Topic: 20 fewer mpg what gives??

[ieism]

I agree with TT...

A little oil dripping will not be a problem. Just check your oillevel, and keep it topped up.

You don't need to stress about running lean, looking at those plugs.

A little oil does not mean you need new rings and pistons. You may just need an oilpassage o-ring, that's a 5 cent part.

You do not HAVE to buy vacuumgauges yet. Do it after the winter. A bike with out of sync carbs will run poorly, especially at idle. But it will not destroy your engine. Some people ride for 10 years without syncing their carbs, so riding yours a few months more is not a problem.

I would advice you to look into the carbs. Check floatheight. Check if the floats rotate smooth, and are not stuck. Check and clean the pilot jets. You can do this yourself, and it won't cost you anything.
Also check if the rubber boots between carbs and engine are tight. Fasten the screws on them just to make sure.

Then do a complete tune-up next year and run it for a few months before you decide if you want to fix the oilleak. I've had oilleaks that went away by themself. 

[WFO]

Unfortunately, I have spent my chunk of money this season, so I don't have the money right now for the guages. If I ride the bike like this for the next couple months, am I going to potentialy damage anything. It seems like I read that running lean can damage the pistons or something due to overheating. Can I finish this season with it the way it is, properly winterize and then un-winterize (is that a word??) and tune it up at the beginning of next riding season when I have some more money to buy the guages and such? If all I am losing is mileage, and I have a good idea of what is causing it, I am fine with that as long as it does not damage the bike. There is only 21000 miles on it, so I would really hate to do anything that would force me to rebuild it prematurely.

Thanks again,

Brandon

Keep an eye on ebay i just got a motionpro mercury 4 carb sync gauge for 30 bucks delivered you just have toi keep looking these deals come and are gone very fast.

[manjisann]

I realize the leak on the fins isn't caused by leaking piston rings.  That I assume is gasket related, and if I am lucky is just due to loose bolts or nuts.  Are the oil passage orings hard to change? I assume the top end must be taken apart to change it? As u suggest, I will just watch the oil level and top up. The leak seems to be pretty small and hasn't effected the level noticeably.

The reason I was thinking rings was cause plug #3 was kinda wet looking when I pulled it today. If memory serves I thought this meant the oil ring was going out. It wasn't horribly wet or really more dirty looking than the others, just kinda wet looking.  If that means I don't need to do a rebuild I can live with that.

I guess I will just have to wait till next year to tune the carbs better. I'll pick up the vacuum guages and I saw a set of carb wire cleaners I will get as well.

[manjisann]

Heh, reading the forum on my cell phone is kinda tricky. And as far as depression or excessive worry,  the meds take care of that   I have just learned to plan on the worst, and then I am pleasantly surprised pretty often. I wouldn't have started on a ring job till I had checked everything else first. Just wondering if that was what a wet plug meant. I will pull the #3 plug again next week and sniff it and see whether it is gas or oil smell.

TT you said I will have to replace the plugs often, how often do you mean? Sorry if this is a stupid question, this is my first bike so other than the schedule the Clymer manual gives. Also if I buy a pneumatic spark plug cleaner like you suggest, will that extend the life of the plugs and improve engine running? Since you explained that the engine needs to work to keep the plugs and cylinder cleaner I have tried to work at working the engine. 

Sounds like I don't need to worry about the leak I photographed, it took it two weeks to get like that so it is small

[manjisann]

Is the oil pan gasket pretty easy to change? I have to change the oil ring around my shifter as I think it may be leaking and I figure it's easier to change it now and know it's good before it completely fails. Since I am doing this and it is time for an oil change and a few other planned maintenance items and such I figured I'd change the oil pan seal and clean the oil pre screen that is supposed to be cleaned every 30k miles. Figure since I will have the left side cover off I will also clean the clutch adjuster since it won't turn. Is this particularly hard? I have the exploded parts list to know what is where. *sigh* so many things to clean

[TwoTired]

The oil orings for the passage from lower end to camshaft are at each end of the head to cylinder block mating surface. This is also where the head gasket is located.  Since the head gasket is good for just one torque down cycle, you will have to replace the head gasket to replace those orings.

The black deposits on the spark plug are electrically conductive.  The white part near the center electrode of the spark plug is and insulator.  When there is enough black deposits on the insulator, the spark energy travels along the black deposits instead of jumping the gap.  This makes ignition of the A/F mixture in the chambers iffy to non-existent.  At this point you either replace the spark plugs or blast clean the center electrode insulator to remove the black carbon deposits.
Carbon fouled plugs usually begin to show poor idle initially, followed eventually by the cylinder not firing at all.

I can't predict the interval this will happen on your bike.  You'll know it when a cylinder stops firing.  Usually, one will foul before the others.  4 cylinder run better than 3 (or 2).

Cheers,