Still Won't Idle! I think I'm done.

[Nessism]

Just an idea but if the problem does not go away what about getting a can of starting fluid ether and carefully spraying it on the various possible leak paths one at a time and listening for an increase in idle speed? Some people use WD-40 but the ether will cause a more noticable change in engine speed I think. Hope you won't need to get to this point but you might want to consider it as a contingency plan.

Good luck.

Ed

 

[UncleMike]

Just an idea but if the problem does not go away what about getting a can of starting fluid ether and carefully spraying it on the various possible leak paths one at a time and listening for an increase in idle speed? Some people use WD-40 but the ether will cause a more noticable change in engine speed I think. Hope you won't need to get to this point but you might want to consider it as a contingency plan.

Good luck.

Ed

If current avenues don't lead to a solution, I'll certainly walk down this path.

 

[KEITH KRAUSE]

Not knocking anyones ideas but a fine water mist is much safer and kinder to the rubber parts. IF YOU HIT THE LEAK, the water will cause the rpms to drop noticably for a moment.
Test on a fully warmed up motor only.
It's not always easy to expose a leak, so the test isn't 100% positive. Going strictly by your posts/repairs/manifold replacements, I doubt the leak would be at the manifolds.

 

[UncleMike]

Not knocking anyones ideas but a fine water mist is much safer and kinder to the rubber parts. IF YOU HIT THE LEAK, the water will cause the rpms to drop noticably for a moment.
Test on a fully warmed up motor only.
It's not always easy to expose a leak, so the test isn't 100% positive. Going strictly by your posts/repairs/manifold replacements, I doubt the leak would be at the manifolds.

Honestly Keith,...I'd be a fool to ignore your advice. I had a costume party tonight, as Halloween has always been an important holiday in my family. As such, most of today was taken up with prep or celebration. The true test will be tomorrow morning when the rubber hits the road, as it were. Let's all hope my troubles are finally, after more than a year, over.

 

[UncleMike]

Place is clean, people are gone, keg is kicked.

The bike is back together and the bowls on the carbs are filling. Pray for me people.

It's go time.

 

[UncleMike]

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[UncleMike]

After it doing it's normal BS of stalling out, it did eventually idle, but with the usual problems. Not strong, still wants to die after giving it some gas, etc,... I had to turn the idle screw up a bit to get her to idle too, so maybe, perhaps, hopefully that could be the issue this time around, but I doubt it.

But here's something I noticed:

When it was about to die, if I'd give it some gas, just a little, the rpms would jump up noticibly, seemingly more than they should have for the small amount of throttle I was giving, and it was accompanied by a whining sounds when I did it. A high-pitched squeal, almost. It would die down as the rpms would drop.

So frustrating,...

 

[UncleMike]

Okay, some good news:

While everything was off and apart, I did Hoom's horn cleaning trick and the horn is a lot louder now.

Whoopie.

 

[KEITH KRAUSE]

OK. Do me a favor. Run the bike two minutes and set the idle to 1,000.
Now go ride the bike so it's completely warmed up/hot. What is the idle rpm then? If it is significantly higher (as it has been so far) don't turn it off. Let it idle at that rpm.
Have a spray bottle of water handy. Set it to squirt a stream, not a mist.
Shoot every part of the head gasket you can reach. Hit it good. Do you hear any drop in the rpm's when you hit the gasket? If so, you have a bad head gasket.
If you can't hear a drop in rpm, lower the rpm with the idle adjuster knob to 1,000. Repeat the test. Any drop noticable now?

 

[Can_O_Tuna]

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I think you need a ......... what was the question?

My previous offer still stands Mr Unclemike


jerk*

 

[UncleMike]

I think you need a ......... what was the question?

My previous offer still stands Mr Unclemike


jerk*

Jerk!?! What did I do?

I just might have to ride on out your way this week sometime. When're you free?

 

[KEITH KRAUSE]

It's a lot easier to diagnose a bike in person than over the internet so if you can get someone to help you that's great.
I'd still try my test. Won't take very long.
Your bike is showing the signs of an intake leak. You can also hear sounds that escaping air can make. You say the head gasket area is messy in places.
With what you say has been checked such as throttle operation, diaphragm/spring assemblies correctly installed, ignition timing advancer operating correctly, I see no way that the rpm's can significantly increase as it becomes hot unless it's an intake leak.
You say the manifolds correct, are new and correctly installed on clean surfaces. Carbs installed correctly. Only intake leak I can think of now would be at the head gasket.
And re-torquing had to be tried first. Why not? Re-torquing doesn't always work. Sometimes you need a new gasket. A compression test should show low compression at least at one cylinder.

 

[UncleMike]

Keith,

Taking a shower and then I'm doing your test. The head gasket was weeping a little right between the exhaust at that one 6mm bolt. I've cleaned the area so I'll see if it's still weeping now.

Thanks,
~Mike

 

[UncleMike]

Fully warmed up, the bike was idling at 2500rpms.

No change in rpms no matter where around the head gasket I sprayed. It's not weeping now, by the way. Maybe a little moist at the place it was weeping previously, but I'm not sure.

I turned it down to almost 1000, and the bike seemed like it was going to stall out, but still idled. Although the idle was wandering all over the place, and kept going up to 2000 rpms. It stayed around 1500 most of the time. No noticible change with the spraying, but it was hard to tell with the idle wandering all over the place.

What now?

 

[UncleMike]

Just to be thorough, I broke one of the clamps that attach the left manifold boot to the carb yesterday. There was no change in idle rpms even when spraying around that carb either.

 

[UncleMike]

There seems to be a lot more seepage coming from the valve cover gasket and perhaps even those screws that are right behind the valve end covers. Could that cause an intake leak?

 

[UncleMike]

Oh, and I never verified timing, as I don't have a gun. Just wanted to be clear.

 

[UncleMike]

Also, the engine or exhaust was ticking quite a bit after only a minute or two of trying to get her to idle right when I started her up. Just trying to give as much info as possible.

 

[UncleMike]

And the tach cable is leaking a bit at the engine.

 

[t3rmin]

Also, the engine or exhaust was ticking quite a bit after only a minute or two of trying to get her to idle right when I started her up. Just trying to give as much info as possible.

Have you tried re-torquing the exhaust?