Is this a safe idea?

[mortation]

My third cylinder isnt firing. Has good compression and gas in the carbs, carbs have been tripple checked and look good and clean. Spark plug was pulled out and checked, it has good spark (I held it to the side of the engine case). I ordered a new set of boots for both sides of all four carbs complete with screws and other tidbits.

What I was thinking about doing was pulling out the spark plug and spraying a wee bit o starter fluid directly in the piston chamber Any thoughts?

[robertbarr]

Unnecessary.

Find the snorkel (the intake for the airbox). It's generally under the seat (I'm just unsure about the 'L'). The ether I use has a straw that sprays a pinpoint (I'm sure you've seen these with carb cleaner).

Spray some ether directly into the snorkel, and that'll do the trick. It'll be more diffuse and it'll last longer. I just revived a long-comatose Nighthawk that way.

[mortation]

Unnecessary.

Find the snorkel (the intake for the airbox). It's generally under the seat (I'm just unsure about the 'L'). The ether I use has a straw that sprays a pinpoint (I'm sure you've seen these with carb cleaner).

Spray some ether directly into the snorkel, and that'll do the trick. It'll be more diffuse and it'll last longer. I just revived a long-comatose Nighthawk that way.

I never thought about that. I will give it a shot thanks!

[madjack57754]

You can use some thing a bit less destructive than ether. I always use carb cleaner instead. If it has spark the offending cylinder will fire

[mortation]

You can use some thing a bit less destructive than ether. I always use carb cleaner instead. If it has spark the offending cylinder will fire

Through the overflow drain hose or directly into the cylinder?

[Steve]

My personal preference is to keep the starting fluid in the trash can.

It is far too easy to get carried away spraying the stuff in an effort to get the bike to start. Too much starting fluid is NOT good, and can lead to serious damage rather quickly.


.

[bwringer]

My personal preference is to keep the starting fluid in the trash can.

It is far too easy to get carried away spraying the stuff in an effort to get the bike to start. Too much starting fluid is NOT good, and can lead to serious damage rather quickly.


.

I agree wholeheartedly -- ether (the main component of starting fluid) is ridiculously flammable, quite dangerous to people, and will happily remove all traces of lubrication from your cylinder walls and damage your engine.

Moreover, using starting fluid (or carb cleaner, which is only slightly less dangerous) will not help you learn anything useful nor will it do anything at all to fix the problem. What's the point, then?

Since you have spark, the most likely diagnosis is still a clogged passage or idle jet in the carburetor.

Since it's easy and doesn't cost much, you might also try simply switching in a new spark plug along with the new plug boots -- once in a while, a spark plug will fire in open air but not under pressure.

[SPARKSS]

My third cylinder isnt firing. Has good compression and gas in the carbs, carbs have been tripple checked and look good and clean. Spark plug was pulled out and checked, it has good spark (I held it to the side of the engine case). I ordered a new set of boots for both sides of all four carbs complete with screws and other tidbits.

What I was thinking about doing was pulling out the spark plug and spraying a wee bit o starter fluid directly in the piston chamber Any thoughts?

STOP and just think about this for a second.......You said the cylinder has good compression.......What would you be trying to accomplish by putting ether into the cylinder? If the cylinder has good compression and has spark-under-compression (*just because the plug will fire in free air doesn't mean it will under compression), then it just needs fuel. Because the paired cylinder (assumed) runs ok, timing is close enough. The plug should be soaked if the plug won't fire or dry if there's no fuel. Simple eh!

It's quite easy to have one plug foul......it'll be soaked.....don't run it too long like this or compression will start to go away in that cylinder as the walls get washed down (and your crankcase oil will get diluted!).

TIP: if you think you have a dry fuel or laggy fuel system (first startup in the spring for us cold climate folks), upend a small propane torch into the air box, valve open (NOT LIT OF COURSE!) and start the engine like this......works VERY WELL with no damage and of course, no flooding

[mortation]

If I recall the plug was wet, and the plug is new. So new coils??

[JATO]

Swap the plug wires between the firing and non firing cylinders that use that coil. If the problem moves to the other cylinder, you have a bad wire or coil. Also try a new spark plug in the non firing cylinder.

[mortation]

Swap the plug wires between the firing and non firing cylinders that use that coil. If the problem moves to the other cylinder, you have a bad wire or coil. Also try a new spark plug in the non firing cylinder.

I did that. i swapped 1 and 3 and 1 still fired. I even swapped the plugs and 1 still fired. and 3 is wet so it is getting gas. I hope these new boots solve this problem or I am gonna flip.

[bradleymaynar]

As for the starting fluid thing, I agree that the ether-based products are great for the trash. However I picked up a can of non-ether fluid that claims it lubricates while starting the engine.

As for the problem at hand, it seems a carb issue IMO. Something is clogging a passage. And since you say the plug is wet, I'd say it has to do with the air intake. Have you fiddled with the air/fuel mixture screw?

Brad bt