right cylinder is running hotter that left side

[I am Carbon]

I have a 1980 that I have been working on and I just started it for the first time. And Im new to this type of engine. the engine started on the second kick and very quickly ( 15 to 30 seconds) I noticed the paint ( painted one weekago) starting to smoke on the right exhaust side I had my thermo close by and took a reading right side was 230 F left side was 105 F so I shut it down and checked the right plug and it is dark brown and not white and the left plug looked is wet and new. So my question is canI ground out the left sparkplug on the head to see if it has spark? will I burn out the coil if I do this? And does anyone think the right cylinder heated up very quickly? any advice will be welcome and thanks in advance ,Ed

 

[pa23driver]

sync your carbs and set the idle mixture.

yep, you can ground the plug on the engine to check for spark

 

[I am Carbon]

OK Thanks

 

[sreimer]

Also a common thing with these motors. Xsjohn makes needles to make them run properly it goes beyond carb clean and sync.

 

[Patches]

Your right cylinder is most likely running rich if it's black, and your left is probably not getting any spark at all if it is wet.....

230 is not that hot for exhaust. What kind of paint did you use? Also any info on the bike would help....

Recent rebuild?
New to you bike?
Just getting it running?
New plugs?
Old plugs?
Any mods?
Previous adjustments (i.e. Carb sync, valve adjustment, carb cleaning, cam chain adj. Etc)

 

[Travis]

sreimer, yeah common for the right side to be a little hotter than the left when everything is working properly. This is totally different though because the left side is not even firing. When I first read the title of the thread I was thinking the same thing though... xsjohn and his needles. No need to even think about those though until it's running right, and even then they aren't necessary in my opinion (that and you can't get them anyway).

 

[I am Carbon]

well im goin to check the spark then the compression Im sure the carbs are screwed up Im sure they need to be rebuilt. and the paint I used was rustolem stove and BBQ paint good to about 1200F The bike is 80 street tracker this is my first 4 stroke it has been sitting around for long time im sure. It need to be cleaned up just so I could work on it without it driving me crazy. the guy that owned it before me Im sure had less of an idea on what to do with this bike than I do. I had to tighten the cam chain readjust the valves they were way to tight the floats were set to 34mm rust was in the carbs too(I was reading in this manual that I have and it says not to carb cleaner on these carbs?) it took a week to get the rust out of the tank and another week to clean the oxidiation off the alumium It looked like he did a bkake job but did it without putting the dust cover back on the piston and that piston and caliper is garbage now. every thing looks to be in the stock config. but me being a rookie at this bike I could be wrong
Im also reading The XS650 Garage Carburetor Guide I found in a thread

 

[I am Carbon]

Well thanks to the carb guide that I downloaded from here I have learn much more about my carbs the left carb The fuel screw Oring was pinched and twisted I don,t know how the guy did this with such a small Oring. but he did.I ordered from Mikes more Orings 2Orings 2 washers and 2 caps allmost 9 bucks shipping for a 170 mile trip and 15 and change for 2 day Whats a guy going to do But be HAPPY to find these parts I and am

 

[Travis]

I'm not sure why they include new caps in those little kits.

 

[I am Carbon]

Well I would like to close this thread by saying thanks for the help to those who posted to this thread. It was the carbs. I also want to thank Grizid1 5twins and the Garage staff for the carb guide. It is so easy to use I like it when things are user friendly. tomorrow I will take the first ride on this bike I feel good about this engine both cylinders are running with 5deg.F of each other while sitting in the drive well thanks again ,Ed

 

[Pyrobooster]

Well thanks to the carb guide that I downloaded from here I have learn much more about my carbs the left carb The fuel screw Oring was pinched and twisted I don,t know how the guy did this with such a small Oring. but he did.I ordered from Mikes more Orings 2Orings 2 washers and 2 caps allmost 9 bucks shipping for a 170 mile trip and 15 and change for 2 day Whats a guy going to do But be HAPPY to find these parts I and am

Where is the carb guide? I have almost the same problem

 

[Gordon]

Click on TECH at the top of the page. As Travis stated, the right side does run hotter naturaly, but you have another problem with the ignition. The stock coils on these bike's were marginal, at best, when new 30+ years ago. And you have a dual tower coil that is prone to shorting out. So, it is possible to have spark on one side and not the other. They get shorted out usually by someone not grounding the spark plug wire, or spark plug. The caps that fit onto the spark plugs also burn out, as well as the wire's. On your coil pac, the wire's are NOT replacable.On my '80 I replaced them with Mike's part 17-6803, 23-2906, and 23-2113. That was over 4 years ago, with NO problem's with the ignition ever.

 

[I am Carbon]

Where is the carb guide? I have almost the same problem

http://www.amckayltd.com/carbguide.pdf there you go