I'm getting my A** kicked

[Monterey10]

2004 Shadow VT1100 Spirit.

The carbs and floats are perfect.

The fuel flows up the fuel lines to the carbs.

The bike runs on one carb. (?)

Double checked the vacuum lines.

Double checked the fuel flow. It's pumping to each carb.

Still running on one carb. ????????

I look down the throttle bores and I can see gas running in one and not the other.

The carbs are seated. New fuel filter

Okay, Maybe the fuel pump is not pushing enough pressure to the carbs. What is the pressure supposed to be in the fuel lines?

It looks like it should work, but it's not.

WHAT ELSE COULD IT BE?

[finjoey]

Do you have spark on both cylinders...? Can you raise the tank for test purpose and
let the gas gravity feed the carbs to see if both cylinder are running...As long as the
gas feed is higher than the carbs...it should gravity feed both carbs...Good Luck

[gat803]

Agree with above, check for spark.
Are you sure the carb on the cylinder not firing is clean? Even if you're sure....clean it again.

[Monterey10]

The cylinder that the bad carb is on has a black spark plug. So, I'm going to check to see if the enrichener pistons in the bad carb is stuck open. Perhaps the choke/enrichener cable is holding the choke/enrichener piston open, which is fouling out the cylinder on high speed running.

I was concentrating on the high speed jet not working. It made me think that not enough gas was getting in. It might not if the enrichener is stuck open and I'm getting too much gas..

One set back, I broke the fuel line Y while checking fuel flow. I'll have to see where I can get one of these locally. No more Honda shops in my area...

[jpr1968]

Black sparkplug means rich condition which could be carb related or not getting enough or no spark.

[gypsy]

My front cylinder was doing this and fouling plugs rapidly. I removed my spar plug wires and cleaned all the connections and the bike now runs quite well.


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[Monterey10]

Crashed in flames. Even though the enrichening cables were glued up, once freed, the bike continues to work on one carb. The dry carb has gas going to it via the fuel line(the volume test) , but gas wont come out the main jet. I suspect gas is making it to the idle and mid range.

I'll have to do a compression test to see if the cylinder is blown. I'll have to put a pressure gauge on the fuel line to see if I'm getting enough pressure within spec.

When any of you run your engine with the throttle bodies exposed, do you see gas hissing up the main jet when running? One carb main jet has gas spraying up, the other not.

I'll check the spark.. But as long as I can see one carb not producing gas up the main, I have to assume the problem is fuel.

Craig

[cl65ame]

Please clarify. Is it dry at ALL throttle settings? Does the cylinder fire at all EVER? Does it idle ok? why do you say high speed jet? WOT is where the problem is?

There is alot of information missing that is necessary to diagnose a fuel feed issue.

If there is NO FUEL EVER entering the throttle body then you have a stuck float more than likely.
if there is fuel at idle then the slow circuit is fine. At 1/4 throttle if you are getting fuel then the mid range is fine from over 1/2 throttle you should start to see the mains flow as well as the mids. There is a diagram in the manual depicting the overlap of all the jets in the carb.
Start from the beginning and describe the EXACT issue with the fuel. Once cannot troubleshoot a problem if you dont know what the problem is to begin with.

[John Hopkins]

Originally Posted by Monterey10

2004 Shadow VT1100 Spirit.

The carbs and floats are perfect.

The fuel flows up the fuel lines to the carbs.

The bike runs on one carb. (?)

Double checked the vacuum lines.

Double checked the fuel flow. It's pumping to each carb.

Still running on one carb. ????????

I look down the throttle bores and I can see gas running in one and not the other.

The carbs are seated. New fuel filter

Okay, Maybe the fuel pump is not pushing enough pressure to the carbs. What is the pressure supposed to be in the fuel lines?

It looks like it should work, but it's not.

WHAT ELSE COULD IT BE?

Just squirt fuel into the other throttle bore and see if the engine fires, a squeezy wasing up bottle is ideal for this.. If the engine runs you can either fit a couple of carb repair kits or feed a long tube from a squeezy bottle and keep squeezing..I would choose the repair kits..

John.

[C.W.]

Originally Posted by Monterey10

Crashed in flames. Even though the enrichening cables were glued up, once freed, the bike continues to work on one carb. The dry carb has gas going to it via the fuel line(the volume test) , but gas wont come out the main jet. I suspect gas is making it to the idle and mid range.

I'll have to do a compression test to see if the cylinder is blown. I'll have to put a pressure gauge on the fuel line to see if I'm getting enough pressure within spec.

When any of you run your engine with the throttle bodies exposed, do you see gas hissing up the main jet when running? One carb main jet has gas spraying up, the other not.

I'll check the spark.. But as long as I can see one carb not producing gas up the main, I have to assume the problem is fuel.

Craig

In order to draw gas from the main jet you would have to have the throttle open quite far which would result in a hi reving situation.

Idle and off idle fuel feed through tiny holes and slots close to the throttle valve. If this is what you are seeing in one carb but not the other, I would suspect a clogged pilot circuit, and/or idle mixture circuit. Do you see fuel coming from where the metering needle goes down when running at about half throttle?

Good luck, C.W.