Idle Issue and Oil cap leak
Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2021 7:04 pm
Hi All, wondering if I could get some advice…
I was starting to get on well with my G2 following some jobs (forks, fuel tap, kickstarter oil leak), but that seems to have gone into reverse recently.
It rides fine on the few occasions I've managed to do so, most things seem to work, but I seem to have two bigger problems now:
Idle
When I got the bike originally, it started well and ran fine from cold but took a bit more of a knack to start when hot – when hot it ran very slowly and I noticed a bit of black smoke when left to run really slow but it never actually cut out. I figured it was running rich and decided to have a look. I found a sooty exhaust, sooty (and maybe oily also) spark plug so that seemed to indicate it was the case. As keen to stay away from fiddling with the carburettor as I was, I figured I would take a look.
I have so far succeeded in making it much worse! The horizontal screw (which I believe is the air screw) was previously screwed (near enough) all the way in so that would seem to explain the richness my attempts to change that and the idle/throttle screw seem to result in either a far too fast idle or it running so poorly it quickly cuts out. The idle speed also seems to wander all over the place. When I tried to slow it would often become very unstable and cut out – this seemed to be due to a bit of carbon stuck between the electrodes of the spark plug which I cleaned off each time.
Currently I have the air screw one turn out from fully home and the idle at a point that seems to keep it running but it's it seems to run quite fast but if left it might then slow down a lot, a quick touch of throttle and it'll go back to fast then slow and start to run rougher and so on. Slowing the idle further and it'll cut out or near cut our on applying any throttle. The only constant is it's not idling great!
I am tempted to try and put it back where it was before at least but that's probably not a good long term solution!
Is there an idiots guide to getting the carb idle set right or is it something more fundamental wrong?
Oil cap
After extended running, oil comes out of my oil tank cap when the oil gets hot and the engine speed higher. At cold, the oil is about ½ inch below the return hole but this rises as it heats up. When in motion it noticeably seems to escape down the front of the engine. I tried adding a felt washer as seems to be shown in the parts list, but this doesn't seem to help – the cap itself has a rubber O ring.
I was starting to get on well with my G2 following some jobs (forks, fuel tap, kickstarter oil leak), but that seems to have gone into reverse recently.
It rides fine on the few occasions I've managed to do so, most things seem to work, but I seem to have two bigger problems now:
Idle
When I got the bike originally, it started well and ran fine from cold but took a bit more of a knack to start when hot – when hot it ran very slowly and I noticed a bit of black smoke when left to run really slow but it never actually cut out. I figured it was running rich and decided to have a look. I found a sooty exhaust, sooty (and maybe oily also) spark plug so that seemed to indicate it was the case. As keen to stay away from fiddling with the carburettor as I was, I figured I would take a look.
I have so far succeeded in making it much worse! The horizontal screw (which I believe is the air screw) was previously screwed (near enough) all the way in so that would seem to explain the richness my attempts to change that and the idle/throttle screw seem to result in either a far too fast idle or it running so poorly it quickly cuts out. The idle speed also seems to wander all over the place. When I tried to slow it would often become very unstable and cut out – this seemed to be due to a bit of carbon stuck between the electrodes of the spark plug which I cleaned off each time.
Currently I have the air screw one turn out from fully home and the idle at a point that seems to keep it running but it's it seems to run quite fast but if left it might then slow down a lot, a quick touch of throttle and it'll go back to fast then slow and start to run rougher and so on. Slowing the idle further and it'll cut out or near cut our on applying any throttle. The only constant is it's not idling great!
I am tempted to try and put it back where it was before at least but that's probably not a good long term solution!
Is there an idiots guide to getting the carb idle set right or is it something more fundamental wrong?
Oil cap
After extended running, oil comes out of my oil tank cap when the oil gets hot and the engine speed higher. At cold, the oil is about ½ inch below the return hole but this rises as it heats up. When in motion it noticeably seems to escape down the front of the engine. I tried adding a felt washer as seems to be shown in the parts list, but this doesn't seem to help – the cap itself has a rubber O ring.