one cylinder not working...but why?

[Hepcat]

Just another possibility, but could the spark plug lead on that cyllinder be faulty? Maybe it only makes when you move it to put the screwdriver in. If the wire's broken internally, it could make contact when you move it, but not when it's in running position on the spark plug.

Best of luck!

[CRXSi90]

LOL, I went out there, pulled the float bowl down, pulled out the big jet, and sprayed and stuck a needle through the little jet, put it back together, and now I can't get it started! LOL, go figure...it would run fine without this cylinder, but now that I did whatever I did, I can't get it running.

This just dawned on me...I used electrical contact cleaner, and I did spray some "up" the jets into that area. I wonder if that stuff doesn't burn too well. Shoulda used wd-40 for that task...oh well, live and learn.

Also, just as I was getting going, bad luck walked up (my dad). He started taking over, like telling me what to do and stuff. He says drain the gas, refill w/ some fresh stuff, and try again tomorrow. He might be right, but his excuse is that there is water in the gas...we drained some and that didn't appear to be the case.

We'll see if I can get this thing running yet!

Kevo

[Materi]

Uh oh....awww, don't worry about it, it'll start again. Hey, mine wasn't firing in the #1 hole one time, turned out to be a kinked fuel line, which was improperly routed . Good luck dude, piece of cake. Oh yeah...listen to your ole' Pop. Someday you will appreciate the time you guys spent together working on the bike and figuring out what was wrong together, plus it'll make your Dad feel like a million bucks, and that is priceless.

Keith

[chevy45412001]

one more

i had a plug boot off on my bike one time. Off the wire that is,screwed it back on like you would be turning in a bolt to tighten. clockwise that is. just a simple suggestion.

[CRXSi90]

Well, today we threw the battery charger on, flushed the tank, and were able to get it running. Funny thing now is the #1 cylinder isn't firing! Dad says it is probably ignition related. He has this little tool than can find A/C electricity or something, and the beeping was only present when you were like 2 inches away from the plug wire, where you could get the signal like 6 inches away on the right side. He could be right, but he says get new plugs before we spend too much more time investigating. Honestly, the plugs look almost new, except for the carbon buildup! I might try cleaning it up a little, or just springing for some new plugs. I gotta find out what kind it uses...I saw it on some tech tip on this site, but I sure can't find it now!

JIC it isn't the plugs, what else is there? Could be a bad plug wire, or the screwing the plug boot onto the wire (although I'm not entirely sure I understand that)...

Or, could it be the coil pick-up wires that I read so much about?
http://www.xs11.com/tips/repair/repair8.shtml
Well, thats the link, so I guess I can get reading and checking, huh?

[chevy45412001]

hey 90

you have a spark plug wire that goes to each spark plug. At the end of the wire the thing that actualy goes on the spark plug is the boot. check to be sure the boot is connected to the wire. mine was not,so i screwed it back on to the wire same way i would put a screw into something,i held the wire with one hand,then turned the boot in a clockwise direction with my other hand. (so i was tightening the boot back onto the wire)

[TopCatGr58]

Hey 90,

First UNSCREW the plug cap and check for corrosion in the end of the wire, if so, you can cut off a small portion of it to expose NEW uncorroded wire, and also take a small wire brush or such to the screw in the end of the plug cap, with some electrical contact cleaner and clean it up if also corroded, THEN screw it back onto the wire!

Also, if you have an Ohmeter, check the resistance of the cap! Put a test lead in both ends, should be about 4-5kohms, if a lot higher....and you're sure you've gotten rid of any corrosion, then your plug cap is bad, and you can replace it!

If it's not corroded, then another test you can do is SWAP the #1 plug wire with the #4 wire, they both come from the same coil, and fire together....wasted spark on other cylinder's exhaust cycle, and so then if the HOT cylinder moves to #1 and #4 is cool, then you know it's the wire/plug or even COIL, but NOT the pickup coils, cause 1 pickup controls the firing of the ignition coil that fires BOTH cylinders all the time, and since #4 is hot, then it's most likely NOT the PU coils!?
T.C.

[CRXSi90]

I cleaned the #1 plug and took the plug boot off, then put it back on, and marvelously, it works! It didn't look like there was any corrosion, but it is so far into the plug boot that I don't know how I'd clean it if it were corroded...can you take the smaller boot thing that is on the plug boot off? <-so you can get to the pin that stabs the spark plug wire

I did a lot of reading about the pick-up coil wires, and the black ignition box, so I should be ready for when that goes bad.

It makes sense that if only one of your cyl. are cold, then it isn't related to the coil. I never really thought that they would fire 4 cylinders with 2 coils, but now it makes sense.

I don't think it'll ever matter, but do these bikes fire 1-2-3-4?

[pgg]

1-3-4-2 is the usual.

[CRXSi90]

Weird! oh well, it would probably make sense from an engineering standpoint if I thought about it long enough. Thanks!

[pgg]

All to do with forces, balances, vibration etc... 1-2-3-4 is a no go.

[CRXSi90]

if I'm right, the 2 pistons on the right side would be in the opposite position of the two on the left! That sure is a weird one! I would think it would cause a wiggle back and forth, but I trust that it works out! I would expect the outer to to be at the same position, and the inner two to be the same, but opposite of the outers.

I like thinking about stuff like this!

[pgg]

CRX, you're right that 1 & 4 rise and fall in unison, ditto for 2 & 3. They're at different induction/compression stages though. This is getting to complicated! Lucky an XS isn't a V12 or V8!

[TopCatGr58]

Hey there 90,

Another way you can look at the cycle is with 2-1-3-4, essentially same as 1-3-4-2, just taking a different cylinder as the first one in the cycle, cause if you continue the cycle you'll see it's:
1-3-4-2-1-3-4-2-1-3-4-2-1-3-4

With the 2-1-3-4 you can see that it starts firing in the middle pair, left side, then the same side outer piston, then comes back to the middle pair but right side, then the outer right piston. This apparently keeps the stresses evened out, 2 on one side, then 2 on the other side of the crank!

The "smaller boot thing", is the rubber seal around the base of the plug boot where the wire fits in, you can pull that rubber seal off, and actually put it on the wire first. Yes, the screw in the plug cap is down there a bit. You say the plug/coil wire didn't look corroded! Then the plug boot may have just come loose from the wire, and tightening back on made the connection much better!?
Glad you got it working right!
T.C.

[CRXSi90]

Well, my dad got some BPR6ES NGK plugs while he was in town. We stuck them in, and fired it up...WOW, it just started really easily, and pretty soon the choke could be turned off and it would idle fine, and rev smoothly! I think thats about it for my engine work for now, other than changing the oil, and gear case oils!

Next is the brakes, I guess.

The plugs I took out were BR8ES plugs...colder, and no projectile tip! I don't know how much of a factor the specific plug was, and how much "new" plugs affected the condition, but never the less, I'm happy!

I also looked in the saddlebag and found 2 7-heatrange and 2 9-heatrange plugs! I know that is colder, but by how much? How big is the scale of heat ranges?

I also found 3 used BPR6ES (what I put in) which were probably original equipment. So I guess I have plenty of plugs to keep w/ me in case I end up in a bind!

Thanks for the help! I might attempt to synchronize them sometime, but I think I just might move on to fixing some other component and ride a little bit first!

Thanks again!