Need Quick Help for something that I think is my fault

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MagnAndy

MagnAndy

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Brampton, Ontario, Canada
Washed the GL1200 on the weekend- gave the engine a good blast with a high pressure washer. Started and ran fine into the garage after air drying for several hours. Next ride was this morning. Started fine with choke but seemed a bit smokey. Got underway and worked the choke off as normal then noticed a hollow popft type sound from the right exhaust each cycle. Drove to work and it sure seems like I have a dead cylinder. Plug wires are secure at the plugs and as far as I can see at the coils too. Air filter/airbox normal. Nothing obviously hanging out of place but I suspect something has been knocked loose or damaged by the force of the water.

Anybody else ever experienced this, if so what was the cause/fix? If not, any suggestions?

BTW - I am a decent DIY bike mechanic but still pretty new to this bike.

Thanks for any help. I'm pretty sure I can limp it back home but a heavy wounded bike sucks in traffic so I'd like to fix it here at work if possible (after the looming thunderstorm of course).
 
RHS plugs and wires are dry and I do have heat building equally in all heads according to the quick check done at break time. There's a thunderstorm about to break here (great! more water!) so I'll have to wait until after work to see if she has forgiven me my transgressions or if she is going to make me suffer a bit longer. Perhaps tonight I'll do a bit more of a teardown, some WD40, and blow out at home - just that my spot here is right in front of the President's office so too much time there during the day is not recommended!

Thanks for the help all.
 
If it is right in front of the Presidents office just ask him to have someone to come down and fix it for you and you will vote for him, he dose things like that for votes every day. :smilie_happy:
:smilie_happy: :smilie_happy: :smilie_happy: :smilie_happy:
 
my guess is the drain hole as well - I use a amprobe (the pencil thing we put against wires to insure they are not live) put it next to each wire you should quickly see if one is dead.. !
 
Plug wells were dry. Not a trace of water/damp anywhere that I can find.

Did a carb synch tonight - hooked up the manometer expecting it to tell me which cylinder wasn't performing then as I was about 1/2 connected I realized that it won't do that. But having started, I carried on to see what I would find as I did a synch a month ago. The banks were a little unbalanced so I adjusted that out then just watched it for a while and found that it wanders at idle. Also found that up to 3000 rpm(ish) bank 2-4 dominates more & more as the rpm goes up. Above that it starts to reverse as 1-3 starts to catch up.

Then set the idle mixtures and found that #2 mixture screw has no effect.

I'm thinking that the carbs need doing but I haven't got the heart right now so Seafoam it is for a tank or two.
 
Thanks Chas, I guess I'll start searching for aftermarket, new, coils since I shudder to think what Mother Honda wants for them. I will probably swap them for those in my Magna as a trial - a surprising number of parts are common. I should probably do new wires too.

PS , I know that Seafoam is a long shot for fixing gunked carbs but what the hey?
 
Uhhh. Not to discount the coils entirely but. The 86 has the ignition pickups on thr front at the crank I believe. Any added moisture still inside those belt covers could be causing the trouble. I'd either remove one of those covers for a while or just run it a while to see if it drys up and runs right.
 
I just signed on after a test ride to report that I found and fixed the problem. :moped: Turned out to be the #2 plug boot - the little spring wire that makes contact with the threaded tip of the plug was out of place and obviously had been for a while and there was no spark there - found that out when I finally pulled the plugs and that one was wet and black! Explains why the mixture screw had no effect too.

I suppose that the boot had been a little cocked and the plug must have been making contact despite the spring not being in place and the wash disturbed it just enough to break contact. Further, when I checked that the plugs were secure I must have left it without contact too - I just pushed them straight on to check.

In all my years around engines I have never seen this before - makes me wonder if it was a manufacturing defect and has always been there, waiting to strike. The bike now runs perfectly again. :music:

Thanks for all the support
 

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