Trouble starting.

[Isaiah Ford]

Ok. What about hoses? Improper air flow to the carbs will mess with them I hear. Is it true that there is a vacuum line on the tank (on the the fuel pet cock) that needs to be attached to the carbs?

[tom203]

Ok. What about hoses? Improper air flow to the carbs will mess with them I hear. Is it true that there is a vacuum line on the tank (on the the fuel pet cock) that needs to be attached to the carbs?

Your bike should have a vacuum operated petcock- one end of tubing connects to a fitting on #3 carb (sitting on bike, #3 carb is third one from left) and other end connects to petcock.

so carbs were rebuilt recently... and bike ran ok then? How's the inside of your tank look?

[Isaiah Ford]

Great, the tank is beautiful, inside and out... The carbs, I opened em up, look brand spanking new and perfectly clean. Is it possible that this entire problem is because I failed to connect the vacuum line hose thereby failing to properly regulate fuel pressure-flow?

And that's a long story. It had the carbs rebuilt, fuel pet cock lever rebuilt (along with forks and a crap ton else) I took it to the Twin Cities, then I headed from Central WI to South Carolina. It ran great until around Kentucky, it kept bucking and losing power. It had a flat in Washington NC, and I had the intake boots, plugs, points, changed. They said the carbs were fouled up bad, so they cleaned them too. It worked ok for a bit, all the way to South Charleston. Where it died and I UHAULed it back to WI.

I changed the plugs, and it worked for about 20 miles. Then it wouldn't idle properly or even start. I pulled out the plugs and they were grotesquely fouled and appeared to have burnt oil on them (I changed the oil and put in exactly 2.54 quarts before I changed the plugs.

So it sounded like a valve problem... So I took everything off down to the crank case and cleaned-replaced-checked it. Put it all back together like the Clymer manual said... And here I am...

I have an engine that spins freely (it isn't seized), plugs that fire off beautifully, carbs that look great, etc.

But I have oil leaking out of the crank case cover on the left side, and a bike that doesn't seem to be getting gas. The gas part is what I am really concerned about...

[Steve]

How many hoses do you have connected to the petcock?

.

[Isaiah Ford]

I had one. It was connected to the bottom nipple.

[Big T]

It should have 2 hoses,as noted above. It does not regulate fuel pressure, it just opens up the fuel flow

I don't know why you thought it was valves, but you're beyond that now

If there's gas in the carb bowls and the spark plugs aren't wet, your carbs are plugged. Which points to the gas tank passing rust or crud to the carbs

[OldVet66]

It sounds like you have spent a fortune on having other people working on your bike. The insides of the carburetors can look perfect but unless they are rebuilt per instructions on this site you may have all sorts of crud in the tiny passages you can't see and very few people really know how to rebuild them properly. If they weren't soaked 24 hours in carburetor dip or ultrasonically cleaned, O-rings and bowl gaskets replaced, they weren't done properly and stuff breaking loose from running it could have progressively clogged up critical passages. I had rebuilt mine about five or six years ago and had to rebuild them again recently because the enrichment circuit on carburetor 3 and 4 went out making it almost impossible to start and fire those two cylinders. Once started it would run fine all day if I didn't let it cool off. Not to say you have the same problems, but you have the same carburetors and you need a perfect base line to start from so you can properly diagnose the problems and go on from there to getting it running right without chasing your tail. You can get all the information you need on this site, that's how I learned, and then you will know the condition of everything on the bike. These old bikes require a lot of maintenance (that hasn't been done over the years), but once done they are quite nice and reliable.

[Isaiah Ford]

I don't know why you thought it was valves, but you're beyond that now

The problem I had before is not the same problem as I have now. The carbs worked before I took the engine apart. There was just a ridiculous amount of oil soaking and fouling the plugs. When I separated the head from the cylinder block there was about a quarter inch of carbon deposits on the combustion chamber. The valves were completely unrecognizable. But there was gas entering the intake. That's why I thought it was valves.

The problem I have now is that, since I tried putting the bike back together, the gas won't leave the carbs and enter the intake. If my vacuum lines aren't connected properly (or connected at all) this might have something to do with it? I'll take your advice and open up the carbs and soak em in carb cleaner. But first I'm going to put it back on the bike (and connect it properly) and see if it does anything.

[Steve]

If my vacuum lines aren't connected properly (or connected at all) this might have something to do with it?

The good new is that there is only ONE vacuum line. It runs from carb #3 to the smaller nipple on the petcock.

Keep in mind that carbs are numbered from left to right, as you sit on the bike.
#1 is under your clutch hand, #4 is under your throttle hand.

.