Urgent help needed, could have found the problem

[kneescraper]

I did remove the aircleaner and it still blew smoke, the cleaner is sticky with the oil stuff. I will buy a new filter element tomorrow.

This was NM's old bike, the bikes running fantastic....however its running far to rich...blowing alot of black smoke and from what I have just found out killing the plus.

There is no sign of oil usage...I will change the oil and keep a very close eye on the level...however I will not be able to do this untill tomorrow or Wends.

I would love to get to the bottom of this...I cant afford to run a bike that goes though $50 a week of gas.

[kneescraper]

you need to check all four, what you have described would indicate it is running rich, but you need to check and see if it doing it on all cylinders

Well if its gotta be done, its gotta be done. I'll be back in 10 mins to report.

[kneescraper]

Ok, all spark plugs are black with soot. No oil on the spark blacks just dry soot.

[Colapop]

There's a spark plug guide (pic) somewhere on here - I'm f*cked if I know where though. It has a pretty good description of the problems spark plugs have.

[Disco Dan]

Ok, all spark plugs are black with soot. No oil on the spark blacks just dry soot.

You may find this thread useful, sounds like we had similar problems.

LINK

[kneescraper]

Ive read the link, cheers Dan.

How did you clean the oil off your air filter?

Also if it was the air filter being gunked with oil how come the bike would drink so much fuel..the filter wouldnt determine how much fuel the carbs need. The usage of fuel should be the same no matter the condition of the air filter, the power would be affected if air filter was at fault...isnt this correct?

I still think its the carbs....

[Disco Dan]

Ive read the link, cheers Dan.

How did you clean the oil off your air filter?

Also if it was the air filter being gunked with oil how come the bike would drink so much fuel..the filter wouldnt determine how much fuel the carbs need. The usage of fuel should be the same no matter the condition of the air filter, the power would be affected if air filter was at fault...isnt this correct?

I still think its the carbs....

I cleaned my filter using K&N filter cleaner - basically a mild detergent.

The filter was restricting the amount of air getting to my carbs at high rpm. However they now dont get enough fuel at high rpm.

When was the last time you replaced your fuel filter? You may also want to clean the strainer in the fuel tank? (remove the fuel tap and clean the strainer with compressed air)

Have you checked for a vacuum leak anywhere? Take the plastic covers off the carbs (verycarefully) and inspect the rubber membrane for rips. Check all hoses, especially ones that get hot and at the joins - if any joins seem too hard, cut the end off and re-attach to create a better seal.

[merv]

Is it a foam air filter then? You can buy filter element cleaner in a spray can from the bike shop and spray on oil to treat the filter. I'm using PJ1 stuff at the moment and it is OK.

When I was a lad we just used petrol to clean the filters then wash them out under a tap, dry it in the sun and then re-oil it with car diff oil SAE90 kind of stuff, but these days you can buy the right stuff.

[Disco Dan]

Is it a foam air filter then? You can buy filter element cleaner in a spray can from the bike shop and spray on oil to treat the filter. I'm using PJ1 stuff at the moment and it is OK.

When I was a lad we just used petrol to clean the filters then wash them out under a tap, dry it in the sun and then re-oil it with car diff oil SAE90 kind of stuff, but these days you can buy the right stuff.

Yes, what they dont tell you though is how important it is to let the filter dry 100% before you re-oil it! You can trap moisture in the filter, suck water into the carbs... all sorts of nasty sypmtoms happen then!

[kneescraper]

Thanks for the comments guys but I think we are missing an important point here. There is to MUCH fuel...its doesnt hesitate, doesnt run bad...it uses tomuch fuel...If the fuel filter was dirty then it wouldnt get enough fuel (btw the fuel filter is real clean), the bike is getting about 3 times to much fuel from my calculations...how ever it is still running fine. But also when an engine is running rich it loses power so Im thinking its down on that too,

[Kickaha]

Also if it was the air filter being gunked with oil how come the bike would drink so much fuel..the filter wouldnt determine how much fuel the carbs need. The usage of fuel should be the same no matter the condition of the air filter, the power would be affected if air filter was at fault...isnt this correct?

This is straight from the Ryco filter site

When should I change my air filter?

A blocked air filter can significantly increase fuel consumption. In addition, it can increase cylinder bore wear due to excessively high fuel to air ratios.

and this from K & N

http://www.knfilters.com/audio/09%20Mileage.mp3

[kneescraper]

Ahhhhhh I see....the engine must work HARDER to suck the air...hence the increase in fuel use...ahhhh

I stand corrected!

Thats a great link, cheers Kickaha

[merv]

Where's NM when you need him, he perhaps needs to tell you what he had done to the carbs? If I remember rightly he was talking about the bike using a lot of gas back then but I would have thought he had it cured.

How'd did Jim2 go with fuel use riding it up?

There's a big difference between air filter and fuel filter and mainly we were talking about air filter.

[kneescraper]

NM has explained to me what has been done, the carbs were stripped and then rebuilt. I think Jim2 had the same experence that Im having, high fuel useage.

I will change air filter element tomorrow and see what happens.

[RT527]

Ahhhhhh I see....the engine must work HARDER to suck the air...hence the increase in fuel use...ahhhh

I stand corrected!

Thats a great link, cheers Kickaha

Actually its not working harder to get the air in, whats happening is that there is a significant reduction in air to fuel mixture so its pouring too much unburnt fuel through the carbs, check the back of the cans to see what colour the soot is if there is any....dark black around the end means lack of air, a light grey may mean too much air....I think if i remember right .