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I recently purchased a very nice (looking) '86 Aspencade. It has 86000 miles on it and all the goodies are still working fine,except the engine.
The engine is only running on #1 and #3 cylinders. Believe me this hinders blazing get away starts.
Here is what I have done so far:
CHECKED COMPRESSION: All cylinders are on or within 2 lbs. of 175 PSI. This tells me all the rings and valves are in rather good condition. Valve timing must be on the mark also.
INSTALLED NEW OEM PLUGS: I did this even though it appeared the previous owner had done the same thing.
CHECKED FOR SPARK: I checked spark both visually (strong blue on each cylinder) and with a timing light.
(I might say here that this is how I found out where the problem was, by pulling off #1 plug wire with engine running, the engine stalled. Same thing occurred when I pulled the #3 plug wire. When I went over to the left bank, pulling neither #2 or #4 had any effect on the running.) Right away I think spark or coil or something electrical, but here is the kicker. One coil fires #1 and #2, and the second coil fires #3 and #4. So if #1 is running okay, #2 SHOULD be. Same applies to #3 and #4. Right?
NEXT: I fire some ether down into the airbox, directing the spray to the left side cylinders. Immediately the revs come up and the engine smooths out like a GW should sound. Hmmm...fuel delivery problem, I think.
CHECK THE FUEL PUMP: Strong steady stream of gasoline. BTW: I had siphoned the old gas and replaced it with fresh.
DRAIN FLOAT BOWLS: Drained each float bowl into a cup. Each delivered approximately the the same level of fuel. The fuel looked clear and free of sediment. Next I did what I really did not want to do.
REMOVED THE CARBURETORS: (Not as bad a task as I anticipated using a Chilton Manual) Bought 4 rebuild kits off eBay. Checked the maze of air and fuel lines for potential leaks on the bottom side of the carb cluster. All the slides looked to be in perfect condition. The needle on #3 had a signifcant amount of crusting on it. and the float, float needle and seat appeared to have been recently replaced (Looked nice and white while other floats were stained yellow). To my dismay, all the jets seemed open and flowing free. I was hoping to find something obvious. So I soaked all the jets and small parts in carb cleaner, blew them out with air and put the new parts in and buttoned up the 4 carbs, set the pilot jets at the suggested 2 turns out from seat starting point.
REINSTALLED THE CARBS: Using new o rings on the 4 secondary air supply tubes and new carb intake tube o rings I put things back together.
IT NOW RUNS EXACTLY AS IT DID BEFORE!!!!! Arrrgggggg!!!
Any one out there had anything problem similar? Any further suggestions short of taking it to the dealer??
I recently purchased a very nice (looking) '86 Aspencade. It has 86000 miles on it and all the goodies are still working fine,except the engine.
The engine is only running on #1 and #3 cylinders. Believe me this hinders blazing get away starts.
Here is what I have done so far:
CHECKED COMPRESSION: All cylinders are on or within 2 lbs. of 175 PSI. This tells me all the rings and valves are in rather good condition. Valve timing must be on the mark also.
INSTALLED NEW OEM PLUGS: I did this even though it appeared the previous owner had done the same thing.
CHECKED FOR SPARK: I checked spark both visually (strong blue on each cylinder) and with a timing light.
(I might say here that this is how I found out where the problem was, by pulling off #1 plug wire with engine running, the engine stalled. Same thing occurred when I pulled the #3 plug wire. When I went over to the left bank, pulling neither #2 or #4 had any effect on the running.) Right away I think spark or coil or something electrical, but here is the kicker. One coil fires #1 and #2, and the second coil fires #3 and #4. So if #1 is running okay, #2 SHOULD be. Same applies to #3 and #4. Right?
NEXT: I fire some ether down into the airbox, directing the spray to the left side cylinders. Immediately the revs come up and the engine smooths out like a GW should sound. Hmmm...fuel delivery problem, I think.
CHECK THE FUEL PUMP: Strong steady stream of gasoline. BTW: I had siphoned the old gas and replaced it with fresh.
DRAIN FLOAT BOWLS: Drained each float bowl into a cup. Each delivered approximately the the same level of fuel. The fuel looked clear and free of sediment. Next I did what I really did not want to do.
REMOVED THE CARBURETORS: (Not as bad a task as I anticipated using a Chilton Manual) Bought 4 rebuild kits off eBay. Checked the maze of air and fuel lines for potential leaks on the bottom side of the carb cluster. All the slides looked to be in perfect condition. The needle on #3 had a signifcant amount of crusting on it. and the float, float needle and seat appeared to have been recently replaced (Looked nice and white while other floats were stained yellow). To my dismay, all the jets seemed open and flowing free. I was hoping to find something obvious. So I soaked all the jets and small parts in carb cleaner, blew them out with air and put the new parts in and buttoned up the 4 carbs, set the pilot jets at the suggested 2 turns out from seat starting point.
REINSTALLED THE CARBS: Using new o rings on the 4 secondary air supply tubes and new carb intake tube o rings I put things back together.
IT NOW RUNS EXACTLY AS IT DID BEFORE!!!!! Arrrgggggg!!!
Any one out there had anything problem similar? Any further suggestions short of taking it to the dealer??
