Author Topic: Bad Deposits In Right Cylinder  (Read 3199 times)

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High On Octane

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on: May 13, 2013, 10:56:59 pm
I pulled the plugs today to see how the carb settings looked and discovered something that I wasn't very excited to see.  Left plug looks great and investigating the piston at TDC the piston looks clean and doesn't show signs of excessive heat.  But when I pulled the right plug, it was carboned up and upon investigation of the piston it was covered in black carbon and oil.    :(  I know this has something to do with the fact that the magneto was bad and took a few hours run time of investigating and troubleshooting before discovering the right cylinder had no spark.  And who knows how long the magneto has been bad and only running, or partially running on 1 cylinder.

My best judgement tells me that from the looks of things the rings are bad in that cylinder, but I'm not getting any smoking out of that pipe, or the other pipe for that matter.  Is it possible that if the bike was running on 1 cylinder for several hours that all that build up is just from that cylinder not burning anything for so long?  And now that it is firing all that excess in the cylinder is burning off onto the plug? ???  The bike runs great and has excellent torque and power.  A little bit of chatter going on, but that is to be expected on a motor this old.  Any ideas?  Worst case scenario I redo the top end, right?

Scottie

Scottie
2001 Harley Davidson Road King


ERC

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Reply #1 on: May 13, 2013, 11:48:07 pm
Do a leakdown and compression test on each cylinder that will give you a pretty good idea of their condition.  ERC
2-57 Apaches, 2-57 Trailblazers, 60 Chief, 65 Interceptor, 2004 Bullet, 612 Bullet chopped.


Arizoni

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Reply #2 on: May 13, 2013, 11:48:27 pm
The right cylinder might have a little valve guide oil leakage on the intake valve but IMO, it needs to have a lot more mileage put on the engine before you worry too much about it.

If it's running good, be happy.
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High On Octane

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Reply #3 on: May 14, 2013, 02:13:47 pm
My wife was rushing me to go grocery shopping yesterday and I totally forgot to post pics of the plugs and plug hole on my original post.



Left Cylinder at TDC


Right Cylinder at TDC


Honestly, I'm not even too worried about this situation now.  I visited with my business partner yesterday and showed him the Indian for the 1st time since I finished the restoration.  For those of you who don't know or remember, my business partner Tony gave me the Indian as a tip for doing such a great job painting his '56 Chevy Bel Air custom.  Needless to say he was stunned at the beauty and just about speechless.  In fact, about the only thing he could say was "You son of a bitch.....  Damn that looks good.  I mean, wow..."    ;D

Anyways, he was asking how everything was doing mechanically, and I gave him the run down and started to explain to him all the amazing work Tom at Ace.Cafe has been doing with the Bullets and REs in general.  Being a Hot Rod Junky himself, I instantly had his attention and by the time we were finished talking, he told me that we will be tearing down the motor this fall/winter and doing a full Ace.Cafe build to this motor.  AND he's going to pay for it!  How freaking awesome is that?!  Tony is such a great friend and he has already gone out of his way to help me in the past.  I'm very fortunate to have made such a great friendship with him.  On a side note, we are getting together next week to finish assembling the '56 Bel Air.  I'll make sure to get some pics of the Indian next to it when we're finished.

Scottie
2001 Harley Davidson Road King


ace.cafe

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Reply #4 on: May 14, 2013, 02:30:04 pm
Sounds great!!

The black plug doesn't really look very oily to me, so you might look at the intake distribution from the carbs, and see if there is anything that might be making that one side richer than necessary.
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High On Octane

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Reply #5 on: May 14, 2013, 02:34:19 pm
Right now I'm running a single 930 concentric, so I'm not sure why 1 cylinder would be running richer than the other.  The only thing I can think of is if the right cylinder has lower compression and not combusting the fuel all the way?    Does that cylinder maybe just need to be decarbonized?

Scottie
2001 Harley Davidson Road King


ace.cafe

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Reply #6 on: May 14, 2013, 03:14:30 pm
Right now I'm running a single 930 concentric, so I'm not sure why 1 cylinder would be running richer than the other.  The only thing I can think of is if the right cylinder has lower compression and not combusting the fuel all the way?    Does that cylinder maybe just need to be decarbonized?

Scottie

Maybe. Running with out spark can leave a lot of deposits in that side.

Before taking the head off to decarbonize, I concur with ERC to do a compression test on both cylinders to see where you are at for a baseline.
Do the test with both plugs out and the throttle wide open, and kick it thru several times quickly, and the gauge will record the highest reading.
Then, you'll know where you are, and it might help you to know what to look at when you take the head off.

Home of the Fireball 535 !


ERC

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Reply #7 on: May 14, 2013, 03:52:56 pm
I think you should also do a leakdown test. Wouldn't do anything  till you have an idea of what's going on. Maybe best to just clean up plugs and give it a good run. As Ace says no oil deposit on plug just rich. ERC
2-57 Apaches, 2-57 Trailblazers, 60 Chief, 65 Interceptor, 2004 Bullet, 612 Bullet chopped.


High On Octane

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Reply #8 on: May 14, 2013, 05:06:08 pm
Thanks Ace and ERC.  I'll get a hold of my friend and and bootie his compression tester and see what's going on.  For as good as it is running, what ever the problem is can't be too big of a deal.  It should get me through this season of riding anyways.  Then the heads are off to Ace.Cafe this winter and building a beast.  Also I decided to punch the motor 40 over, hopefully get meor closer to the 55hp mark.  Ace, I'll be sending you a PMas in the next day or so to discuss the details and options for building my heads as bad ass as possible.

Scottie
2001 Harley Davidson Road King


ace.cafe

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Reply #9 on: May 14, 2013, 05:56:54 pm
It'll be fun!
Home of the Fireball 535 !


High On Octane

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Reply #10 on: May 14, 2013, 06:01:04 pm
2001 Harley Davidson Road King


barenekd

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Reply #11 on: May 14, 2013, 10:35:32 pm
Run some Marvel Mystery Oil, Seafoam, or TCP or some other combustion chamber cleaner stuff through a tank or two and see if that cleans it up. easier to pour a few ounces of that in the gas than tear it down!
Bare
 
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High On Octane

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Reply #12 on: May 14, 2013, 11:36:16 pm
Run some Marvel Mystery Oil, Seafoam, or TCP or some other combustion chamber cleaner stuff through a tank or two and see if that cleans it up. easier to pour a few ounces of that in the gas than tear it down!
Bare
 

I actually put some Lucas Deep Clean and Lucas Octane Booster in this tank and will continue that for at least the next 2 tanks of gas.

Scottie
2001 Harley Davidson Road King