Running problem

[Casey708]

Hi guys,

I have been having loads of problems with my bike that we can't seem to cure so I was hoping someone may be able to tell me what is wrong.

My bike was running great up until we had all that cold weather and due to being busy with work etc I put it in the shed and didn't ride for ages.

When I eventually got it out to go for a ride, it sounded very rough like it was firing on 3 cylinders. It then began to leak fuel from an overflow pipe. We noticed that below 4000rpm it was very boggy but above sounded much better.

We took the carbs off and gave them to a local garage to clean up and replaced the needle valves as one was sticking causing the leak. We also replaced all of the spark plugs. When we gave him the bike, he had a bit of a go at us about not pushing the carbs right in. We thought it was funny after we found they had left the spring for the choke down in one of the inlets below the carbs!

Anyway, the bike still didn't sound too good but the fuel leak had stopped. The bike kicked and bucked like a mule and was very unpredictable to ride. We the gave the bike to P&H motorcycles to put on their rolling road and although they have done a great job, the bike is still a bit dodgy when riding slowly. They balanced the carbs and said that the compression seems low (100 on each cylinder- is this normal?)

The mechanic there seems to think that the reason it is jumpy at low speed is because it is too rich. It does smell and there is quite a lot of residue in the end of the exhaust. He also checked the valves etc to see if there was a tight tappet but apparently they are all ok. They have offered to see if they can make up a good set of carbs out of our spares to hopefully stop it running too rich.

Has anyone had a similar problem or thoughts on what this could be? Any help would be great. Thanks!

[Mori Man]

OK, first off - cold weather kills batteries ! It needed to be removed and stored on a trickle charge so bin it and get a new one.

From there see how it goes

Next , doesn't take long for carbs to gum up , ne end of cleaning ever gets into the nooks and crannies (might be your richness problem) . Get some carb cleaner like Redex into the fuel - follow instructions and do a full fuel tanks worth. Next buy a carb cleaner designed to be sprayed into the carbs while the bike is running - do not clean the carbs with it, highly destructive to O rings and seals so needs to be sucked in and burnt off almost instantly. A good carb cleaner is made by Mikuni - it is safe on everything but also lubricates so use this as a "dressing" after cleaning as above. Ideally you want the carbs sonically cleaned but the above should be more than enough.

A bike running rich is better than it running lean - counter act by fitting a big bore end can with no restrictions - it will soon lean off

MM!

[Casey708]

Hi, thanks for your reply.

The battery is fine, I did have it plugged in on a trickle charger. When I was writing my post I did put that the battery was kept charged but I deleted it because the problem isn't starting the bike, it is when it is running. Thanks for the advise anyway.

I also pretty sure that when we gave the carbs to the first garage, he did have them sonically cleaned but then again, maybe it was in a different type of machine to clean them. The look beautiful though! We have also flushed through a cleaner but it wasn't redex so maybe it would be worth a go with that.

I like your idea about a new end can. It would be a great excuse to say it is fixing all my problems!

Thanks again!