Dwarf - that's a good point, its the one thing (I think) I didn't remove when I disassembled and reassembled my carb, as I wasn't sure how to get it out. The exploded diagram in the manual doesn't show it, but the microfiche does. Anyways, any ideas on how to get this out?
I'm going to brain dump here for a sec as I try to formulate some other questions to put onto 1800 cafe...
The compression tester arrived today and I tried to do the compression test. According to what I could find, this is just removing the spark plug, inserting the gauge and turn over the engine (in my case, this meant hitting the starter button a lot of times). However, nothing happened, no compression reading at all.
Instead, I had orange sparks coming out of the key hole again, which in turn heated up my keys and produced a burning smell.
I'm not sure why I got a 0 reading, and I'm not sure that my engine has absolutely no compression. Is it possible that there are other components failing, causing the engine not to turn over? I checked starter relay and that was good, and in my mind, there really shouldn't be a problem with my starter if I'm getting a spark anyways...is this correct?
So, not sure where to go from here. I'm borrowing a bike stand over the weekend to do the float level, but this compression thing is slightly ominous...I was reminded of that the ignition switch has several switch positions, but my handle bar controls are totally worn out for me to see what's what. Is it possible that all of this is because its in the wrong position? But my understanding is that I shouldn't be able to hit the starter button and get a spark if this is so...