Need Carb help - Pinhead? Jim C? Mark A? Anyone? (1 Viewer)

[FF LC FREAK]

Its funny you wrote that bsmith. After I posted, I was thinking, I wonder what my plugs look like? So I went out and pulled them. Plugs 1,2,3,5 look wet and oily like it is running rich now. Before, they looked white as in a lean condition which is what I mentioned before. Plugs 4 and 6 look lean like before. So, what does this mean?

And something else I figured out last night - my firing order. According to Haynes and confirmed here on mud, the firing order should be 1, 5, 3, 6, 2, 4. However, mine is 1 6 3 5 2 4. I thought maybe I screwed it up when I put new plugs and wires on recently. So I hooked it up right (according to MUD and Haynes) and it won't run at all. It just pops and backfires. Hooked up the way it was, it runs, but just very poorly. WTF? I'm really getting confused now.

Anyone want to come over and fix this for me? Any suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[FF LC FREAK]

Compression numbers

So, now I'm kind of worrying that it isn't my carb. I just did a dry compression test.

145
140
125
115
130
145

So, what do you think? I'm going to do a wet test here in a little bit and see.

 

[k91]

You have better compression numbers than I do, but you have more than 15% between that one that is 115 and 145. I have found that more than 15% between cylinders is indicative of worn piston rings.
I could always tow my cruiser to your house and we could light them on fire together?....I am still having the same issue as you.

 

[pardion]

What gap did you adjust your intake and exhaust valves to? Did you adjust them with enging running? Warm engine? Are you checking engine compression with the throttle open? Lots of questions. John

 

[FF LC FREAK]

What gap did you adjust your intake and exhaust valves to? Did you adjust them with enging running? Warm engine? Are you checking engine compression with the throttle open? Lots of questions. John

Okay, here's some more numbers. I forgot to mention in the above post that the motor was cold. I couldn't get it started. I finally got it started and warmed it up. Here are the dry and wet numbers that I just got with throttle completely open.

Dry Wet
145 150
130 130
130 130
120 135
120 145
140 145

It doesn't look as bad now. Maybe some worn rings on 4 and 5, but that doesn't explain my problems. So, I'm back to square one. Why do I have low vacuum and a rough idling engine. Like I mentioned, I can't find a vacuum leak anywhere. I've looked and looked.

The valves are adjusted to .008 intake and .014 exhaust per factory specs. I'm not sure how to adjust valves while the engine is running, but the engine was warm when I adjusted them.

Any ideas? Thanks!

 

[bsmith123]

timing

Well it wont hurt to double check your valves

sometimes its hard to tell the diff between a wet plug from flooding or incomplete combustion and an oily one. I think with your compression numbers you would not be oil fouling and you would have probably seen blue smoke, using oil etc and this happened suddenly.

So I am assuming they are wet with gas and sooty

The plugs are a symptom now what's the cause? Well the firing order needs to be right even if it makes it not run at all. and the firing order being wrong may be the reason for the plugs not looking right. And fouled plugs can make it run bad. Need to clean em up good and put them back in or just replace them if you have spares

Next I would start with the timing from scratch with the distributor out and redo the timing from there

how's the spark look when you get it is it a good snappy spark?

were the plug wires hard to get off---a little manhandling might mess up a wire

How's the choke operating?

 

[FF LC FREAK]

Well it wont hurt to double check your valves

sometimes its hard to tell the diff between a wet plug from flooding or incomplete combustion and an oily one. I think with your compression numbers you would not be oil fouling and you would have probably seen blue smoke, using oil etc and this happened suddenly.

So I am assuming they are wet with gas and sooty

The plugs are a symptom now what's the cause? Well the firing order needs to be right even if it makes it not run at all. and the firing order being wrong may be the reason for the plugs not looking right. And fouled plugs can make it run bad. Need to clean em up good and put them back in or just replace them if you have spares

Next I would start with the timing from scratch with the distributor out and redo the timing from there

how's the spark look when you get it is it a good snappy spark?

were the plug wires hard to get off---a little manhandling might mess up a wire

How's the choke operating?

BSmith, we must be on the same wavelength or something. Last night, I went out and started looking at my plugs, wires and what not. Thats when I realized that I somehow swapped the plug wires on my distributor. I don't know how I messed that up. I feel like a dumb^$$! Oh well, its not the first time. I got it wired up correctly and it fired right up.

So today on my test drive, I find out that it is still missing at a constant throttle at cruise speed. About the only thing I can think of at this point is that I have my valves out of adjustment. I've checked them a couple of times, but maybe one is a little too tight. I'll check again tonight and see.

Thanks again for all the help.

 

[bsmith123]

been there done that

Haven't we all done that, you're not the first or probably not the millionth

The hiccup? I might just try some new plugs

 

[FF LC FREAK]

Success!! My rig is running great once again. Once I got it timed and valves adjusted properly, it runs like a champ. My biggest problem, and I really do know better than this, is that I tried to do more than one thing at once. Once I had the carb problem, I tried multiple things at once to fix it. Dumb. Do ONE thing at a time.

I think Mark and Pinhead were right about the piece of junk in the carb. But, I think I fixed it once I blew out the carb thoroughly. However, I added new plugs, wires, adjusted valves, etc. while things weren't working. I screwed those things up, and this lead me down the wrong path while trying to diagnose the carb. I wrongly blamed the carb when the problems were elsewhere.

Moral of the story, do ONE thing at time and then test whether it worked. DO NOT try multiple things at once. I'm just glad I got this running again. Woohoo!!

Thanks for everyone's help!

 

[bsmith123]

good news

its a good feeling aint it?