CL175 Running on one cylinder

S

SullivanCB200

Been Around the Block
Hey folks,

Last weekend I drove the 9 hours and picked up Cloyd's CL175. ;D First RUNNING bike I have ever owned. Anywho, got the thing home and fired it right up. I tooled around the neighborhood (don't even have my license yet) just because I couldn't resist. I don't know how I lived to be 20 before having this experience, but needless to say I will forever be a bike guy now. So I pulled into the drive way, shut her off, and ran inside to catch dinner. When I came back out the pipes were cool to the touch, and I decided to go for another spin, of course. Unfortunately, this is when the bike sounded a little bit off to me. I let it idle for a while and then it died. Fired it back up and it held the idle a little better but still eventually died. I thought the hell with it I'll worry about that tomorrow and went for a 1-2 mile trek anyways. When I got back to the house, the right cylinder and exhaust were scalding hot (have the blister to prove it), but the left side cylinder was cool as a cucumber along with the exhaust. I had things to do, so I left it to be dealt with in the morning. The next day I went outside to fire it up... nada. It tried for a few brief seconds but it never kicked over. I gave it a sec and tried again, but all I heard was the lovely clicking sound of what I assume to be a dead battery? The only problem with this is that this is a brand new battery. Cloyd literally charged it up all night and put it in the bike for the very first time the morning I bought the bike. Assume I don't know anything 8), but I thought that the battery would be slightly more robust. I also assumed that the while the bike is running, it should be charging the battery; is this correct? Could all my problems be just that I need to charge the battery?

This is just some additional info that might help people help me solve my problems... I can push start the bike with ease and it rides great... on one cylinder. If I really get on it at about 7k rpms I can feel the left cylinder "kick in" possibly. All I know is that there is a tremendous increase in power and exhaust sound so I'm thinking that's what is happening.

Sorry for the novel but if anyone has any thoughts or suggestions I'm open to just about anything. I'll be doing a compression test tomorrow if that will help any.

Thanks,
Andy
 
Sounds like it might be a carb problem. Do you know when there were last cleaned out?

It might also be worth checking the plugs and plug wires. Shoddy connection or something can kill spark.
 
It has spark, one of the first things I checked. Cloyd said the carbs were cleaned when he pulled the bike out of the guys basement. I checked the float bowels and they are full of good gas and functioning properly. Should I just go ahead and pull the whole carb and give it a scrubadubdub?
 
Just had this problem on a friend's CB200. Compression check first -- could be valves, could be rings. Then I would check the jets on the bad side to make sure they're not clogged. Likely not battery or coil related, but could be spark plug wire. You can switch over spark plug wires and plug to check. Also, on the list of "idiot checks," are you sure the spark plug cap on that side is on properly and tightly? Could also be a bad plug.
 
Guess I forgot to add: her bike wouldn't fire because of compression (valves). And on a related note: I just picked up a CB175 with 4,000 miles for $200. Sold the stock exhaust (in amazing condition, no rust, no holes) to a friend for $60, and got CL exhaust. It's in line behind a couple of other projects, but looking to dig in. I've hada CB160 for about 4 years, and they're pretty similar.
 
First step is get a manual.
Second is read the manual
Third is get tools, almost anything you could need is in the OEM tool kit, but they are not that great
Go through the bike with the manual, it will walk you step by step through tuning the bike up and the correct order to do things

Remove most ideas of "building" anything. Just keep the bike running for a while and learn. Dont go looking for work, a 40 year old bike will always give you something to mend

Just because something worked the other day doesnt mean much, my uncle was alive....right before he died...

Learn what good and bad gas look/smell like. Not the whole turning to varnish after a million years thing. Im talking about the ethanol separation. Read up on that, gas is only good for two weeks per the makers.

Go over the points, this is not a black art or the mystery of the universe. Its rather simple and something you will have to get down in order to keep the bike going

Find a chart that shows rich and lean spark plugs

Fuel in the bowls is only a third of the carb, if you look around there is a great manual on the theory of carbs from honda, great read

Dont change things until you get the bike down stock. this means no pods. If you cant keep a bike going stock you will lose the help of the manual by changing things.

Check the wires from the coil for cracks

if checking compression use GOOD tools, this means no harbor freight. most auto stores will rent/loan you a gauge. But really you want to do a leak down test as this tells you more
 
Sounds like dirt in the jets but could be almost anything. As suggested above, get a manual - hard copy is best but you can download one and print what you need. Does it have a stock air filter or pods or nothing? What exhaust? please post a couple of pictures.

Check the plug leads and then do a compression check to be sure that both sides are still good. Learn how to adjust valve clearances and ignition timing so you can service it and keep it in great running condition.

If you decide to pull the carbs to clean them, start with two containers. I use a couple of cheap metal baking trays from the local store, but anything will do. I have seen people use egg cartons and TV dinner containers (cleaned) but get at least two.

Strip one carb and take lots of pictures and notes. Makes sure the jets are clean and every dilling in the body is clean. Ue a can of spray scleaner to blow through the drillings. The one that gets blocked on those is a tiny hole in the bore just at the front edge of the slide. That's where the slow jet discharges.

You are correct that the battery should be charging but at low speed with lights on it may not be generating enough power to keep it charged.

Flat battery needs to be charged up now.

It ran before and now doesn't sounds like either a bit of crap came loose and blocked something or something fell out. Make sure both carbs have two screws in the side. Miss one and it will run like crap.
 
I appreciate the replies guys. The battery is being charged as we speak. Went to go do the compression test and the kick start threads stripped.... Any simple fix for this? With a dead battery and no kick start I'm not sure how to test the compression. On a side note about that, can I even test compression with the electric starter?

I'm having difficulty finding a downloadable manual, so I may have to bite the bullet and just order one unless someone has a link. I'll order one eventually, but for time sake I'd like the information now.

I'm a broke college student who tried to build a CB200 and realized my aspirations and budget weren't on the same page. Parted it out, bought this little guy and just want to ride. I might reshape the stock seat or something just to curb the itch, but no pods etc..

I don't have the tools for the leak down test and neither did any of the auto parts stores I stopped at. I rented the compression test kit for Pepboys, should do just fine. The plugs are both new and have great spark.

Also, is there such thing as "sticky" valves then. Like I said, the left cylinder comes and goes. Sometimes she fires right up and rides like a beauty queen. Other times the left is out. Could they be stuck only at certain times (i.e. lower rpms) because... well the best way to describe makes me laugh. My buddy has a Honda Civic and all I ever hear about is that damn VTEC, and if anyone has talked to a Honda car guy they love themselves some VTEC. That's honestly what this feels like though. In any gear as soon as the rpms get going its like the cylinder "kicks in".
 
Little update. Battery charged for a few hours, went outside and it fired right up. Still not running on the left side. How can I test the compression without a kick start? Once compression is eliminated I'll be going through the carbs myself to see if anything was maybe overlooked. Also, no matter what rpm the left cylinder would not kick in.
 
Sorry another question. I just stepped back out in the garage to just go ahead and pulled the carb, decided to check the float bowel and it was almost empty. It should be full of gas correct???
 
You should be able to test compression with the electric start.

As for a dry float bowl -- forgot about that possibility. Could be that your float valve isn't allowing fuel in. You can check it by moving the float up and down and seeing if it works properly, i.e. the valve opens to allow fuel. A quick test is to fill up the float bowl with gas, get it back on without spilling too much, and seeing if the cylinder fires. If so, then it's a fuel flow problem. These bikes and the CB200s can be testy, but if you put fuel in the float bowl and that cylinder fires up, it will sometimes let fuel flow more freely into the carb. Could also be a clogged fuel filter, if you have them in your lines (you definitely should if you don't). Could also be float height adjustment, but not likely if fuel was flowing and the bike was running OK before. It's also possible that something came through the fuel lines and jammed up the valve.
 
I removed the fuel lines just to check because I noticed the fuel filter was drier than usual. When i turned the fuel on only one of the ports allowed fuel to flow freely. I decided to plug that one just for giggles and low and behold it started flowing out the other. (the port that originally was flowing freely was the one that went to the right cylinder which was the running one) So, do I have a broken petcock or is this normal? It never would flow from both at the same time, only one at a time.
 
It's normal. Both flow when they are connected. That's one thing less to worry about. Did they flow similar amounts and did they flow freely or was it a pathetic little dribble?
 
hey man saw you were having some issues with the bike I sold you. first off the battery was real strong when you left with it so check the ground cable and maybe take a wire brush to it and the positive connection. also those carbs are not 100% clean. I would definitely pull them off and soak them in some cleaner for a day or two then blow them out. the problem with the bike only running on one cylinder is gas flow. make sure you can see the gas flowing through the filters and use the choke to try to pull it through if there is a vacuum. Let me know if I can help
 
SullivanCB200 said:
Sorry another question. I just stepped back out in the garage to just go ahead and pulled the carb, decided to check the float bowel and it was almost empty. It should be full of gas correct???
Click to expand...

Some gas - Yes. Full - No. A float bowl on that bike will typically have around 1/3 to 1/2 of gas when it's removed.
 
That bike uses one coil and in theory at least it MUST spark on both sides or not at all. In practice you can foul a plug or have a bad spark plug connection on one side, but it's more likely to be fuel related.
 
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