knob in the middle of the engine on the front

[1st bike]

so the bike is fighting me to start. running horribly and dies when i let off the throttle....and then i notice smoke coming from the front of the engine. so here is the question....what is the little knob, stick out thing in the front of the engine, about half way up and down and about half way left to right....and should clear fluid be leaking out of it?

just how screwed am i here?

[DGXSER]

Sounds like your referring to the cam chain tensioner. Often times the plug on the end is missing. This will allow engine oil to flow out which may even get sprayed or splashed into the headers and smoke like crazy. If you have very fresh oil, it may well look very clear.

[WMarshy]

Assuming you have spark on all 4 cylinders, it sounds like either the carbs need cleaning of maybe a bench sync would be necessary... As DGXSER already indicated, that "thing" is your cam tensioner and it should not be leaking oil. Make sure you do a little research about it involving how to fix the leake and make chain adjustments b/c if done improperly your looking at some big problems.

[ambidextrous]

have you tried turning the idle up?

could be a simple solution to your problem, but there is probably other issues going on with the carbs

[CA]

Don't worry I asked the same question about the cam chain tensioner. your fine. Get it running well by going through the carbs before you worry about the leak....unless its really bad.

Getting familiar with your carbs will be th ebest decision you ever made with this bike. trust me.