Topic: sluggish throttle/less than 4 cylinders firing?

[deafcaferacer]

Was out riding today in 4th gear when I felt a slight loss of power, and when coming to a stop and throttling up again, I noticed it was real sluggish- seems like one or more of the cylinders are not firing. How do I check for this, and which cylinder? Also what are the steps to take to trouble-shoot? My first thought is to remove float bowls, pull out jets and clean out with compressed air?

[goldarrow]

Before taking the carbs off, try to feel the headers with your hand to see which one is hot or cold, be careful doubt get yourself burn. 

[iron_worker]

A wet rag can be used for this. The header with the least "sizzle" is probably not firing properly.

IW

[deafcaferacer]

Thanks for the quick response and for the tips.

I let it cool down, then fired it up again in neutral and did the sizzle test.. all 4 were firing.. took it out for a ride and all seems fine.

I guess I'll continue to monitor this thing- hopefully just a one-time freak thing.

[goldarrow]

All should be hot while running.  May be you have spark plug wires issues.  These are old and break easily.  I put in one of these in my cylinder 1 wire and has been great

http://www.ngksparkplugs.com/products/performance/splicers.asp

[bjbuchanan]

Peak in your tank and check if it is clean. Drop atleast one float bowl to verify no sediment in there. If it looks cleaning I wouldn't go blaming carbs for no reason. Most people are quick to assume ignition are carb problems

Snip the tips of your wires(if you havent), measure the ohm reading of the plug caps and make sure they aren't shot or really high up there. See where that gets you.