may take a few tries.

[Mr Toga]

Thanks everybody. I'm going to back out those screws a bit and try to clean up the filter on wednesday. Will report back with thank yous

[TheCafeKid]

Thanks everybody. I'm going to back out those screws a bit and try to clean up the filter on wednesday. Will report back with thank yous

You actually need to turn them IN to lean it back out. But don't just do it willy nilly. Do a search on "Highest Idle Method" on the board here. That will help you in figuring out how much they need to be in or out, but basic rule of thumb is they need to be about 1.5 turns out from lightly seated. So you turn each one in, counting how many complete turns it takes (just to see where you were, this may help later if there are other problems to address) and then once your screw is in (don't tighten it gorilla tight, just till it stops turning easily) back each out one and a half turns. That will give you a good starting point to do highest idle method.

Good luck!

[Mr Toga]

Well I gave it a shot and no luck. Actually ran way worse today. I took off the air filter and checked it for debris or pools of the filter oil. Looked to be okay. Then I set my screws out to 2 turns to do the highest idle method. The problem I had was that no matter how far in or out I turned the screws, it made no difference. I tried riding the bike at 2 turns out but it wouldn't accelerate past 3000 rpm. Anyone have any idea whats going on?

[Octain]

Am I missing something here?
Stock airbox?
Have you cleaned the carbs?
Replaced all the O-rings?

I would even TRY to make it run right till I did the list of usuals.
Ya still have the welcome page Cliff gave ya?

Oh and be carful not to mess up those screws. Very easy to round off the head.

[Mr Toga]

Am I missing something here?
Stock airbox?
Have you cleaned the carbs?
Replaced all the O-rings?

I would even TRY to make it run right till I did the list of usuals.
Ya still have the welcome page Cliff gave ya?

Last year I did the full GS Resources clean, twice. I have the stock airbox and even weatherstripped the top. Carbs were cleaned last year with a set of Mr. Barr's o rings. Ended up getting 4 new OEM pilot jets and shimmed the needles. The bike sat this winter with lots of sea foam in it. I just replaced the coils last week with the Dynatec greens and had my ignitor box witched out with a dyna S last year. Also just adjusted the timing. Would it be advised to go through the carb cleaning again?

[Octain]

Have you had the bike running properly(almost perfect?) at any point? Perhaps this is something that may have developed during winter storage?

[Mr Toga]

Have you had the bike running properly(almost perfect?) at any point? Perhaps this is something that may have developed during winter storage?

Its never run right. Last year it would run fairly well for 15ish minutes when there would all of a sudden be a complete power loss. I think, however, that was due to faulty coils. They would always test in tollerance cold, but when I had been riding and it died, they were smoking hot and failed resistance testing.

[Octain]

I'd go through the carbs again and don't cut any corners. COMPLETLY remove every removable part except for the butterflies, soak the carb bodies in Berrymans for at least 20 hours. Then spray all the little passages with carb cleaner(ware safety glasses). Then spray all those passages again with compressed air. If ya don't have a compressor use aerosol spray like what you might spray your keyboard with.
Wash em with hot soapy water and a toothbrush. Spray again with compressed air.
Lightly quirt each metal part with the spray lube of your choice. I use WD40(not a word from the masses, it works).
Make dang sure your air passages are sealed. Air Box, cleaned and sealed.
New plugs wouldn't hurt.
Also would hurt to check out the valve adjustment tutorial if applicable with your bike.
Is your fuel valve(petcock) working properly?

[mike_of_bbg]

Its never run right. Last year it would run fairly well for 15ish minutes when there would all of a sudden be a complete power loss. I think, however, that was due to faulty coils. They would always test in tollerance cold, but when I had been riding and it died, they were smoking hot and failed resistance testing.

Sounds a lot like my faulty ignitor issue. And if the ignitor is working incorrectly it could cause the coils to heat up. If the dying problem comes up again give that a look. Resistance does increase with heat. Also check plug caps, I've had a couple go south on me and send resistance through the roof.