Sam

Thanks. Regretfully I'm expecting that's where I'll end up after the compression test.

I bought a 2004 Venture that had sat for 6 months and carbs were plugged. Guy I bought it from told me he started it on ether a few times but was done with the bike and wanted it gone. Mileage was 13,200. Im a mechanic but regretfully didn't have time to clean the carbs so I ended up paying a local shop to clean them and they changed the air filters. Since getting it back it doesn't seem like it runs right in 4th and 5th gear. Feels like a vibration and like I'm hitting a strong headwind or like the cylinders are fighting each other. Power not great either, especially in 4th & 5th gear. I'm assuming it's a dead cylinder? Read many posts including those talking about these engines need to rev; they have enough power they can run on 3 cylinders, 4th and 5th are overdrive, etc. Plus, I've had a couple of these a few years back and don't recall them running this way. Ran a tank of seafoam, then checked spark on all 4 cylinders (visually strong spark and pulled each plug wire which killed each cylinder). All but 1 plug looked good. Left front plug looked gas fouled but still had good spark. Drained tank and put fresh premium gas, fuel filter & fuel lines and new petcock. Also replaced plugs and rechecked shops work. Found 2 carb/intake boots and all plugs real loose. Tightened everything (poor shop work which causes me to question what they did to my carbs?) I also synced the carbs. Put 150 miles on it and seemed better at start yet shortly thereafter ran the same as before. I just pulled the plugs to do a compression test and now see all plugs running rich and looking into the plug hole I see heavy carbon buildup on top of the pistons. Will do my compression test tomorrow, change plugs again and run full can of seafoam thru a full tank of regular as I also read its not good to run premium then recheck my plugs again. At this time, assuming it's a dead or dropping out cylinder and the compression is OK, im thinking carbs werent done right or possibly coil weakens or plug wire is shorting out after it warms up. Anyway, I'd love to get this sorted out and appreciate anyones advise. Thanks! New member, Sam in San Antonio.