Sometimes I can be my own worst enemy.
In our state (New Hampshire) ALL motorcycles with street plates (not Antique plates, which are restricted use) must be inspected by a state licensed safety station in the month of June. As this Spring has been very rainy and I have 4 motorcycles to choose from, the little R65LS hadn't been out of the garage yet. "Time to go for a ride and get the inspection done on this one", I thought.
Bike started right up (thank you Marine Grade STA-BIL) and I let her run for a short time while putting on my jacket, and eased the choke off. RPMs stayed up at 2500 instead of 1100. Hmmmm. Put in gear and let out clutch - RPMS dropped somewhat but not as usual, and revving the engine caused a long, slow gradual return back down to ~2000 RPM, accompanied with alot of backfiring and popping.. "Damn, must be sticking advance mechansim", I thought. Not going to ride it to inspection station now, rolled it back into the garage. Later in the day, I decided I may as well get the tools ready to disconnect the battery and remove the front cover, not looking forward to bean-can disassembly. While I was bent down looking at the front engine cover, the shiny copper glint of the copper kitchen scrubbers I had thoroughly jammed into the snorkel intakes to keep the mice and chipmunks out of the airbox during the winter became visible. "Oh what an idiot!" I said, and pulled them out. Restarted the bike and it all works just fine. Apparently they created enough airflow resistance that even though the engine was able to run and start and rev, the carb diaphragms wouldn't drop all the way back down to return the needle to idle position in the jet. Symptoms did seem similar to sticking advance weights in the bean can... so glad that I saw the coppery shine up under the tank before I started to pull things apart!
Topic: NOT sticking advance weights (this time)! (Read 368 times)