Long post, but I'm going to try to give you as much information as possible.
1971 CL350, brought back on the road after a long slumber. I put a couple hundred trouble free miles on it and then the clutch push rod seal blew out. Caught it early and repaired it. Seemingly, no damage done and still oil in the crankcase when I drained it.
On the next ride after that, I noticed a stumble and even though I was only around 80 miles on that tank, it appeared I was running out of gas. On to reserve and filled it up. Made a couple of quick jaunts....about 4 miles each....and then stopped at a local bike night. Later, after sitting for a couple of hours, I was on my way home and the bike just sort of lost power and bogged and died. Still had lights, just....died. It was very hard to turn over by the button and sorta acted like a flat battery. I was TERRIFIED that I had caused some sort of damage from the oil seal incident and had soft seized it. Called my GF to grab the van and pushed it about 500 yards to a lighted area (I was out in the country and it was pitch black). As soon as I got there, I hit the button and it fired right back up.
I checked the battery when I got home and it was ~12.1-12.2V, but that was to be expected. I was hitting the button trying to start it AND I pushed it a few hundred yards with the key/lights on so I wouldn't get run over.
Put it on the charger and went back to normal life, work, etc. The next time I tried it, she started instantly. Took her for a spin around the neighborhood and about 7-8 miles into it, same symptoms. Just sorta lost power and died. Almost like I ran out of gas. Opened gas gap to check for a vacuum lock....no "whoosh". This time, it would crank over but no start. Occasional pop from the exhaust. Luckily, I was close to home (and uphill) and coasted back to the garage. Maybe....MAYBE...5-7 minutes after this happened I was able to check the voltage and the battery still had 12.6V. Still not bad, since I had been hitting the starter button (tried kicking, too...no luck).
Opened the drain screw on the RH carb (accessible around the Scrambler pipes) and fuel came out. Pulled plugs and they look perfect. Laid plugs on the head and saw spark. Checked points and there's no oil on them and there was spark. Checked compression and got ~125 PSI on both cylinders with my ancient gauge, as well as passing the "finger on the hole" test. Don't think it's a timing issue because it starts to easily and runs fine when it's running.
So.....spark, fuel and compression. Guess I'll order some tune up parts since the caps, points and condenser are probably original to the bike.
Went to drain the tank for removal and noticed that the bung that feeds the LH carb didn't flow at first. Then, the flow would kind of come and go when I moved the lever. Got both bungs draining (aftermarket petcock, BTW) and emptied the tank. Pulled the sediment bowl and it's basically clean. Full of fuel and almost no particles. Pulled the lever and blew out all lines and flipped the biscuit. No smoking gun in there...
Installed new condensers. Checked coils. Trimmed wires back 1/4" and installed new caps. Results below:
LH Coil
Yellow > B/W = 4.1 ohms
B/W to plug lead (no cap) = 8.98 ohms
With new NGK cap installed = 13.5 ohms
RH Coil
Bl > B/W = 3.9 ohms
B/W > plug lead (no cap) = 8.82 ohms
With cap installed = 13.38 ohms
So far, I see nothing wrong. I have new points but not sure when I'll have time to get them installed AND timed. I'm tempted to put the tank back on, fill her up and see what happens.
Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions?
(Disclaimer: Been texting with CalJ and he says it's the condensers. I hope he's right. I really ought to muster up the gumption to install the new points and time it, too)
