Bad to Worse.

[Wild_Alaskan]

Originally Posted by iquitmyscene

Ok so just got off the phone with the shop. Still bad news. Brand new carb, excellent spark (new CDI) took apart flywheel, everything is fine. Compression is fine. Timing is fine. Valves are fine. He is completely stumped.

He thinks it could possibly be the rings, but he honestly has no idea.

Spark plug is dry, and even when bottle feeding the motorcycle, there is still no gas going into carb. When kicking, it just keeps turning and turning. I thought it may be the vacuum, but he stated that he does not see any place where a vacuum could be?

Any suggestions?

if there is no gas going in to the carb than the float needle is probably stuck, If there is gas going in to the carb but not reaching the cylinder than the idle may be set too low.

[Weldangrind]

Originally Posted by iquitmyscene

Ok so just got off the phone with the shop. Still bad news. Brand new carb, excellent spark (new CDI) took apart flywheel, everything is fine. Compression is fine. Timing is fine. Valves are fine. He is completely stumped.

He thinks it could possibly be the rings, but he honestly has no idea.

Spark plug is dry, and even when bottle feeding the motorcycle, there is still no gas going into carb. When kicking, it just keeps turning and turning. I thought it may be the vacuum, but he stated that he does not see any place where a vacuum could be?

Any suggestions?

Is this guy a mechanic? At the risk of sounding judgemental, it sounds like he doesn't understand engines as well as he should. If compression is "fine", then the rings are in good order.

Please ask him, how does he know that the compression is fine? Did he measure it? Did he actually set the valves? Placing a thumb over the plug hole is by no means scientific.

The bottom line is that the engine isn't getting fuel, as you stated. Since you have a new carb (which could still be the problem, but I'd look check the valves and compression readings first), my guess is that insufficient vacuum is being created to draw air and fuel in. I'd bet my lunch money that at least one of the valves is too tight.

[SpudRider]

Originally Posted by Weldangrind

...The bottom line is that the engine isn't getting fuel, as you stated. Since you have a new carb (which could still be the problem, but I'd look check the valves and compression readings first), my guess is that insufficient vacuum is being created to draw air and fuel in. I'd bet my lunch money that at least one of the valves is too tight.

I agree. I suspect a tight intake valve.

Spud

[iquitmyscene]

Hello! I have finally gotten the motorcycle back from the shop today. I have yet to check the compression again, as well as the intake & exhaust valves (I plan to do those ASAP).

Few things:

1.) Stupid me left the key in the "on" position, therefore the battery is dead. I have a float charger, but I am pretty sure that the battery needs to be charged in order to use it. Is there a way to "jump" the battery, or charge it without having to spend big bucks on a battery charger?

2.) Is it able to be done/ok to check valves and compression without the battery working at all? The electric start has NEVER worked, so I'm assuming checking it with the kickstart fine?

The shop claims to have checked the valves as recently as this week and he stated that they were "too loose," but he didn't mention what he set them to, so I'm going to double check them again. I also doubt that he checked the compression, since I told him I did a compression test before giving it to him (120 & 155) and he kept throwing those numbers out there. I did verify that he installed the new carb and air hose, as well as a new spark plug and spark plug cap. But honestly, I think that is all he did. I just want this motorcycle to work again, since its a great bike and a lot of fun.

My biggest fear is that its the top end, which many people I speak to have been saying that it is the problem all along. I hope that I'd be able to do that service myself, but there are not many knowledgeable people around to go to for assistance, and ones that are charge top dollar. But baby steps, my number one problem is fuel delivery, so I'm going to try and solve that first.

Thanks again in advance for everyone's help.

[JPG1911]

As far as charging the battery for cheap, free is pretty hard to beat Just take it to your local advance auto or auto zone, I have worked for both chains and they charge customers' batteries for free, plan on leaving it overnight. If the battery won't hold a charge, they'll tell you that too. If you don't have one of those 2 chain stores near you, I'm sure most any parts store would also do it for free or maybe $5.

Also, you may find something at the below link to be useful, I stumbled on this page last night, it is very well thought out and offers a lot of good common sense information and technical repair info. HTH

http://www.dansmc.com/mc_repaircourse.htm

[FastDoc]

Dan's website is one of the best resources for the do-it-yourself motorcycle mechanic on the web :-)

[SpudRider]

I agree! Brother Dan is very knowledgeable, and has an excellent website.

[SpudRider]

Originally Posted by iquitmyscene

Hello! I have finally gotten the motorcycle back from the shop today. I have yet to check the compression again, as well as the intake & exhaust valves (I plan to do those ASAP)...

...Is it able to be done/ok to check valves and compression without the battery working at all? The electric start has NEVER worked, so I'm assuming checking it with the kickstart fine?...

You don't need to crank the engine to check the valve lash. You might enjoy reading the following thread which details this procedure.

http://www.chinariders.net/showthread.php?t=4539

Indeed, you can kick the bike to check the compression. However, I would charge the battery before I resorted to using the kick starter. You can also hook up jumper cables to the battery to power the electric starter. You might enjoy reading the following thread which details how to check compression.

http://www.chinariders.net/showthread.php?t=5298

[iquitmyscene]

Thank you so much for eveyone's suggestions! First thing this morning, I dropped my battery off at Auto Zone to charge (excellent suggestion, never knew they offered that free service). From there, I will run compression tests again. I have done testing before, but I will read over the directions to familiarize myself. I'm almost positive its the rings, but I will double check with the compression test!

Battery will be charging today and tomorow (24 hr trickle charge), so some time early next week, I will have new readings.