Thursday, November 6, 2008

Grocery Getter

At dinner time last night, I headed to the store to do my grocery shopping. I always ride with a backpack that has some tools in it, so I just put my groceries in there. I don't buy much. On the way there, the left cylinder kept dieing. I figured the plug was getting fouled again. Also, I noticed that my turn signals had stopped blinking. After leaving the store, I stopped at Advance Auto. I bought an electronic flasher, a couple spark plugs, a spark plug wrench that fit in the toolbox on the bike, and some dielectric grease. I had to borrow a wrench to get the old plug out because the new one didn't have that much leverage. I also replaced the flasher.

I also noticed that the taillight was not on. Taking the lens off, I saw that two of the three screws holding it on had fallen out. I checked the bulb which was fine. I found out later that one of the wiring connectors had come loose. So I put everything back together and headed back to work.

But, the left cylinder kept dying. Hmm, that's a brand new plug. What gives? For some reason I tried switching the fuel valve to reserve. A couple seconds later, it was fine. Apparently, when the gas is low, it does not flow to the left carb as well since it is further from the valve.

I made it back to work ok and made it home. I must remember to fill it up next time.

1 comment:

Jason said...

Interesting discovery. Your blogs really take me into the problems that you are solving! What an engineer.