Exhaust pipes - different temps

[Anonymous]

Hey,

I remember reading something about exhaust pipes having different temperatures somewhat recently, but can't remember what. Anyway, I noticed a difference in temperatures on my pipes near the headers and was wondering what might be causing that. I ran the bike for about five minutes (driving) and then killed it and felt the pipes. The first pipe was just above room temp - I was able to grab it and hold on. The other three were MUCH hotter, but all about the same temp (I stupidly grabbed the second one like the first...not good). What does this mean and what can I do to fix it? Cylinder not firing? I know the carbs probably need some work, but it runs ok. Would that affect it? Thanks for the help.

--Tyler

[Joe Nardy]

Tyler,

If you can touch the header pipe after 5 minutes of running it is definitely not firing. Pull the plugs and see what they look like. I'll bet #1 looks a lot different than the rest. If it is wet that would indicate you are getting fuel but no spark. This could be the plug or wire, probably not coil since #4 seems to be firing. If it is dry you are probably not getting fuel to that cylinder. If this is the case, try draining the float bowl to see if there is any fuel getting to the carb. If there's fuel in the float but not in the cylinder it would probably be best to go through the carbs.

Joe

[saaz]

Yes, that cylinder is defintely not running. It should get hot straight away. Flooding, spark plug, etc usually the culprit. The bike would also not be running that well...you will be amazed when tha cylinder fires!!

[Anonymous]

My bike had the same problem but with 2 if the cylinders. I took the plug bootsmoff and cut the wire about 3-4"-1" up and cleaned the boots then put them back on now all is well

[Anonymous]

Three out of four......

....Staple....
Be particularly carefull as when you discover the cause of the one "dead" cylinder. When you do get your machine to run on all four BE PREPARED for a change. The machine will run smoother and have twice the power you have been riding around with. As you have been riding a while with only three running ,you have, so to say calibrated yourself to your machine. So please ,watch it after the 'repair'.
Rick.....

[Anonymous]

Im the one that posted about this recently.

I'm the one that posted about this recently. I just got some new 95 GSX-R coils, and will be putting accel wires on them. I'll post back again if this fixes the problem. If you don't here from me I'm probably tearing the carbs down again.

[Anonymous]

Ok, I pulled the plugs on #1 and #4 to compare them. #4 looks fine, from what I can tell. It's dry and the little piece sticking out is a brownish color. #1 on the other hand, doesn't look so good. It's quite obviously wet with gas and has some gunk on it (probably from the gas).

I checked both plugs for sparks (although it was a little hard to see, because I was somewhat in the sun). The #4 plug seemed to give sparks on both sides about the same (I plugged it into its own position and the #1 position). For the #1 plug, I couldn't see it giving sparks on its own side. When put on the other side (#4 position), I saw it spark once or twice, but it should have been sparking much more for the amount of time the engine was reving.

I assume this just means I should swap out the spark plugs and replace them. Is it ok to just replace the #1 plug, or should I change them all at the same time? And is the #1 cylinder going to be in need of any cleaning or anything since it hasn't been firing like it should? Thanks.

--Tyler

[Anonymous]

Plugs are cheap, replace them all.
You shouldn't have to do anything else as far as cleaning goes.

Ok, I've had a few, and I feel like talking, so here goes....

If you want to do a thorough cleaning of the cyclinders, and an oil change is due (IMPORTANT!!) or you just want to fog the neighborhood, you can perform..... "The Treatment".

Get a can of Seafoam (or your preselected favorite fuel additive).
Get the bike nice and warm, shut it off and put it on the centerstand. Remove all 4 plugs. USE SAFETY GOGGLES!!! Using a turkey baster (gobble gobble, hehe), put...oh, about a half to one ounce of additive in each spark plug hole. Let it sit awhile. You might get lucky and have it boil and come spitting back out at you (shoulda listened about the goggles). That means it hit a red-hot carbon deposit. Hopefully the cold additive hitting it knocked it loose. After a few minutes, put the bike in 5th, place a rag over the spark plug holes and rotate the rear wheel to get rid of the excess additive.
Replace the sparkplugs, put on a gas mask, and start the bike. Hopefully it's windy, because your bike will smoke worse than George Burns on his 100th birthday. Get on it, and ride it. Hard. Very hard. After a couple minutes, the James Bond impersonation should lessen, and within 5, should stop.
Now, change the oil (seriously, some of the additive made it past the rings, into the crankcase).
Pour the rest of the seafoam into the gas tank at your next fillup.

[AOD]

i'd just put a new #1 plug in the boot, ground it to the engine block, and crank the engine over. see if it sparks. (make sure its grounded...and you're not touching it!)

if it sparks, drop it back in, and see if it runs better.

~Adam

[Anonymous]

Well. No luck.

Ok. Here goes.

95 GSX-r coils.
Accel wires.
Rebuilt plug caps.
New plugs

#1 pipe is still cold with choke on. #2 is still cold with choke off.
Earl was right all along. I'll be rebuilding the carbs again it seems. I never used new kits in them, but this time I will be. I thought I did the cleaning as thuroughly as any one possibly could. It seems replacing just the O-rings was a bad idea from the start. I could have been done with this last year.

I am glad for the new coils though. The plug boots really needed an over haul. #1 was plug cap was so bad the resistor was burnt black + the spring and the tiny spacer came out as a pile of dust. Good thing I had extra caps for parts.

[Anonymous]

Ok, it would seem that I fixed the problem!!

I swapped out all the spark plugs and put new ones in. In addition, I put a new spark plug cap on the #1 plug after cutting the cable back by about 1/2 inch. Now, all the exhaust pipes seem to be the same temp after running. And, the bike is all the smoother and more powerful.

Thanks a ton!!

--Tyler

(Perhaps I'll attempt "The Treatment" in the near future too)