Problem with cylinder number one.

[Chris Daniel]

Alrighty, I got my new coils from Duane today. I installed them and I am still having the same problem on cylinder number one..........I can pull the spark plug boot off the spark plug and it makes absolutly no difference in terms of idle speed. I can pull any of the other 3 and the bikes tries to die, but number one makes no difference. I took another plug and put it in the boot with the bike running and it sparks just fine. I can put a screwdriver in the boot and it will jump a 2 inch gap to the block......so I am sure it has good spark, but again it makes no difference on or off the plug. I have also switched all the plugs around to no avail.

I had the head off roughly 2000 miles ago and the valve seats all looked great, so I left them alone. I have been into the carbs about 6 times now and everything looks great with them. This is driving me nuts.......please help LOL.

Thanks in advance.

[Chris Daniel]

Alrighty, just found a compression tester that will work with the bike.

Every cylinder is dead on 140LBS. So that rules out anything ring/valve related.

Just thought I would add that.

[brveagle]

what happens when you run the bike with full choke on? Try and flood it...See if the #1 plug is wet...

A bike needs three things to run, Oxygen, Fuel and Spark...

[Macmatic]

What happens when you replace the plug? I'd never seen a real "dead" plug before but I just had one last weekend on the lawn mower. Replaced the coil and plug and got nothing.... pulled off the plug wire and stuck it on the old plug...great spark! Pulled the new plug, no spark!

Maybe you have a dead plug. have you tried swapping the plug wires on the two cyls involved? (Assuming 4cyl)

Oh... just saw now that you switched the plugs around... So the problem stays with the cyl and not with the plug?

So much for that brilliant idea...

/\/\ac

[SqDancerLynn1]

Sounds like you have an elusive carb problem

[Chris Daniel]

Would a carb being out of sync cause something like this?

I have yet to sync the carbs, as I havent been able to get an aux fuel tank to do it with yet.

Thanks again.

[chef1366]

Float

I don't think you are getting fuel to #1. If the cylinder isn't firing and the plug isn't wet, no fuel. Sound like a stuck float.

[J_C]

Double check for vacuum leaks. Don't ask me how I know 8-[

[Doctor Shifty]

Have your tried swapping No 1 and 4 plug leads - complete with plug? That will isolate it if it is a plug lead/coil/plug boot problem.

Kim

[flyingace]

If you empty the float bowl for #1, do you have enough fuel in it? You'll need to compare it to one of the others. If that's OK, you need to break the carb down and spray out the passages.

I have the opposite problem. My #4 carb runs rich intermittantly, but when I start diagnosing the problem, it goes away. Kind of like quantum mechanics - the act of observing my carb alters its behavior.

[Sandy]

Would a carb being out of sync cause something like this?

I have yet to sync the carbs, as I havent been able to get an aux fuel tank to do it with yet.

Thanks again.

The carb sync really could be the cause and until they're synced you're really only guessing that it's not carb related. Just get 6 to 8 feet of gas line, put your tank on the work bench and set the fuel lever to prime, also remember to plug the vacuum hose from the carb.

[Chris Daniel]

I am going to attempt to sync the carbs tomorrow, I will report back and let yall know if it helps.

Thanks.

[hungryman]

Would a carb being out of sync cause something like this?

I have yet to sync the carbs, as I havent been able to get an aux fuel tank to do it with yet.

Thanks again.

Short answer - yes.

#1 is set lower than the other 3, therefore when it's removed it doesn't make much difference.

[Chris Daniel]

WOOHOO,

I did a quick syncing of the carbs tonight and found my problem. Number one locknut had come loose, from there the carb either gradually vibrated out of adjustment, or I possibly knocked it out of adjustment during my rebuilding of the carbs and having them on and off a million times since then.

Number one carb just about maxed out my carbtune LOL. The others are off conciderably but not near as bad as number one. Anyway, I did a quick adjustment on number one before I ran out of fuel in the bowls and it is running smoother than it has ever run since I bought it LOL. I pulled the plug wire to verify and sure enough it almost killed the engine......just like the rest of them do.

Tomorrow, I am going to get some fuel line so I can run it longer and get all the carbs dialed in perfectly. I really hope this also solves my topend bog that has been baffling me.

I do have one question.
Being that I have pods on the bike, should I set all of them perfectly even, or should I do something different with the inner two cylinders?

Thanks for all the help.

[hungryman]

Set them all the same.

The topend problem may, or may not, be related to the syncing, but you needed to do it before you can tackle that one.

Good job.