The Wonders of Troubleshooting

Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2018 8:02 pm

So I rebuilt a set of CR33's over the past winter, put them on the bike, tuned them, tuned them ... tuned them again and all was well. By summer I started riding the V-Strom more often and the F a little less.

The F, well she started idling rough so I got out my laser temp gun and found #1 was not firing. Using the search function with the word 'AND' in it plus utilizing my vast knowledge of motorcycle's (I own a couple) I figured to troubleshoot it on my own. I know that if I couldn't solve it then I could bring what I found along with my needy fault finding skills to the greater community and together we would get this thing solved!

Hmmm, lets see .... #1 not firing at idle ... what's that saying, .... Suck, squeeze, bang, blow.
Well for suck and squeeze I need compression so I pulled the plug, stuck my finger in there and cranked. Yup, it blew my finger right out so I've got compression.

Next up was bang so I re-attached the plug, ground it to the motor and cranked. Yup, got a nice spark. So then, no fuel.

Drained the carb bowl and removed the slow jet, looked good but cleaned it anyway. Remove the starter plunger, sprayed cleaner in there, re-installed it. Sprayed cleaner in the main air jet ... opened the garage door as it was getting fume 'e' in there.
It has warmed up nicely this afternoon and the 3c air flowed into the garage and sucked the warmth right out. Along with the papers I had printed out of how a CRS carb works ... with cute pictures of which jets are what etc so I know what a slow jet does and what it looks like ..... So I ran outside and gathered them back up. Put the carb jets back in, attached the fuel bowl and wheeled the bike outside.... then came back inside and put my jacket and Ottawa Senators toque on.

She started great and of course she was only running on 3 plugs. What a waste of time, all that work. I should have just come out immediately and asked everyone for a opinion. So as a last ditch effort, I pulled the K&N pod off and sprayed some 'Sea Foam' in there. Not just some, alot! Smoked up the neighbourhood alot.

It worked. Sea Foam is still the best tool in my garage. So sorry if I didn't need your help guys but maybe my pain can help others and so I post it here for future F'ers in search of a cure of a mis-firing cylinder.

Now if only I could cure my hot start issues .... TBC Twisted Evil

Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2018 8:32 pm

Sea Foam. If you lived closer, I'd give you 4 bottles of the stuff that I got in a garage cleaning.

Anyone else is welcome to come and get it.

Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2018 9:16 pm

You can’t tell me you don’t believe in miracle juice 🙄

Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2018 9:52 am

CBX-tras wrote:

Sea Foam. If you lived closer, I'd give you 4 bottles of the stuff that I got in a garage cleaning.

Anyone else is welcome to come and get it.

J.R., If I was closer, I'd be right over!

I with Todd on this one....unless he was being sarcastic! I run a few ounces of Seafoam in Shell 91 (no ethanol) every other tank. If I know I won't be riding for a week or so, I'll put in a bit more to a full tank. In the 11 seasons I've had my bike, riding 60K kms, my carbs have never been off my bike. Not touched them, other than to keep the outer bodies clean.
When I park the bike this winter, I'll put in half the bottle into a full tank of petrol.
It's preventative maintenance in a bottle!!

Cheers!
Chris

Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2018 10:16 am

I used to have a Honda ATC 200. Stored it outside in the woods for years(10 plus). Seafoam did seem to keep it cleaned out. I only rode it during hunting season, so it would sit for 11 months at a time, ran great. Maybe it was just a good trike!

The first time I dumped it in it smoked like crazy, after that not so much.

Surprising!

Toddk

Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2018 12:39 pm

I prefer Star-Tron as a fuel additive and ethanol combatant.

I'll also dump in a half bottle of Techron the first ride of the season. But if Sea Foam works for you, keep going.

Additionally, all the additives they put in the fuels today are destroying carburetor internals that weren't designed for this concoction.
Run the vintage bike/mower/snow-thrower etc. (regardless of brand) out of fuel when not in use. It can't do damage if it isn't in there.

Or, risk this: