What should I look for

[woodchuck5515]

Alright my '89 hasn't run in a while. Didn't mess with it for awhile beacause I had no garage or work area (and the whole not running problem just pissed me off) but now I do. She'll start with full choke but won't rev past 2000 rpm. When I open the throttle all the way it sounds like its trying to rev but it cant. I've cleaned and rebuilt the carbs and had a more experienced friend of mine check my work on the carbs as it was my first experience with a diaphragm style carb.  I replaced the the left side ignition coil and am now getting a good spark on both sides. Oh forgot to mention when it is "running" white smoke appears to be coming from the right side and it will cut off after about 30 seconds to a minute with a gasp of white smoke coming out of the right side carb. Also the right side spark plug is carbon fouling after only one ot two of these runs and the left plug is getting oil on it. I've just about decided my only option besides taking it to a shop (which I'm entirely too broke to do) is to just start tearing down the engine until I find the problem and do a possible rebuild. Any ideas about some last minute things I could try before I taker her apart and what I should be looking for when I do ? p.s. Anyone know any good machine shops a little north of Charlotte,NC in case I need the block rebored and honed?

[jetboy287]

Buddha lives around you why don't you ask him about it he may even look at it for you if you ask nice

[fred]

If you do live near Buddha, I'd go get him to take a look at it. It sounds like part of your problem might be still with the carbs. Have you checked your float heights using the vinyl tubing method? The service manual's check by measuring while the carb is inverted is a hard measurement to get right. I tried doing it, but eventually just resorted to using the tubing method. It sounds like you've probably got one or both of the float levels too high or perhaps have a stuck float or one that doesn't seal correctly.

As for oil on the plug, that's bad. You should check your compression. If you don't have a gauge, you can at least put your thumb over the spark plug hole and crank the engine. If you absolutely cannot keep your thumb over that hole while cranking the bike over, you're probably OK, but if you can keep your thumb over the hole, you've got bad compression. Given that you're finding oil on a spark plug, you've probably got bad compression in that cylinder, and possibly the other as well.

If I were you, I'd track down what sounds like a mixture problem, then compression test. Living near Buddha is probably going to work in your favor, he seems super helpful and I'm sure there is something you can bribe him with to get him to help you with your bike that will be cheaper than a shop...

[woodchuck5515]

Ya rich mixtuer/ flooding was one thing I had considered but my floats were dead on using the hose methd. You're right the method the manual uses was a bit of a pain and i was afraid that i had done it incorrectly thats why i checked with the clear tube. Also I checked for flooding by pulling the plugs and found no gas or any distinct smell of it doesn't mean it aint flooding though just means I did try to check. As for getting buddha to help that would be awesome but i would have to find a way to get it to him as I don't have a truck. I do wonder how much he would charge just to look at the carb and maybe test it just to make sure that it is working.