Trouble starting... do I put penetrating oil in cylinders?

Message

Mon Dec 19, 2005 1:44 pm

peterman wrote:After cranking it for a while with the electric starter did happen to pull the plugs?

If so did you smell gas? That would be a good indication that gas is getting to the cylinders, also if the plugs are wet, that would be another good indication. If the plugs are dry and/or they don't smell like gas I would bet that you aren't getting gas in there.

I can't understand what you mean by that first sentence. Are you asking if after having the plugs out and cranking with the starter did I smell gas? No I didn't. If you were asking if I was cranking the starter for awhile and then pulled the plugs and smelled gas, then no. The problem being that the starter won't turn the engine when the plugs are in.

Mon Dec 19, 2005 3:34 pm

Still haven't figured it out.

I removed one spark plug, tried to kick, then replaced it and tried the other. It doesn't seem isolated to any one side.

I noticed that the sparkplugs I got weren't what teh haynes manual says I should have. They did however match up with the ones that I replaced and had obviously seen some use.

I looked up what I had http://www.ngk.com/more_info.asp?AAIA=&pid=2599

with what I'm supposed to have
http://www.ngk.com/more_info.asp?AAIA=&pid=3832

The specs look the same, and my new plugs are the same as the old ones but could this be the problem?

Pongo · #13 Unread post by **Pongo** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 4:20 pm

Exhaust valves not opening?!

Make sure when you are cranking the motor the plugs or plug leads are grounded otherwhise you could damage your ignition system.

Tue Dec 20, 2005 10:18 am

My haynes repair manual doesn't tell me what compression reading I should expect. Is there a way to determine this from the compression ratio?

Tue Dec 20, 2005 11:22 am

or would the 9.2:1 mean 9.2 kPa x100?

If so I'm getting an equal reading of 10.5 kPa x 100 in each cylinder. I did it with the throttle full open and let the engine turn over about 7 times and took three readings per cylinder.

Tue Dec 20, 2005 1:34 pm

Someone needs to slap me.

I kept thinking what could be putting extra resistance on the system? I put the bike on the center stand and went to start it. I noticed the back wheel was twitching. Apparently even though I had put it in nuetral, it was still partly engaged (I've seen it mentioned somewhere that this can happen in cold weather).

Anyway- strong battery and back wheel free and she started right up. I drove her around the block, everything seemed alright. But it's still happening and only starts when on the center stand. Does this mean somethings wrong with the clutch?