the bike started running rough on a thursday, surging and sputtering some on the way to work. (that morning I had jumped it from a running car to see if my hard starts on cold days were the battery. that was another thread and I don't know if that had anything to do with currrent issues.) friday on the way home it was even worse, but it had sat out in the rain all night which she never likes.
I thought it might be the plugs shorting from the water, so I reseated the caps on #1 and #2, taking a quarter inch off each to clean it up. good spark after that, but the issue continued
checked the plugs and #1 was very lean, suggesting a carb problem. #2 was black, but now I know the petcock is leaking into the vacuum hose, will deal with that later.
so I pulled the carbs and cleaned #1 very well, short of dipping it, because the problems seem centered around it. the jet next to the main needle jet seemed clogged at the end hole, but clean on the sides.
put it all back tegether, and when I finally got it started, it blew white to grey smoke consistently with every rev, and still has very weak power, surging, uneven running. this smoke is common to some degree, but this was much worse, and didn't stop for a long time, if ever.
also, when I pull the plug wire off #1 it makes no difference in the RPMs, nor does it on #2, but #3 or 4 will kill the engine completely. they all have good spark so that's not it. #2 is running rich because the petcock diaphram has spouted a leak, but I think that's a different issue as well.
the bike has been knocking slightly of late, and I suspected it may have needed the valves adjusted, but haven't gotten around to it.
also, just reading thru a search, smoke on startup (which I've had for years from the #1 side exhaust) from one cylinder could be the inlet valve seeping oil into the cylinder. I wouldn't be suprised.
SO! to the real question :roll:
what do I need to do for a compression test? what cover do I have to remove to spin the engine, and does it require draining the oil? I have an old compression testing guage, I'd have to do some work to get it to reach the inner cylinders, but #1 is easy.
what are all the tests to try in this case? I suspect the valves of being out of whack, can you tell that from compression?
maybe I'm up the wrong tree entirely, but I've done what I know so far and it hasn't done anything to help, I'm at a loss :? what could I have done to the poor girl?
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