Topic: Synced 76 cb550 carbs, now bike is sluggish/slow response/no power

[kippstakes]

After syncing my cb550 today I took her for a test spin and was very disappointed. The bike has zero power and runs like garbage; feels like it's bogging down, running very rich- or like it did once when I had water in the carbs.. though I ran the carbs dry and refilled them w fresh gas to no effect.
I pulled the 1 and 4 plugs and they were fine, tho 1 was a touch white/lean.

Aside from the power problems the bike runs extremely smooth and idles with zero problems. She ran fine before, aside from some jerking and stumbling that I was hoping to null out with the sync. Nothing like this tho. Not sure what I effed up.

And ideas?
Thanks

[flybox1]

carb type?
intake type?
exhaust type?
main and pilot jet size?
mixture screw setting?
needle clip position?
plug type?
plug cap ohms?
clear tube test results?
plugs fine?  what does 'fine' mean?  a picture would be good

[harisuluv]

carb type?
intake type?
exhaust type?
main and pilot jet size?
mixture screw setting?
needle clip position?
plug type?
plug cap ohms?
clear tube test results?
plugs fine?  what does 'fine' mean?  a picture would be good

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[Tews19]

carb type?
intake type?
exhaust type?
main and pilot jet size?
mixture screw setting?
needle clip position?
plug type?
plug cap ohms?
clear tube test results?
plugs fine?  what does 'fine' mean?  a picture would be good

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[rockthehellout]

If you have pods and exhaust just succumb to the fact that you either get great idle or great top end.

I've synced and re synced and synced again. Rejetted, moved need clips, etc.

Just enjoy the speed at the top end and pretend your bike is supposed to sound like that at a stop light. Or put the stock air box back on.

[hellraiserDLX]

If you have pods and exhaust just succumb to the fact that you either get great idle or great top end.

I've synced and re synced and synced again. Rejetted, moved need clips, etc.

Just enjoy the speed at the top end and pretend your bike is supposed to sound like that at a stop light. Or put the stock air box back on.

although it is more difficult to create a decent tune with pods, your info there is pretty far off imho

[kippstakes]

carb type?  keihin carbs, stock 76 cb550
intake type? pods, for now
exhaust type? four - two
main and pilot jet size? 105 mains, pilot is stock (38s?)
mixture screw setting? 1.5 out
needle clip position? lowest/richest position (5th clip?)
plug type? d7ea
plug cap ohms? standard (5 ohm?)
clear tube test results? not done. levels should be good tho, I recently tested floats for buoyancy and the levels are set to 22mm from flange- to the mm.
plugs fine?  what does 'fine' mean?  One plug is chocolate colored, the other is a slightly lighter shade of brown.
I'm at sea level- nice, dense air.

All this said, the bottom line is that the bike ran like a champ before the sync, aside from jerking about at low revs-- what I was hoping to smooth out with the sync. It's seriously like night and day, like the life has been snatched out of it. I really can't imagine what went wrong.

[Stev-o]

How exactly did you sync? I dont see how a sync could make your bike "run like garbage"??
You running on all 4 cylinders? Maybe a wiring connection came loose??

[rockthehellout]

carb type?  keihin carbs, stock 76 cb550
intake type? pods, for now
exhaust type? four - two
main and pilot jet size? 105 mains, pilot is stock (38s?)
mixture screw setting? 1.5 out
needle clip position? lowest/richest position (5th clip?)
plug type? d7ea
plug cap ohms? standard (5 ohm?)
clear tube test results? not done. levels should be good tho, I recently tested floats for buoyancy and the levels are set to 22mm from flange- to the mm.
plugs fine?  what does 'fine' mean?  One plug is chocolate colored, the other is a slightly lighter shade of brown.
I'm at sea level- nice, dense air.

All this said, the bottom line is that the bike ran like a champ before the sync, aside from jerking about at low revs-- what I was hoping to smooth out with the sync. It's seriously like night and day, like the life has been snatched out of it. I really can't imagine what went wrong.

I hate to even admit this, but after syncing for the first time I failed to hook up the choke linkage properly, and the slide on my #1 carb was stuck halfway down. Had a very similar scenario...where it was running previously, perfect idle after sync, and then super sluggish.

That being said, if you're running on the richest clip, with larger mains and stock pilots, you're likely running rich. In order to get the pods and 4-2 working I'm guessing you are at least a couple of turns out? Any bad spitting or popping coming from the exhaust?

[rockthehellout]

I'd start with bumping the clip to the middle position to see if it leans out enough, resyncing, and rechecking the timing. First and foremost.

[Tews19]

Do the second from the top. I had the same perdictiment.  Go from there. You can change needle position w carbs on too

[kippstakes]

An occasional pop from the exhaust, but nothing major. The engine did have a habit of progressively running worse as it heated up, which I think is a sign of a rich mix.
Synced with a DIY unit, which works well from what I can tell.

I'll have a peek at my choke linkages to make sure they're all articulating properly.

Partial spark loss was my first thought too, but it looks like everything is wired in fine. I'll check for spark later tonight.

I think no matter what it will help to move up a clip position.

Thanks for the quick responses, btw.

[flybox1]

You are making an assumption the fuel level in the bowls is correct.....
aftermarket float valves?

[kippstakes]

BINGO!
Since I replaced the spark plugs, maybe two months ago, I noticed the cyl 3 plug seemed to be fouling. I chalked it up to a rich mix on that cyl, due to the carbs' un-synced status, and kept rolling.
I checked it again today, same thing, even after the sync. I did a spark test with good results seconds earlier.  On a weak hunch I decided to dig out an old plug and throw it in. Bam! Thing's running like a top.

Long story short: a whole mess of worry over a single bad plug.

Thanks for the help!

Now on to the next fix.

[Deltarider]

Well, there's another example of no need to go straight at the needles, jets, floattangs, syncing and what not.
Always start with the simplest: sparkplugs, caps, arcing HT leads? and ignition in general (breakerpoints, condensors, advancer).