rjsteiner01

Taz man sent a #3 & 4, changed out and set up carbs with #1 & 2, all good now. Many hours spent trying to figure out why they were flooding, now Mr. Taz man will get a shot at it. I'm sure he will keep us informed. My hat is off to him for bailing me out.

I would like to get this bike running, been an all winter affair, How much for a set? Are the rebuilt or have to go through them. PM me and give me your contact # and I will call you.

Taz, I have inspected the float needle, seat & o ring. All appear to be fine, I will try the drill bit. Do you have a source that rebuilds these carburetors in AR? If so can you pass on the info to me? I 'm wondering if I had a blocked passage, would it flood like it is? PO kind of butchered the aluminum around the idle jet but not enough to lose a seal around the needle. If I knew how to in-port a photo I would post it. Are you trying to get an extra set of carbs?

Flooding on #3, fuel is poring in from the power jet at idle, a little fuel is on #4 in the same place put not like #3. Should these jets be dry at idle? I have set floats to 9mm, new diaphragm on #1, power jet needle set to #3 position from pointed end (with a shim). Help!!

Hi Folks, Been doing a lot of work trying to get my bike straight (see my other post). I'm flooding on #3, running the bike at idle with out the air box and looking down the carbs. I see a LOT of fuel coming from the power jet. It pulses with the intake stroke. Other three carbs are not like this, #4 has some fuel coming from the same port but not much. #1 & 2 are dry at idle. When I rev the bike all four look consistent. Here is some of the work I've done: New diaphragm in #1 Set all floats to 9mm Power needle is set to the #3 position from pointed end and has a shim I will remove carbs for the fourth time to inspect but at this point I have no idea why I have so much fuel coming out of this port. I have inspected float needle and o rings, all look good. Should these be totally dry at Idle? Any help is appreciated, thanks.

Does anyone know what position the power jet (slide needle) is supposed to be set at? I found one carb not like the others, moved it to the same position but wanting to know what is the correct position is. I think there are 5 positions, if you know and reply please list from what end of the needle, thanks My factory manual does not cover this at all.

All, I removed the carbs for a third inspection, this time I found a few things, to my defence, one item I inquired about and never could get an answer for, the other I cannot explain except I must have over looked. Here it goes... #1 & 4 have a wet plugs and cold cylinders, #1 carb has two good size holes in the diaphragm for the power needle , you cannot miss this. When I had these apart in October, I did not see this. This cylinder was "damp" but cold. #4 cylinder was really wet and I found the slide needle was set at the third notch up from the pointy end, all other carbs were set at the second. This is a large difference in the carburetor world. I moved it to the same notch as the rest. One other finding: None of these needles have a stop fit on their mating seat (they do not close off any thing that I can see). There is a small amount of space all around the needle. Also, I looked up the parts illustration for the slide valve, the order in which they show the parts does not seem entirely right. The illustration shows needle, plastic spacer bushing, circ clip plastic spring receiver (non threaded), spring & plastic screw. I think it should be needle, circ clip. plastic spacer, spring receiver, spring & plastic screw. This is when I discovered I have an additional part..an extra spacer, very thin metallic washer. Metal, slightly corroded, I'm thinking this is some modifications from a previous owner trying to get more from the carbs (shimming). I will remove this washer on each carb. Floats are set at 8mm, I will move them to 9mm located a NOS slide & diaphragm on eBay. Will let you folks know how it works out after I effect repairs.

Gents, I looked at this video last fall and set the floats up accordingly. If I were "starving" for fuel, how would that explain the two wet plugs? When I have the carbs out I will double check the measurement, maybe go the other way (lean out) the two that are flooding. My coolant pressure test did not pan out, the bad thing is I cant tell whether its antifreeze or fuel that is on the plugs?? As for the valve clearance check, I'll pop the cover and give it a check, I have nothing to lose. I have looked over the intake for a leak on this side of the bike and do not see anything wrong, what other place can a vacuum leak be? Somewhere in the head? Thanks for the input, I really do appreciate it.

Winston, That is what is odd about my whole troubleshooting, I try to put two & two together and I can never seem to nail it down. I have the same coolant recovery system, If I pump it up and lose pressure one would think a leak. If no external leak, than internal....I'm not making oil, not steaming or dripping at the pipes. OK than must be a leak in the tool, but when tool is left on and the bike and it is started. I build up too much pressure (30 Lbs). One would think that there would be dripping or bubbles from the overflow tube when the 17 Lb cap is installed...thus indicating a head gasket problem or cracked head or something....NO, no bubbles or dripping (tube is not plugged). I don't understand it?? I have spark on the two cold cylinders, a friend dropped by to take a look and told me its plenty of spark. Is it at the right time? Don't know, I guess I will buy a $50 ECU from eBay and swap it out. I just hate to replace parts when I don't know for sure it will solve the problem. I will bring up a parts drawing to check for an O-ring you mention, I will pull carbs as well. I have a Colortune on the way from the UK, this will tell me if I'm rich or lean. Will keep you up to date.

I'll start out by stating that I'm no further along on finding out what the problem is with this bike than before I spent the 6+ hours looking at it. Pumped up the coolant system with a tester, engine cold and shut off, I have a very slow leak off (14 to 0 psi in 1.5 hrs). The flip side of this is if I leave the tester on the fill cap and start the bike, after it gets warmed up I get into the warning pressure range 25 to 30 psi. I know the bike is supposed to operate in the 17.5 range (filler cap rating). I have no external leaks. Cracked head or bad head gasket? Is this what is fouling my two plugs? When I run it with the regular cap I have no leakage or bubbles coming from the overflow tube (you think I would if I had 30+ psi in the system). When the bike cools down, and the cap removed, I have to add about 2=3 cups of water to bring it back to the top. No steam coming from either pipe. Did another cylinder leak down test, all pass, less than 5%, the worst one at 5% is the hottest cylinder...go figure. I also performed a compression test, unlike last falls testing (160-165 on #4) I now have 180-185 on all four cylinders. The latter reading is with oil added. Test performed on a warmed up engine, plugs removed and wide open throttle. My manual calls for 180 psi minimum. I now have a slight knock that is prevalent around the #4 cylinder at idle, I can make it quieter by pulling the choke out one notch, don't know what effect this has on it but that's what happens. I ran the engine at about 1800 rpms, a loud pop became steady, one every 1 to 2 seconds (right bank only). At idle, I held a piece of thin cardboard about 1/4 away from exhaust pipe on the right side, cardboard was sucked back over the pipe outlet in a hard and steady manner, the left pipe pushed on the cardboard and never sucked it back. Stuck exhaust valve? I would point out that the bike does not pop when you first start it up, only when its brought up to temp. I hooked a small clear tube to the carb bowls and opened the drain to measure the float level, two are at the bottom of the diaphragm cover (about 1" below cover center line), this is within specs, the other two (right carbs) are lower than spec. I would point out that the relation of the two that are out of spec, only one has a wet plug. Here is my question..is this a measure of how much fuel is in the bowl? or what the level is? The bike is not running during this test to make up the fuel I just drained out, so it must be a measure of how much is drained out. My tube was slightly larger than the Yamaha tube, so I would expect a lower level in the tube. Why is it that when the key is turned on and the bowl drain open, I don't have a steady flow of fuel coming out? Why is it that the pump does not stay on? I started the bike with the bowl drain open and did not get a flow of fuel, but when I shut off the engine and pull the plug, I have a wet plug? I shut off the idle screws on #1,3 & 4 and bike idles with no problem with the #2 carb idle screw open 2 turns. If I try this with #3 cylinder, cut off #2 and open #3 (the only other hot cylinder I have) the bike wont run. In or out on all but #2 makes no difference, on a cold cylinder, I can see this, but the #3 that is firing? Is this screw adjusting air or fuel? I ordered a Colortune and will test for over-fueling when it coms in from the UK.

Which needles? Float needle? Needles hooked to the slide valve? I could locate anything on what position (circ clip notch) the slide valve needles should be in? They are all the same and only two carbs are wet so I suppose it doesn't matter. Thanks.

Winston66, There are two sets of contacts across the switch, one for lights ect and the other for ignition. I removed the switch from the circuit, meter was on auto. I got 1.5 ohms across the "power contacts" & 264 ohms & kilo (thousands) & mega (millions) across the ignition contacts, the meter fluctuated around depending on where I move the key in the cylinder. The very lowest resistance I could get was 264 ohms, too high! PO had a long rat tail leather thing hanging off the key, looked cool but the whipping around in the wind did not help the lock cylinder. That aside, I jumped the switch only to get the same results (two wet plugs). Appreciate the feed back Mate!

Neal, yes jumped the switch, when I got to fire up, it had a slight nock in that #4 cylinder (sounded a little noisy). Walked around the bike to check it out and the right pipe began to smoke pretty good, started smelling like I was burning it up and I got concerned and shut it down. After shut down I checked the pipe and it was HOT! After a few minutes I figured I was just burning off the buildup in the cylinder, started it again and it never got hot again. Wet plug just as before jumping the main switch. I will say, the readings I measured on the ignition circuit side of the switch were too high (265 ohms at best, mostly in the kilo/mega ohms) that is too much resistance for a switch. I plan on going through the whole wire harness Saturday. My friend told me to start the bike and let it run for a few and check the coolant filler for bubbles (head gasket leak). He said it might be causing the wet plug condition. I did so and watched tiny bubbles come up every so often. It seemed that every time the #4 cylinder would pop, I had a reaction in the level of coolant in the filler neck Rise quickly and go back down. I wasn't really sure if it was from the bike moving or not. Pulled both cold cylinder plugs and they were wet, smelled them and they had no odor of gas or coolant. I don't know what to think, I can see if I can get an adapter for a coolant tester I have access to and test for a leak. My original post back in 10/13 starts out with a complaint of a cylinder not running at high end and low compression on #4. (160, all others in the 180s)

Goose, Thinking about the test you wanted me to preform I decided to modify it a bit. I have spark...I was thinking it wasn't a good spark looking at it while the bike is running. What I did was pull the high end lead from the plug and put another plug with the proper gap in the plug cap and held it next to the block for observation while the engine was at idle. Spark looked weak to me. I did check the resistance of the plug caps last fall and they were within spec. Would a weak spark not ignite ether because it is so volatile? I swapped out and swapped over coils and leads only to have the same two cylinders cold, coils & plugs are good (plugs have been replaced three times). However, as another member pointed out, matters not how much spark is there if I have a wash out condition. So thinking about how the carbs work and that if I'm not mistaken, you get fuel to the cylinders in three ways: Idle circuit (adjustable), mid range jet & high range jet, the latter two being fixed. What I thought I would do is turn in on fuel idle screw to close it off, start bike and run it at idle speed. Shut it down after a few minutes and pull the plug and see if it was wet. If so, this would mean I was getting fuel in the cylinder through other than the "idle circuit" (wash out). I had to use some choke but tried to use it as little as possible. I did this test with both affected cylinders: both wet I can still do your test with the ether, but the rate at which I am using fuel in my test tank, I think I'm flooding. If this is the case, what am I looking for on the carbs when I pull them? I have had these things out twice and went through the and found nothing wrong. Flipping carbs upside down and measuring float height, they're all the same, needles and seats look good, diaphragms & choke pistons. I know that there is a liquid level gage to set the floats, but can it not be done the old way of measuring from the bowl mounting surface? Saturday morning I will pull the carbs for another look.

Side stand, clutch switch are good. Seems as though the main switch does not pass the stink test. The heaver red to brn/blu wire has 1.5 ohms, the smaller wires in the interlock circuit have k & mega ohms some times and the best I can get it is at about 265 ohms moving the key around. Both circuits "beep" but the interlock circuit is too high resistance. iwould think. I will look at the neutral switch tomorrow along with making up some jumpers bypass the main ign switch and see if this corrects the problem. As far as the waste spark, I find that interesting, that sounds like that might be a way for dealing with emissions. I have been thinking that I have an explosion in the pipe every so often (pop, like a late timing thing) on #4 cylinder, that would be all that gas I'm not burning first time around.

Gents, Had the carbs apart twice, all passages clear and no pinholes or miss aligned floats. Floats shut of fuel. As far as the interlocks, I had the main ignition switch out and it checks out good, have not checked the side stand or handlebar stop switch. If I understand you correctly Neal, your saying that if I had a high resistance condition across one of these switches...lower voltage will make part of the ignition malfunction and not all of them? I'll check them out and also see if I have a tip-over as well. The spark is very weak when I pull the wire and place a plug in the boot and hold it to the block. Appreciate the input and will get back with the results.

Swapped #1 & 3 coils, #3 was firing and #1 was cold as it has been, its not the coils. Has to be the wiring or the IGN module. I don't thing there is any thing wrong with the wiring, connectors pass a visual. I will do a resistance test tomorrow.

Jeff, Are you saying you had a similar problem and bought new coils and that solved the problem? Did you have no spark on #1&3 ? Or just a cold cylinder like mine? Also, if I understand you correctly, when you test the resistance in these coils (in accordance with the tech manual) your saying they could test ok but not give enough hot spark to run the cylinder? I swapped out the coil (with a used one purchased on eBay) and made no difference. I guess what I could do is swap the two hot cylinder coils with the cold ones and see if my problem follows the swap. If so buy some new coils, if not, get a new igniter module. Also I was thinking of getting a colortune so I can se what's going on in each cylinder.

I did not use the liquid level tool to check float adjustment, didn't have one. I think I got a measurement from this site or another listing the measurement in mm (for those that did not have the tool), all floats were the same height and at the listed height. Are you thinking I'm getting a "wash out" on #1 & 4? I thought about this early in the troubleshooting process (a long process its been) but my floats were the same heights. If ran the bike at high revs for a few minutes, I would be able to "burn" the excess fuel pouring into the cylinder and my cylinder temp would rise from the combustion. I know during yesterdays idle running for about an hour combined time while I was checking things out, it seemed to me it was using a lot of fuel. I had one of those test tanks and I could see the fuel going down, I had my idle needles open to 3.5 turns as per Goose's recommendations to start the tune up process. I never went down that road because I had two cold to the touch cylinders with wet plugs.

All wires are going to the right plug and primary wires are as follows: #1, orange, #2 grey, #3 yellow & #4 white. My manual does not tell me what # cylinder is what but I bought a set of coils from eBay and #1&3 came with the bracket and harness, my wire are in the same order. My troubleshooting guide states that if I cannot find nothing wrong with all of the above step...."replace ignition module". I used a peak volt adapter on my fluke (I used it in the 90s to test outboard ignition voltages), I show both primary and secondary voltage to be about the same for all 4 cylinders 5.1/117 to 142. This tells me that I do not have a bad connection in the harness (voltage drop due to high resistance). Pick up coil test good @ 120 ohms. The next step is IGN module replacement, It would be nice if someone had a loaner to see if it corrects the problem. What do you folks suggest, starting a new post soliciting for a loaner?

Bike always had the problem since I bought it, it might be that simple. I will check that both the primary and secondary IGN wires are where they belong. I'm somewhat embarrassed that I did not check this before, on the other hand I will take an easy fix any time I can get it. I get back with you & thanks.

#2 & 4 plugs have half rpm as # 1 & 3 with my digital tachometer/strobe gun, why is this??

Hello Folks, I have what seems to be the never ending saga of my Royal Star not running properly (see my other post). Just reassembled the bike (1997 Royal Star Tour Deluxe) after a long winter trouble shooting quest. I had # 4 cylinder popping and cold to the touch at idle speed. Turns out that # 1 is in the same condition as well, #2 & 3 are carrying the load at idle. I did some test and they are as follows: Swapped plugs, no difference. Measure primary and secondary voltage to all plugs and coils (all read about the same). Swapped coil on one cylinder, made no difference. Checked connections, coils, plug caps, compression, all good. I can pull coil a wire while the bike is running for # 1 & 4, makes no difference. Pull #3 and bike quits, #1, run rough, Checked all electrical connections, good to go. Started out 3.5 turns out on idle, #1 & 4 have wet plugs, #2 and #3 burning fine If I pull ignition wire to #1 & 4, no difference, pull #2 and bike almost quits, pull #3 and bike quits. Can grab pipe for #1 & 4 no mater how long the bike runs. I did test on pick up coil, good, primary & secondary voltage for coils all read about the same. If I close idle mixture on #1 & 4, no difference, wet plugs on both. Fuel is wet on #1 & 4 Checked all electrical connection on ignition system, all good I hear the spark popping on # 1 & 4 when I remove the plug boot. I am at a loss here, any help would be appreciated, I used all trouble shooting recommended by the manual, it recommends igniter replacement if all checks well. I don't care to purchase one but want to make sure it is going to fix the problem before I do. I like this bike! Would like it twice as much if the other two cylinders worked!

Goose, You are correct, the manual is wrong & the coils do share a common tap. I thought this to be the fact when testing but had to confirm it with a good friend. My coil test good, I think all this will turn out to be nothing more than loose exhaust gaskets (causing the popping)and a very loose primary wire connection on the #4 cylinder (poor mpg and cold pipe at idle). I will continue to go through the electrical systems as the PO added some aftermarket items and it appears he did not have good wiring practices. Talking with George, he mentioned that I need to remove, open the ignition controller and place it in the oven @ 125F to dry it out. I would have figured these units to be "sealed" like all solid state devices? I will check it out this weekend. Wont be long before I reassemble the bike and try it out. I'll keep you posted.

Went through all the carbs, no obstructions. All jests are stock (95 & 17.5) and all jets are the same for all four carbs. Tested the coil for #4 cylinder, primary winding test good, secondary test bad in accordance with my service manual. They have one lead on the plug wire and one on iron for mounting the coil. I get an open winding testing this way, however if I move a probe from mounting iron to any primary tap I get correct resistance. I will search for how others are testing coils in the forum.