Bowl levels are the same, sooooo.....

[Anonymous]

Scud, to put an image on this site, I don't think you can do it directly. You have to have the image hosted on a picture hosting server. To do this, go to www.photobucket.com and open a FREE account. Once you have a username and password, upload a photo from your hard drive or a floppy disk to photobucket. It will then give you three options where you can copy and paste either a URL which is a link to the photo OR use the HTML tag they give you which is in the same form as the "Insert image" tag format above... for instance:

Here I cut n pasted the thing labeled URL:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v12/wiredgeorge/barney/barney1.jpg

Right below it is a another line marked Img. I just cut and pasted it and see what happens below:

[/img]

That purple bike is a disguised GS prototype bike bwhahahaa

[Scud]

Fantastic! I am playing a little baseball with my four year old tonight but tomorrow AM I will look into that.

THANKS!!!!

Scud

[Scud]

Ok, did this work??

If not let me know.

Scud

[Scud]

Hey, it worked!!! thanks George!

A little history:

This plug is a D8EA and has about 150 miles on it.

Scud

[Hoomgar]

Well it isn't like new but I have to admit that I am stumped 8O


What the heck? Lean usually gets all white, rich gets dark. But that is just
clean. I would think it has to be lean? Been following this thread and now
that I see the picture I think your bike may be even stranger than mine

I hope the pro's can do something with that pic because I have to agree
with you, it makes no sense at all.

[Scud]

It is strange, I just do not want to screw up my motor?!?

Scud

[gsBert]

scud: when you tear apart your carbs, can i ask you to give me the sizes of all your jets, your float heights and the carb model?
sounds like my bike could use 4 plugs like your #1...
your mixture might be RIGHT ON.
my racecar gave plugs like that.
so you might be in the clear, but it does look suspicious.
so you tried swapping plug wires. did you try THAT plug in cylinder #4?
if not try it. if it doesnt get dirty in cylinder #4 then maybe it's a bum plug.
something's definitely up with this. cylinder 1 should warm up at the same time as all the others.
you start your bike on the choke rihgt?
maybe carb#1 choke is clogged and the jetting is DEAD ON for your bike, the other plugs change color but since carb 1 isnt getting any choke it doesnt get any carbon.
i know its a whole truckload of maybees, but its weird.

if youre worried about holing a piston, get a temperature guauge of the kind you can stick on the cylinder head, and see if that cylinder runs any hotter or cooler than the others....

[Scud]

Bert,

While fishing this morning I thought that exact same thing that it may be DEAD ON.

This is a new plug, I replaced it because the other one looked the exact same after 200 miles, like new.

I will swap #1 and #4 plugs to see what happens.

I cleaned and put in new rubber in my carbs two years ago, I would rather not have to go through that hassle again. I can tell you that when I ordered carb kits the pilot circuit jets were larger and fouled the SH.. out of all my plugs until I replaced them with the original jets.

Float height is 22 mm on all.

Carb Model BS32SS

When the larger jets were in I did not have to choke the bike to start. Now I have to choke it only when cold wtih the originals back in.

I have not tried swapping plug wires but I did switch number four and number one coil wires with the same results.

The cyclinder warms up about the same as number four or very, very close and slower then the inside two.

Scud

The choke thing is something I will have to look at I guess.

[Scud]

ok...I swapped plug #1 with #4 and vice-versa then drove about fifteen miles.

The plug in question when placed in #4 did indeed darken to tan or a smidge darker.

The plug in #4 when placed in #1 lightened up considerably.

What does this tell you now???

Scud

[gsBert]

ok, 2 things are happening here.
first of all, your 2 outside cylinders get hotter slower than the inside ones you say. that's absolutely normal if all your jetsizes are the same and not to be worried about unless youre at wide open throttle. your 2 outside cyls have better airflow and cooling. that's why the stock jetting on these bikes is a tad richer on cyls 2 and 3 to get the cyls to run cooler because of the lack of outside air exposure. when you get your mixture right, richen the 2 inside ones by making the mains a bit larger. if you use 135s all around, use 137.5 on the 2 inboard cylinders.

second, you are using slingshot carbs, so you prolly have pods on them (they dont fit in the stock airbox) slingshots will only work if you have 2 filter pods, individual pods won't work on them. you have the proper k&n right?
now, check your idle screws, and make sure all of them are turned out the same number of turns from all the way in.
then, (i'm sorry but you'll have to open the carbs) make sure you have the same size pilots in all of them, and that the needles are in the same position) also check that all the diaphragms are hole-free.
while you have the carbs off, check that all your needles are the same and not worn (2-3-4 needles might be worn and give a rich condition) i apologise for this, but remove the main jets and tap the emulsion tubes out and make sure they are all the same and all the holes are unclogged.
(some tubes have 1 extra hole on one side, it doesnt go all the way through, check that one too)
22mm sounds too high a float height, what are you measuring from and to? especially since the flingflops are angled and dont sit at the right angle for our bikes... (thank god the float bowls seal properly)

i'd say your cylinder 1 is dead on but needs a bit of richening for safety, and the other 3 are slightly rich. good job on putting the original pilots back in. those flingflops are a real !@$$#!to tune so you have to experiment, i personally am on my 12th iteration on the 1150, and i believe i finally am getting close to getting my bike to actually start, lol.

ok, you dont have a choice, rent a bad movie and tear down your carbs while you're watching it, i think you'll find that there's a discrepancy somewhere, and you'll be really proud of yourself when you find out that say one of your slide holes was plugged with a piece of pigeon feather, or some other dumb thing like that...
dont be afraid of tearing the carbs apart, slingshots are real easy to do, by now i can build a complete set in 20 minutes with my eyes closed.

if the teardown doesnt reveal anything, there's one other thing you can try, but its gonna cost a bit if you don't already have a set of spare carbs handy (you don't? what a fool you are, i got 2 sets on my table and one on the biek right now) buy/beg/borrow/steal a set of carb bodies identical to yours and swap all the internals, see if the condition persists.

oh and yeah, one more thing, when you idle your bike, dont do it on the sidestand, keep it straight up.

[KEITH KRAUSE]

That plug shows almost zero effect from combustion.
The plug is telling you the combustion in that cylinder is very poor. No way a good running cylinder burns that cleanly.
From your past posts, it doesn't appear to be spark related or fuel not entering the cylinder.
I'd check compression before anything else.
When's the last time the valve clearances were checked...Head torqued...etc?

[gsBert]

scud: keith has a point, there's no point in fiddling with carbs unless you have good compression.
if you think your comp is good, tear down your carbs. i believe you've been avoiding this so far, and yet it's the easiest thing in the world. lol, just make sure your bike is in gear when you push them back into the boots...
let me know whats going on with them ok?
and tell me all your jet sizes and needle numbers and positions while you're at it

[Scud]

Keith,

I purchased the bike from the wife of a deceased pilot, the last time valves were checked is an approximate but I would say they have not been checked in at least 6,500 miles. Should they be done? I am a little afraid of delving into this one.....

I will try to get a compressiona tester and let you know what I find.

Head torqued.....hmmmm.....not exactly sure when that was last done either.

Bert,

As mentioned in a previous post, I did a thorough cleaning of the carbs last winter and replaced all the rubber, I feel that they do not need taken apart again. A check of fuel levels in the bowls shows that they are all within spec. My Clymer manual says that the float height should be between 21.5 and 23.5 MM

I want to thank you Bert for the lenghty and detailed post, but I really do not want to tear my carbs apart again...did I mention that I do not wish to tear my carbs apart again..?? The pilots, main and air screw are all the originals that have been cleaned in carb cleaner and were blown out with compressed air before being put back in.

I do not have pods, I have the original airbox ( that makes taking the carbs in and out a real treat....got good at it though last year).

These are CV carbs, I do not believe the needles adjust, if they do I have not monkeyed with them???

I all about renting a bad movie though at this point..... :x

I keep my bike on the sidestand at all times, I do not think I know how to operate the side stand

I am going right now to check on a compression tester and will let you guys know what I find out.....the plot thickens.....

Thanks again for all your help everyone,

Scud

[Scud]

As expected....the local shop does not have a compression tester, I have a call into a mechanic friend who may have one (car mechanic...not a motorcycle mechanic).

I'll keep you posted.

Scud

[Hoomgar]

Any of the Advance Auto Parts or Auto Zone or Pep Boys or places like that will carry a compression tester. Do you have any of those near you?