[twisty]

imported post

Lard wrote:

I was just turned on to this forum and have been reviewing your posts. I'm glad I found you.

I'm the new owner of an 82 GL1100 with only 7,000 miles on it. Having sat for 22 years, Cletus was in for a carb rebuild in May of this year. He .
Since I'm new let me say again that I'm glad a friend sent me your way. Let me thank you in advance for your help.

Larry

Larry, you ask...

Has been running smoothly except for what feels like retarded acceleration when I give him gas at cruising speed. Recently I noticed a LOT of gas dripping from the weep hole in the right side exhaust. Thinking that perhaps I was not getting spark to one of the cylinders I checked, but found that I am getting spark to both No. 1 and No. 3. With the engine at idle speed I can take the spark plug wire off of the No. 1 plug and the engine continues to idle smoothly; when I disconnect any other plug wire there is an immediate change in the idle

That gas dripping from the exhaust could mean a couple of things,, first it could mean that you just have a fouled spark plug on that cylinder & it is allowing the cylinder to misfire & not burn the fuel/air that is pulled in.. (try a new spark plug first)..

Or it could mean that the carb is acting up & passing way too much fuel so it ends up too rich to burn.. (possibly check the cut-off valve in the carb as those tend to fail with age & will really richen the intake mixture at lower speeds, once the plug fouls from a rich mixture it really pumps the raw fuel through that cylinder.

When you pulled the #1 plug wire it should have also dropped out #2 cylinder as cyl 1 & 2 spark off the same coil & each use the other cylindersspark plug as a ground to operate. You should NEVER pull a plug wire on a Wing to check spark as that allows the coil to arc internally & could easily damage it, instead use a jumper wire & ground the plug on the cylinder that is being tested.

I drained the float bowl on No. 1 and then started Cletus again with the same result. So, Cletus will still idle smoothly, has spark to all cylinders, will continue to idle smoothly even with the No. 1 plug wire pulled off the plug, and is pouring large amounts of gas into the exhaust pipe on the right side.

O.K.,friends, where do I start?

Probably the place to start is to: First replace the spark plug on #1 cylinder,, thenrun itfor a few seconds & place your hand lightly (& quickly) on each exhaust pipe as it exits the cyl head, if you have a cold pipe (or cooler that the others) that cylinder isn't firing correctly.. If a new plug &good hot spark doesn't allow that cylinder to fire then do a compression test on that cylinder.. If the compression is good then look for a hanging choke (enrichener) in the carb for that cylinder,, or a failed air cut-off valve in the carb for that cylinder,, or internal carb problem on that cylinder..

If by chance you have two cold cylinder pipes then make sure those 2 spark plug wires aren't crossed..

Twisty

 

[twisty]

imported post

Lard wrote:

O.K. all you experts.......I'm trying to elinimate low compression on my No. 1 cylinder as a factor. Bought a compression guage yesterday and went out this morning to check on Cletus. I removed all the spark plugs; pulled out the choke; and ran the compression check on each cylinder. Each tested between 110 - 120. Knowing that this isn't right I went in and read the Honda manual and saw that I should have done the test after getting the engine to normal operating temperature. I didn't have time to reinstall plugs and run the engine before I left for work.

What can I make of these result? Back when Cletus was on the road two weeks ago he seemed to run fine (even though apparently the No. 1 cylinder was not properly combusting) and while there was smoke (or mist) from the right exhaust pipe that smelled strongly of gasoline, there was no smoke at all from the left exhaust.

I'm wondering if the consistency of the compression test, even though I did it with the engine cool, indicates that my problem is more likely to be in the carbs and not in the valves.

Larry, with all cylinders at about the same compression (within 10#) that is a good sign. With ALL cylinders being a little on the low side that could mean you didn't have the throttle wide open (You need the throttle open to allow air to get in to be compressed),, or the engine being cold allowed some ring leakage,, or doing it with the choke on pulled in too much fuel & washed the oil from the cylinder walls,, or the cranking speed was slow & lowered the compression,, or your compression gage is inaccurate..

Warm the engine first, then do another test with the throttle held wide open,, if still low, try your compression gauge on another (known good) vehicle..

Twisty

 

[twisty]

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Hawker22 wrote:

Twisty, is it feasable or even possible to do a wet compression check on these horizontal engines? We always did that on car engines to verify rings or valves-if the compression turns out to be off normal.

Hawker22, yes it's possible but takes more oil in the cylinders to follow the rings up to the top of the cylinders & seal there. Usually if a wet test is needed it really isn't needed as there is usually so much blow-by that it smokes out the crankcase vent like a steam engine.

Twisty

 

[twisty]

imported post

Lard wrote:

Twisty, thanks. When I do the next compression check, do I pull out the choke as well as open the throttle?

Larry, NO, no choke needed, as that won't any value to the test & can wash the cylinder walls of oil..

Twisty