Think I have a problem

[Reddog170]

Well here it is in a nutshell. The bike seems to be down on power and mpg. Thought at first I dropped a cylinder. Nope firing on all four. Was able to get into for a little yesterday. I checked spark on all plugs, idle dropped with every wire I pulled. Pulled the airbox and watched down the carbs as I revved it up, appears to have good fuel flow, maybe to much? If I was to get on it today I would just think it was normal and never work on it but knowing how much power is really has and what it is putting out now I think there is a problem. Any ideas? Shaun

[mbrood]

First I would pull the plugs and see what condition they are in... do you remember what they USED to look like?

 

The most desired is light brown or tan...

[Marcarl]

Are all the slider working when you rev it up?

[Reddog170]

The slides appear to work together. The plugs look like it is running rich, real dark and moist. Also found that when it is sitting and idling all four carb vents hoses drip fuel. Me next chance I will do some more looking into things. Shaun

[bongobobny]

Sounds like either your floats need adjusting or the needle valves are not seating properly. Have you tried a Seafoam treatment yet???

[Condor]

This may be a little off subject, but my rectifier went bad on the '99, and while riding to Cody the power wasn't what I expected, and mpg was way down over normal. 24-26mpg with a trailer. Changed out the rectifier to one of the OEM Indians and power improved plus on one run without the trailer I got 44mpg. So I'm thinking there wasn't enough amps in the battery, and none from the stator to charge the coils up and get a strong spark??

Edited August 8, 2011 by Condor

[Reddog170]

I seafoam her every 5th tank of gas. A buddy of mine is going to look at it toning while I am at work. He is thinking that the floats need adjusted. Sure am looking forward to getting this fixed. Shaun

[Reddog170]

OKay, my buddy took a look at her. He does some odd testing but is almost always right on the money. He pulled the plugs and started testing the spark by slowly opening the gaps until it would not jump the gap. When he got to about .060 is where it would no longer spark. He results, bad plug wires. He also found some little chunks in the fuel coming out of the line at the carbs, we believe that it is the lining of the fuel line coming apart.

Next up is using MBroods idea of flushing the carbs, replace the fuel line, new plug wires and spark plugs and see how it is from there. Will also do an oil change just for good measure. Hoping for the best, Shaun