Dead cylinder game!

[Guest]

The story - '82 1100E, ran great on my last ride. A week later I fired it up for another round, and found #3 wasn't firing (cold header pipe). All other pipes were hot, and it sounded like it was running on 3 cylinders.

The work so far - pulled the plug, looks good. Cranked the engine with the plug against the cylinder and verified I have spark. Put the plug back in, and still no go on #3.

Up next - dig into the #3 carb and see what's up. I did a full carb tear-down/rebuild over the winter and installed a Dynojet kit at the same time. The bike has been ridden regularly with no problems since then, and I always keep a splash of Seafoam in the tank.

The game - I'm headed out of town for a few days, and hope to get at the carb when I get back. What does everyone think the problem is going to be?

Detail - the bike fired right up on choke, warmed up and idled on 3 cylinders. I rode it around the parking lot at low speed, but #3 never kicked in, I never got above 1/4 or 1/3 throttle.

[Eli69]

isn't number 3 where the vacuum line to the petcock comes from? maybe it came loose....

[tkent02]

No that's #2. Open the float bowl drain for that cylinder, does any fuel come out?

[Nessism]

Check pilot jet to make sure the orifice is open. Some tank debris might be stuck in there.

[kawfeedave]

No that's #2. Open the float bowl drain for that cylinder, does any fuel come out?

That will be step one to the carb service, but nothing will get done for a few days until I get back from my trip.

Seeing as all other cylinders are firing, no gas would probably mean a clogged or stuck (closed) needle valve. Good guess!

It doesn't fire on or off choke, and since those are separate fuel circuits that both feed from the same float bowl, you might just be on to something!

[hjfisk]

Not sure but sounds more like a stuck float valve to me because the cyl should still fire on choke but it isn't firing at all, the pilot would not affect the choke.

[tkent02]

Choke, idle with no choke, and the main/needle jet, three sepaprate paths for fuel to get to the engine, they can't all have just clogged out of the blue. The only thing common is the fuel not getting through the needle valve.

At least that makes sense to me.