Update on my 450's cold left cylinder

[Guest]

After going through all the troubleshooting steps advised here, my bike is happily running on two cylinders again.

We ended up taking the carbs off and opening them up. Even though we had disassembled them a few months back and gave them a thorough cleaning, a little debris had got into the throat causing the float to stick.

Prior to resorting to pulling the carbs, we tested the plugs, swapped the plugs, swapped the wires, tested spark and compression, checked the petcock before resorting to the carbs.

[Nessism]

Good job figuring out what's wrong.

Have you completed all the bikes maintenance yet? Adjusted the valves and fixed the charging system wiring?

You can't stop at just getting the bike running decently. You need to do maintenance to avoid future problems.

[OldVet66]

Even though we had disassembled them a few months back and gave them a thorough cleaning, a little debris had got into the throat causing the float to stick.

That debris came from some place. Either the carburetors are not as clean as you thought and stuff broke loose, or it came from the tank. If it was the tank, it will happen again. Maintenance covers 100% of the bike.

[Tamara]

Good job figuring out what's wrong.

Have you completed all the bikes maintenance yet? Adjusted the valves and fixed the charging system wiring?

You can't stop at just getting the bike running decently. You need to do maintenance to avoid future problems.

I'm actually the original owner for my bike and have pretty much religiously kept up on maintenance. I went through the wiring with a fine tooth comb back in March. We checked the valves and they were right in spec, no adjustment needed . The only thing left to do is get new rear shocks. Everything else has been done.

My carb issues were my own stupidity of forgetting to drain the gas after letting it sit for an extended period.

[Tamara]

That debris came from some place. Either the carburetors are not as clean as you thought and stuff broke loose, or it came from the tank. If it was the tank, it will happen again. Maintenance covers 100% of the bike.

Tank is clean as a whistle after gallons of vinegar and shaking it. This was my first ever do it myself carb clean so I'm not terribly surprised that it took me a few tries to get it right.

[OldVet66]

You are certainly on the right track then.

[nejeff]

Opinions vary but I would add an inline filter

[Tamara]

Opinions vary but I would add an inline filter

I have an inline filter

[chuck hahn]

Could be debris from the fuel line itself decaying between the filter and the carbs. The rubber does deteriorate and can send crap to the bowls.

[Tamara]

Could be debris from the fuel line itself decaying between the filter and the carbs. The rubber does deteriorate and can send crap to the bowls.

We put new fuel lines on yesterday so if that's where the pesky debris came from, hopefully, it's taken care of for good.