#1 cylinder is eating spark plugs

Old Man Rock wrote:

Spark tester tool... You already have one guys, it's called your TIMING LIGHT!!!!

Clip the pick up on a spark plug wire of choice.... Start engine.... No light strobe = no juice (conduction) through the plug to ground...

Can't get any simpler then that....

OMR

excellent tool, but doesn't show you strength of spark, only that there is spark. we know in this case that there is spark, at least initially, but trying to track the cause of chronic plug fouling, possibly due to incomplete combustion (weak spark or rich/not well atomized fuel.)

of course it is just fun to watch high voltage arc large gaps :woohoo:

Haven't had any issues from changing mine out to pods. I hope you get them right and yes all of those wires need to be gone through and CLEANED thoroughly and make sure they are making good contact. Check those points! Better yet toss them and get an electronic ignition plate with the rest of the stuff you need to get. I'm sorry, I just hate points like weakass headlights from the day I see no worth in keeping them around nor do I see value to having the old style fusebox to complicate matters but like I said I don't know what you are after as far as your ride goes or what you are willing to put in to it. Good luck on the war front. I was there with both of my KZ's and my zr1100 was a bit leaning that way. Man those carbs got trashed from sitting just two years. The needle valves just let the gas pour on hot humid days. Embarassing that I would get stranded and have to wait till the gas evaporated before attempting to start it again. I replaced them but the insides that they fit in was corroded as well. Which brings another thought to mind.
Is your petcock leaking gas. When you turn it off does it still leak out gas. If so, perhaps the gas is flooding out number one and as a result fouling your plug. Just a thought.

Man tri you and OMR are a bunch of post whores. :laugh: and patton is the mad photoshopper. I can see a serial like Batman and Robin going on here. Forget Sons of Anarchy lets talk about the KawboyZ Riders. Stay tuned to see the sequel. By the by have any of you guys checked out that show Top Gear with Jeremy Clarkson? Could be something similar to that. Hmmmmm. I wonder who would portray those characters. Funny stuff.
www.streetfire.net to see those boys in action. Search for Top Gear as this is a general place for auto enthusiasts to post their vids.
Sorry for temporarily hijacking this thread but I am stimulus bound and that though just came up.
Hmmm which of three would Patton be? The hamster perhaps? or the other guy. Tri definitely would be Jeremy. And for the Stig? Well, I think the news has finally broken. The stig is a female dog from another planet. Euphemistically speaking.

Man tri you and OMR are a bunch of post whores. :laugh: and patton is the mad photoshopper. I can see a serial like Batman and Robin going on here. Forget Sons of Anarchy lets talk about the KawboyZ Riders. Stay tuned to see the sequel. By the by have any of you guys checked out that show Top Gear with Jeremy Clarkson? Could be something similar to that. Hmmmmm. I wonder who would portray those characters. Funny stuff.
www.streetfire.net to see those boys in action. Search for Top Gear as this is a general place for auto enthusiasts to post their vids.
Sorry for temporarily hijacking this thread but I am stimulus bound and that though just came up.
Hmmm which of three would Patton be? The hamster perhaps? or the other guy. Tri definitely would be Jeremy. And for the Stig? Well, I think the news has finally broken. The stig is a female dog from another planet. Euphemistically speaking.

Sax... I'm not a POST whore... Just a whore... :laugh:

just wanted to post an update:

I ordered a bunch of parts from z1. I got a set of those 4ohm coils, as well as a whole carburetor rebuild kit X4. This weekend i pulled the carbs, and there was not a bit of dirt in any of them. Checked all the passageways with compressed air again just to be safe. Replace ever part there is to replace, including all gaskets. Set float levels to spec, did the clear tube test, everything checked out. The only part that now bothers me that i didn't replace is the float pins. Mine are in pretty bad shape and i didn't realize that they weren't included in the rebuild kit, kind of disappointed there. I sanded them a bunch though and figured that i could replace them next time. I didnt mount the coils yet because i want to know what the problem is first. That night, she ran like a dream. Superb power, even before re-balancing the carbs! I ran her for about 3 hours, everything was great.

Then next morning, i noticed a small puddle of gas on the engine beneath carb #1. And once again, cylinder #1 isn't firing. Is it bad to leave your bike on the sidestand? This bike doesn't even have a center stand at the moment, the original rusted apart. Gas cock is always left in OFF position, however I can sometimes see gas coming from the nipple on the bottom of the #1 float bowl. Are my floats sticking?

Sounds to me like the petcock is leaking in the off position causing gravity to give you grief on carb #1.

I only have a side stand - some douche PO busted off my center stand mounts for no good reason and I don't have these kinds of issues. My petcock used to allow fuel to flow in the "off" position also, I would suggest a test of fuel flow from tank to a gas can with the petcock in the on, off, and reserve positions to see what happens. Might require dis-assembly and examination of the petcock. Might be something simple.

After reading all this, I have to ask; was it ever established if the plugs were gas fouling or oil fouling? Can you post a pic of one of the plugs just after it has fouled, and does it smell like gas or oil? Is it black and wet or black and dry fluffy? If the plug(s) is oil fouling, then no carb work (even if some is needed) will fix it. It will either be oil valve seals-worn guides/stems, or worn rings/bores (unless for some reason the crankcase breather is blowing oil into the air box-but that would effect all cylinders), or a leaky head gasket. If it's gas fouling then ignore this post.

petcock is a new pingle, so no problem there. The plug is definitely gas fouling. Smells like gas, and if i let it sit for a while, it dries out and works again.

Today when i tried to start her up again, #1 cylinder was still bad, so i popped the spark plug, used a hairdryer to dry it off, and i started the bike with the #1 plug removed. A bunch of gas vapor shot out of the plug hole (more than there should be), but cleared up after a second. I then replaced the spark plug, and #1 cylinder started firing again. After that, i rode about 60 miles on a small highway, never had any problem. But i am assuming that if i let the bike set overnight again, it will foul again. I think, even though my petcock is fine, perhaps all of the gas that sits in my fuel line is slowly making its way to #1 carb which is overflowing and going into the cylinder. Thats why when i first try to start the bike cold, it fouls immediately.

Still haven't changed coils yet, they should arrive in a few days or so.

cobura wrote:

Then next morning, i noticed a small puddle of gas on the engine beneath carb #1. And once again, cylinder #1 isn't firing. Is it bad to leave your bike on the sidestand? This bike doesn't even have a center stand at the moment, the original rusted apart. Gas cock is always left in OFF position, however I can sometimes see gas coming from the nipple on the bottom of the #1 float bowl. Are my floats sticking?

I doubt it, I think you are getting a poor seal at the #1 needle/brass seat interface. You can greatly improve the seal at the needle by spinning the needle at polishing the tapered end with #600 paper until it is mirror smooth. Spin the brass seat and polish with a Q tip and chrome polish inside where the needle goes. I do that as regular maintenance with a hand drill. The leaking gas floods that cylinder and makes it impossible to fire that plug.

BTW: if your petcock is cutting off well, the gas in the lines should not be able to "drain down" since there would be a vacuum lock holding the fuel in the gas lines. That assumes there are no air leaks in the fuel lines above the carbs, but they shouldn't continue to flow down.

I would be careful. You could end up bending a rod that way. That is not good at all. I suppose your bike has vacuum feed? I don't know because I ride a 1000 which is gravity feed. If you turn the gas off and it still leaks? Sounds like a vacuum problem to me. Make sure your hoses are connected right and not plugged up.
What a PITA! I had a problem similar to that with my zr1100. Used to piss gas when it was humid out and leave me stranded for a few hours. If you put it on a center stand chances are it will flood all of the pistons.
I remember the last time this happened to me I was with my cousin in Port Dover Friday the 13th and they complained that someone was going to drop a cigarette or match and catch everything on fire so I moved my bike from the good side of the hill to the other side of the hill and the damned thing tipped over and I tried to stop it from falling and broke my leg.
If it isn't too much of a problem switch over to the manual feed or disconnect the hose to the carbs and see what's up

Hahaha a wrinkly old whore with wrinkled up labia...:blink: wait a second I think that was your nut sack. :woohoo: Old Man Rock wrote:

Sax... I'm not a POST whore... Just a whore... :laugh: