Running on one cylinder

[crobwolfpack]

So my bike is running on the right cylinder only.  The header pipe for the left is luke-warm to the touch and the bike lacks overall power.  What is the likely culprit?  I'm going to check for spark and do a carb clean this weekend.  Should that take care of it or do I need to look more inside the cylinder itself at the piston or something...?

Thanks

[jestercinti]

So my bike is running on the right cylinder only.  The header pipe for the left is luke-warm to the touch and the bike lacks overall power.  What is the likely culprit?  I'm going to check for spark and do a carb clean this weekend.  Should that take care of it or do I need to look more inside the cylinder itself at the piston or something...?

Thanks

Try this:

--Check for spark by removing plug and grounding to engine.  Also check wiring for loose connections including spark plug boot or wire.
--If no spark, plug could be bad.  Swap with other side and see if it's the plug.
--Remove tank and do a search for coil resistance check.  You will need a voltmeter.
--There is also a check for the ignition pickup.  Do a search and check that with a voltmeter.
--Only other culprit would be CDI Ignition Box.

[burning1]

Check the big 3:

- Spark
- Fuel
- Compression

Also, try not to run it too much on a dead cylinder. The un-burned fuel will make it into your oil.

[adidasguy]

I once had a bad spark plug. Change plugs or swap and see if problem goes to other cylinder.

Insure plug cap and wire is properly screwed in. They can work their way out.

[crobwolfpack]

Thanks for the input.  I checked the plugs and it doesn't seem to be the issue.  I also drained the gas from the carbs and both carbs are getting gas.  I picked up a multimeter and am going to test the ignition coil tomorrow.  Will update with results!

[Big Rich]

Try cranking the motor over (or let it run for a minute) and see if the dead cylinders spark plug is wet with gas.

[sledge]

Left side not firing eh???

Have a look at the negative battery lead, a few inches along from the battery terminal you will find another connector with a smaller black lead leading off it. This is a ground for the reg/rect, make sure its properly fixed and is clean and tight......if its not the bike looses volts and drops a cylinder.

Common fault with the GS5 

[adidasguy]

What year is the bike?
If 1989-2003 it has 2 ignition  pickups. One could be bad OR the wiring from the pickups to the ignition box. Check the wire and connector at the box. Could be a bad box or wiring from box to coil.
If 2004+ it has one pickup so that can't be it. Could be ignition box or wiring to coil.

Do what they say first and pull plug & see if there is spark. If none. swap plugs and try again. Be sure bad plug is ruled out.

You can swap coils. Note the wiring - they are color coded - get them back the right way.

[crobwolfpack]

So I switched the plugs earlier and now the plug from the left is insanely fouled and is super sooty.  Is there some kind of oil leak or anything like that in the left cylinder probably?

[Big Rich]

It could still be any number of things - but usually oil will still be wet on the plugs. I'm leaning towards weak spark on the left side.

[crobwolfpack]

What would be done to fix that?

[Big Rich]

Double check for spark on the left side first. Then swap the coils left to right.

[crobwolfpack]

The ignition coils, correct?

[Big Rich]

Yep.