Q
qreeuss
Guest
To begin, I am by no means a "skilled mechanic," but I'm willing to try just about anything given accurate advice and after doing enough reading.
The issue is with the left cylinder of my CB450. The bike will start without much issue (most of the time) and idle. Most of the time it will idle fine on both sides. Once the throttle is applied, the left side can be heard going in and out. Given lots of throttle, both sides sound like they are running fine. The first thing I thought to try was the carbs. I figured I needed to clean/adjust/replace some carb parts. Opening the carbs showed that they were very clean, and appear to have been gone through recently. I made sure the pilot screw was adjusted to spec and that both the slow and main jets were clean. I ensured that the float height was set to 20mm, float valve was functioning properly, everything moved freely, etc. After replacing the suspect carb, I have the same issue. I am pretty confident it is not the carb, but I can be persuaded otherwise.
This is what I am dealing with now. I noticed beforehand that I had an oil leak, but now I believe I have found where it is coming from, and I think it might be the root of my problems. Oil appears to be leaking from the joint between the top and bottom of the engine, shown below. (The picture is not of my motorcycle)
My thinking is that I have a compression issue, which I will be confirming/denying this weekend. Does an oil leak from this spot sound like it might be the culprit of the problems I described? If so, how deep of **** am I in? Can I replace the gaskets/whatever is in there that forms this seal in an attempt to regain proper compression, without the help of a "skilled mechanic"?
Final thought: In removing/replacing/tuning my carbs, I have adjusted the throttles on both carburetors. I believe that they have since been synced relatively closely, but this may still be an issue.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. I hope this can be a learning experience!
The issue is with the left cylinder of my CB450. The bike will start without much issue (most of the time) and idle. Most of the time it will idle fine on both sides. Once the throttle is applied, the left side can be heard going in and out. Given lots of throttle, both sides sound like they are running fine. The first thing I thought to try was the carbs. I figured I needed to clean/adjust/replace some carb parts. Opening the carbs showed that they were very clean, and appear to have been gone through recently. I made sure the pilot screw was adjusted to spec and that both the slow and main jets were clean. I ensured that the float height was set to 20mm, float valve was functioning properly, everything moved freely, etc. After replacing the suspect carb, I have the same issue. I am pretty confident it is not the carb, but I can be persuaded otherwise.
This is what I am dealing with now. I noticed beforehand that I had an oil leak, but now I believe I have found where it is coming from, and I think it might be the root of my problems. Oil appears to be leaking from the joint between the top and bottom of the engine, shown below. (The picture is not of my motorcycle)
My thinking is that I have a compression issue, which I will be confirming/denying this weekend. Does an oil leak from this spot sound like it might be the culprit of the problems I described? If so, how deep of **** am I in? Can I replace the gaskets/whatever is in there that forms this seal in an attempt to regain proper compression, without the help of a "skilled mechanic"?
Final thought: In removing/replacing/tuning my carbs, I have adjusted the throttles on both carburetors. I believe that they have since been synced relatively closely, but this may still be an issue.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. I hope this can be a learning experience!
