Fresh meat!

[Loudo]

I tore off my air tubes to look at the slides. They weren't bottomed out, so I adjusted the cable at the throttle grip so they did. Then I turned the slide screws in until they were just barely starting to push the slide up. This would seem to me to be the "normal" starting position.

Started, ran sluggishly for a long moment, then died. Wouldn't restart.

Checked plugs for spark. Plenty of juice observed. Did a whole bunch of pulling the plugs, cleaning, blowing air here and there, trying to start with various settings of choke and throttle. Maybe one little stutter like it wanted to start, that's it.

So...I went from a nicely running bike with the carbs seemingly out of adjustment because the slide screws had no effect to one that won't start. At all.

I suppose I should check for availability of fuel. What's the best troubleshooting method to tell if the fuel supply is adequate? I didn't do anything except adjust the throttle cable, so I have no clue why I should suddenly be having this total failure problem. Battery is charged...kept on a tender at all times.

Help, fellas!

[Spargett]

Frustrating indeed. Sounds like it could be the fuel to me as well. Pull the carb bowls off to see if there's gas in there, and check to make sure the petcock isn't clogged. Happened to me with my reserve line. Also make sure there isn't a fuel vacuum being created from the gas cap.

So...I went from a nicely running bike with the carbs seemingly out of adjustment because the slide screws had no effect to one that won't start. At all.

[e3steve]

First & foremost: fuel OFF, pull the fuel pipes from the banjo unions on the carbs and stick 'em into a small container (e.g. glass jar); fuel ON and observe flow.

If there is fuel flow, then it sounds like you have little option but to pull the carbs off, strip (the carbs, not yourself), clean, setup as per manual ~ paying close attention to the correct float height ~ let The Forum know what your jet sizes are.

If there's little or no flow, work back through the fuel system and check for blockages: spin the petcock bowl off & inspect the filter screen. I'd still have the carbs off anyway; your symptoms surrounding the motor's reluctance to react to the idle screws' being twiddled is of particular concern!

Report back, me ol' mucker!

[LOUD MOUSE]

When looking at the slides do you see the cut away or just the flat bottom?. .....lm

I tore off my air tubes to look at the slides. They weren't bottomed out, so I adjusted the cable at the throttle grip so they did. Then I turned the slide screws in until they were just barely starting to push the slide up. This would seem to me to be the "normal" starting position.

Started, ran sluggishly for a long moment, then died. Wouldn't restart.

Checked plugs for spark. Plenty of juice observed. Did a whole bunch of pulling the plugs, cleaning, blowing air here and there, trying to start with various settings of choke and throttle. Maybe one little stutter like it wanted to start, that's it.

So...I went from a nicely running bike with the carbs seemingly out of adjustment because the slide screws had no effect to one that won't start. At all.

I suppose I should check for availability of fuel. What's the best troubleshooting method to tell if the fuel supply is adequate? I didn't do anything except adjust the throttle cable, so I have no clue why I should suddenly be having this total failure problem. Battery is charged...kept on a tender at all times.

Help, fellas!

[e3steve]

I agree with Ed on that one; if it starts, from cold, with no choke (when it did start!) then there's more than a strong possibility that the slides have been inserted into the wrong carbs and, therefore, are the wrong way round. That would make it run mega-rich and no amount of tinkering with the mixture settings will achieve proper fuel/air mixture. The slides' cutaways must face the filters.

[Spargett]

Just out of curiosity, what relation do you think the reversed slides has to the bike's inability to start? Fouled plugs due to an overly rich mixture?

[Loudo]

My slides WERE in backwards. Or, said another way, they were in the wrong carbs.

I'd read a hundred times about "slides in backwards" but I assumed that if the notch for slide adjustment screw faced the outside and the groove on the other side matched the little locating pin in the carb body, I was doing it right. At some point I must have failed to keep my parts organized in one of the many carb teardowns. Not my proudest moment.

So after swapping the slides, it still wouldn't start. I had dark thoughts of which the general theme was that I seem to be doing all the heavy lifting in this relationship and we needed to talk. Pulled the plugs, they looked fine, cleaned them off anyway, reinstalled the plugs. After waving some chicken bones and the eye of a newt over the bike I tried again and it started and ran normally. Although...there was a tap-tap-tapping I hadn't noticed before.

So I adjusted the valves, but it didn't affect the tapping. I took the bike on a 15 mile drive and it seemed to run very well. No "two-stroke" character at mid throttle as in the past, maybe the backwards slides were making it run rich before. Only two things were odd....it wouldn't always shift into second if I was going downhill, but this only happened twice and corrected itself. The other thing was a bit of balking in second at low revs if I tried to really give it the gas. It was ok if rolling on the gas more gradually. Didn't notice this in first or third gears.

Got home, breather tube was steaming as usual. Now, however, I saw a small drip from the breather about every three seconds. I put a container under the drip and captured the fluid for forensic analysis. It is a clear yellow liquid that smells vaguely of gas but undoubtedly diluted. The photo shows the fluid in a vial...this was the amount captured in about two minutes of idling.

The tapping noise is still there. In fact, as opposed to a dull clacking it has more of a ring to it. like a bell. I can't tell if it's louder from the right side or left.

I welcome comments about the breather condensate and the engine tapping.