Hi all,
I haven't been posting as much since my bike had been running well for almost a year now (no news is good news?). In February, I took it down to the desert in southern Utah, and a friend who rides MX treated it.. like it wasn't an antique. It bogged under acceleration and I chalked it up to a dead battery (the battery doesn't hold a charge for longer than a day to begin with). Needless to say it left in the bed of my truck and I've been putting off addressing the issues.
I started it up yesterday with a fully charged (albeit probably shot) battery and it idled alright but bugged under any load. I noticed less pressure from the lower exhaust pipe and it wasn't nearly as hot. I pulled the plugs and they both looked decent. I swapped them and still ran into the same issue. I do have an oil leak from the left points cover that has been going on for a year or so, but it didn't look like it was affecting performance and the plug wasn't fouled.
Could the battery still be the problem? I know they run poorly at low charge but this was fresh off the trickle charger.
Could the rough riding have damaged parts internally?
Could the oil leak be messing with ignition?
It ran flawlessly before the winter, and well for most of the desert trip. Last summer I adjusted ignition timing, valve clearance, cleaned the carbs and airboxes, replaced spare plugs and it was running the best it ever had. I'm hoping it doesn't take a lot to get it back there.
I haven't been posting as much since my bike had been running well for almost a year now (no news is good news?). In February, I took it down to the desert in southern Utah, and a friend who rides MX treated it.. like it wasn't an antique. It bogged under acceleration and I chalked it up to a dead battery (the battery doesn't hold a charge for longer than a day to begin with). Needless to say it left in the bed of my truck and I've been putting off addressing the issues.
I started it up yesterday with a fully charged (albeit probably shot) battery and it idled alright but bugged under any load. I noticed less pressure from the lower exhaust pipe and it wasn't nearly as hot. I pulled the plugs and they both looked decent. I swapped them and still ran into the same issue. I do have an oil leak from the left points cover that has been going on for a year or so, but it didn't look like it was affecting performance and the plug wasn't fouled.
Could the battery still be the problem? I know they run poorly at low charge but this was fresh off the trickle charger.
Could the rough riding have damaged parts internally?
Could the oil leak be messing with ignition?
It ran flawlessly before the winter, and well for most of the desert trip. Last summer I adjusted ignition timing, valve clearance, cleaned the carbs and airboxes, replaced spare plugs and it was running the best it ever had. I'm hoping it doesn't take a lot to get it back there.
