Went for a ride about 2 weeks ago, and for the first hour, bike runs great. Suddenly bike starts to buck, backfire, pop, lose power and die. First thought was I was running out of gas, but had plenty. Battery completely dead- 9 A/H gel that was from the previous owner. I let the bike sit for a while, then it fired up and while still running poorly, got me home.
Next thought was dirty carbs. After reading about the Amal premiums, I installed a set on the bike. Most likely nothing to do with the above problem, but I was going to do this anyway. After appropriate adjustment including the left & right airscrew adjustment, bike idles nicely at 1000, which it didn’t do consistently before. Had the battery on a charger, so I took the bike out for a test run- again-same crappy running.
Next thought was the battery (again, going to have to do that anyway), so I got a new gel 14 A/H, installed it, took a run and didn’t get much past the driveway. Again, bike was idling perfectly, although was more difficult than usual to start. While idling, I pulled the left cylinder lead and it appears that the right cylinder was running normally and could accelerate past idle smoothly. Not the same on left cylinder- when right lead removed, engine began backfiring and popping on acceleration.
Checked plugs – left cylinder dark and sooty, right cylinder less so. Will replace the plugs when I get home tonight. Current plugs are NGKBP7ES, want to replace with Champions, but not sure if I need the N7YC or the RN7YC- it has Boyer ignition.
Any thoughts? I’m generally competent taking things apart and putting them together again, but diagnosis isn’t my strong point on this bike-yet. Any help is appreciated.
Next thought was dirty carbs. After reading about the Amal premiums, I installed a set on the bike. Most likely nothing to do with the above problem, but I was going to do this anyway. After appropriate adjustment including the left & right airscrew adjustment, bike idles nicely at 1000, which it didn’t do consistently before. Had the battery on a charger, so I took the bike out for a test run- again-same crappy running.
Next thought was the battery (again, going to have to do that anyway), so I got a new gel 14 A/H, installed it, took a run and didn’t get much past the driveway. Again, bike was idling perfectly, although was more difficult than usual to start. While idling, I pulled the left cylinder lead and it appears that the right cylinder was running normally and could accelerate past idle smoothly. Not the same on left cylinder- when right lead removed, engine began backfiring and popping on acceleration.
Checked plugs – left cylinder dark and sooty, right cylinder less so. Will replace the plugs when I get home tonight. Current plugs are NGKBP7ES, want to replace with Champions, but not sure if I need the N7YC or the RN7YC- it has Boyer ignition.
Any thoughts? I’m generally competent taking things apart and putting them together again, but diagnosis isn’t my strong point on this bike-yet. Any help is appreciated.
