[yoshi]

In the laundry list of things that are keeping my CB200 from running is now the engine wont start. It started before and ran fine but now it will only turnover, and if it did start, it would idle poorly for a few seconds and then die out. When it did start and idled, one of two things would happen when I open up the throttle: 1) it would either rev or 2) die out. The times that it would rev i'll take it for a spin around the block and when i slow down and pull the clutch lever, the engine would idle and the die out. I haven't touch anything on the bike except for the electrical when i put on clubman bars, and that's the battery decided not to charge but that's another issue. Does anyone have any experience with this? Is it probable that this can be a throttle issue?

 

[CB550 Matt]

I think the charging system IS the problem for you with the starting and running tbh.

 

[yoshi]

this might be important. yesterday I changed the sparks plugs and noticed that they had old wet oil on the spark ends so i changed the oil and put in new spark plugs. I tried to start the bike again and after several minutes I took out the new plugs to see if there was any oil on them and there was. does that mean that oil is leaking into the cylinder? bad rings?

 

[catboy]

...that means not good things.

 

[yoshi]

can you specify?

 

[imslow]

are you sure it was oil

 

[yoshi]

i'm almost certain that it's oil. i've replaced spark plugs on my car and it's usually black but never wet or sludgy. the spark plugs that came out of the bike were.

 

[catboy]

specifically, it could mean a number of things...

have you done a compression check?

 

[yoshi]

i haven't. i dont have the tools at my disposal.

 

[catboy]

tools like a compression tester, impact driver, feeler gauges, maintenance manuals, etc. are the price of admission for owning a vintage motorbike.

...i'm pretty sure you can rent/borrow a tester from autozone, or murrays, or whatever big box autoparts store is close and available. just make sure you get the correct adapter.

there are also other ways to check compression. do a search. it's been discussed before.