After a lengthy first start, mainly because it seemed that the battery wouldn’t get the engine to turn over fast enough, I also had an issue with how it ran. It seemed that cylinders 1 and 2 weren’t firing. I could tell that the engine wasn’t running well, and a temperature gauge aimed at the exhausts showed that 1 and 2 were a lot colder than 3 and 4. And to add to the fun a day or so later I discovered that it was also leaking oil, not a lot but some!

Things that I used.
YB14L-A2 AGM Battery: https://ebay.us/cKvfzl
Motorcycle Auxiliary Fuel Tank: https://ebay.us/7aeVud
Battery Jumper Cables: https://ebay.us/opZgON

We were concerned that it might be the starter but then thought that it was probably an engine earth, but even then the starter still didn’t turn over as well as I expected.

This bike came with a Lithium battery that is at least 6 or 7 years old, and it seemed a miracle that it held any charge at all. I had only charged it by connecting it to another battery, this works but only to a point. As a charger for the old battery would cost more than a good quality AGM battery I decided on the obvious and ordered a gel battery. At least I would know what I am dealing with. I bought the battery from Tayna (I always say it wrong) and their delivery is so good it almost arrives before you have completed the order. So I had the battery the next day.

Once the new battery was fitted the engine span over really well, so it wasn’t the earth or the starter :) I have since found out that, and correct me if I am wrong, that Lithium batteries give a really good burst of power for the initial crank, but if the charge is low it quickly gives up. This is probably what was causing the issues with the starting, and was affecting the linked batteries when we tried them as well. I am also under the impression that not being used for a long time probably hasn’t damaged the battery, so I may end up seeing if I can use it once the bike is up and running fine.

With the battery/starter issue attended to I next needed to look at the oil leak. I don’t want to wreck the engine straight away, so I wanted to make sure that it would have enough oil. On inspection it seems like the oil may be coming from the two pipes that connect the engine to the oil tank. I used the old method of putting paper towels around different parts of the pipes to see if I could track it down. Oil won't run uphill so I was looking for the highest point that oil was coming out of. It definitely seems to be the pipes themselves, possibly where they are crimped at the top, or the actual tube itself inside the braiding. It definitely wasn’t the connection to the oil tank or anywhere else on the engine. At least it doesn’t seem to be anything I have done wrong. I will need to fix this, but it isn’t such an issue at the moment that it would stop me starting the engine.

Finally I could get to looking at why the two cylinders were not running. The 4 carbs have two different fuel feeds one for 1 and 2, and another for 3 and 4. So it did seem obvious that the issue must be something to do with the fuel feeds. I spent a lot of time looking at these and missed the actual problem. I had already ruled out the ignition, The coils also work on two cylinders each one on 1 and 4 and the other on 2 and 3, so it was unlikely that they were causing the problem. I had also ruled out the spark plugs.

It was only on the second time of stripping the carbs, this time, that I spotted that there was an issue with the pilot jets. Overall the carbs were very clean, and I did think that I had blown them through with compressed air. However when I looked more carefully I could see that number 1 pilot jet was fully blocked and that number 2 was partially blocked. I used a high E string from an electric guitar to clean them out. It shows that you should always look at everything from first principles, not taking anything for granted. Although it is possible that the pilot jets had gunged up after the initial first start, especially with the bike being on its side stand with the jets being one of the lowest points in the float bowls.

Now the pilot jets are clear, the bike starts and runs quite well. I am very pleased overall, still plenty to do before I can even think of riding the bike. I think that I might have a go at using a set of gauges to balance the carbs. Just going off the exhaust temperature doesn’t give a full picture. But that will have to wait for another day..

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