Help me with Plug Reading! no acceleration...

[drake900]

Here are pictures of my plugs.
The left plug is the dark wet one...

I have a 1976 with XS pod filters, straight pipes with baffles, 135 main jets and 27.5 pilots. Mix screw 2 turns out.

When I put my hand on the exhaust, it feels as though the exhaust is coming out stronger on the right side, so I pulled the plugs and this is what I found...

The plugs were brand new before this. The issue is that when I roll on the throttle, there is no acceleration at all...it will slowly pick up speed but no quick acceleration at all...

Would this be an issue with the ignition coils? or timing? or....?

 

[Belle]

Problem is one cylinder but the solution is easier if you fix both of em at the same time. Wet, oily plug indicates oil excessive oil entering the combustion chamber (cylinder/head area). Probably a bad ring or two, piston, valve guide, or bearings--might be too much oil in the box but that is usually kicked out...Manual says to try a hotter plug...but...it will catch up with ya anyway. From personal experience, if you're out & can't do the repair on the road a thicker oil like SAE 30 might get ya through--but, again temporary fix.
You can hook a manometer to a vacuum line & read what is happening in the head without tearing it apart, mostly (manometer is about 25$ at O'reilly--they usually carry one on stock, opposed to other auto part stores).

Wish ya well--its not as big a problem or as hard to fix as ya might think so don't let it scare ya a WHOLE bunch.

 

[scabber]

I would do a compression test on the bad cylinder.

 

[Underdog]

do a compression test on both cylinders if some how they check out good its probably a valve seal... is it even firing on that side are you getting good spark and fuel?

 

[retiredgentleman]

You are only running on one cylinder, that's why you have no acceleration. You don't say what ignition you are using. If you still have the original i.e. 36 years old ignition coils and spark plug wires, its time to replace them. The coil and/or spark plug lead on that side may have failed, thus no spark or a very weak spark. The points for that side could be contaminated with oil, and again gives no spark.

You could try swapping the coils/leads to see if the problem follows, proving that it is the ignition.

 

[drake900]

Sorry about that...I am running the stock points and coils.

I sure hope it's just a bad coil and not a bad ring or valve guide!
I just wanna ride! i'm tired of fixing...

 

[jd750ace]

These things suck as a one-lunger!

 

[Patches]

+1 on the compression test. But if you want my two cents, the oily plug is a sign of either bad rings or more than likely it's a bad valve guide seal. Its a cheap fix, but will take some work....

 

[retiredgentleman]

Sorry about that...I am running the stock points and coils.

I sure hope it's just a bad coil and not a bad ring or valve guide!
I just wanna ride! i'm tired of fixing...

Here's a tip on how to make your bike start well and run well. Remove the old stock coils/points/spark plug leads. Buy a Pamco kit including ignition coil, or as I did, buy a Pamco by itself and then buy an aftermarket ignition coil. Those old stock coils only generate a weak spark (10k to 13k volts). Your engine will wake up and run real nice with a coil tha gives 30K or more volts.

Just by using a Pamco (solid state) in place of the points, allows the use of a much stronger ignition coil.

 

[drake900]

So you figure this is a ignition issue, not a stem seal or ring?

I haven't have a chance to do the compression test yet...

 

[Underdog]

check compression if good then spark if good then carbs if good time for a tear down

 

[retiredgentleman]

So you figure this is a ignition issue, not a stem seal or ring?

I haven't have a chance to do the compression test yet...

No one can look inside your engine and tell you what is wrong. Trouble shooting is often a process of elimination. You may have worn out engine internal parts, or you may not. Regardless of what your problem is, I would tell you to replace the ignition coils/leads/points with a modern ignition such as a Pamco.

If you have worn out valve seals or piston rings, you will still have to remove the engine, take it apart and repair.......................do a compression test to see what is happening.

 

[Underdog]

not all of us have the money to just go out and buy a pamco especially if we don't need it

 

[Underdog]

you cant just look in a spark plug hole and know whats wrong but you sure as hell can take it apart and look