Bike randomly dies?? Help me please!

So I haven't had time to get into it since we are closing my bar for refurb I spend the last couple of weeks organise that sh*t hole and making sure everything was ready.

Yesterday on my way back from work I do the usual start the bike with no choke but for some reasons it started to sputter and I had to keep the rev high so it wouldnt die. Today just out of curiosity i checked my spark plugs and the one that I got out from the front left cylinder is completely black and oily while the other one isn't that bad. I've attached a picture to show you guys

I also wanted to check my air filter to see if anything is stuck there but started to rain out of nowhere so I decided to not do it today and I'll check it tomorrow on my day off.

I'm not an expert on bike but could that be a faulty choke as well?

Oh dear. That could be a worn valve guide, valve guide seal or piston rings. You need to do a compression test to find out if it is the rings.

The ground electrode has snapped off on the blackened plug. That's not good as it can do quite a bit of damage inside a cylinder of a running engine.

Replace the plug and see what happens, might run fine and the last plug was blackened by improper combustion. But that's really just me crossing fingers for you and hoping it's nothing else!

The ground electrode has snapped off on the blackened plug.

Thankfully its a trick of the light and camera angle

First glance and it does look that way though

It's the camera angle since it's still on it. Sorry I didn't realise it was t a great shot.

I've check my air filter but its clean so I decided to go to the shop tomorrow morning and see from there. I'm just not sure what kind of price to expect for that kind of repair...

What mileage has it done?

Which Cylinder is the dark plug from?

How bad is oil consumption?

Dont believe them if they claim its the rings without doing a leak down test

You run the risk of a unscrupulous mechanic taking the piss because you are a woman ...although a bad mechanic will take the piss out of anyone who

dosnt know what a spindle flang rotating potato is

You run the risk of a unscrupulous mechanic taking the piss

I came back to this post for this reason.

I think that goes for male and female, if they have a hunch you know... At £3.00 a plug I would try to new ones see how it runs, check oil level/ colour and go from there. If she starts up smooth carefully open the oil filler and look for smoke....

Oil should not be getting in there this is true, but when was last time you checked BOTH plugs?

Yes to my eye one is black and HEAVILY oiled but if it fires it might burn of carry on burning a LITTLE oil and save you a fortune....

If it all happens again you know you have a problem...

This is worth a read....

https://www.ngkntk.co.uk/index.php/technical-centre/spark-plugs/fouling-range/

What mileage has it done?

Which Cylinder is the dark plug from?

How bad is oil consumption?

So for the bike at around 3950 miles and now I'm at 4600miles so that 650 miles in 2 months

The oily/black spark plug was from the front cylinder

And I can't really say much about oil consumption I mean the level through the glass is fine, the oil is still clear and i didn't have to top it up if that make sense?

To be honest that's why I wanted to try everything that I can by myself I mean everything that I feel comfortable to do myself before going to a shop. I don't really want to end up with a bill of £1000 to pay tomorrow or then taking advantage because I'm a girl. But since I don't feel comfortable taking the carburators out and check them out I'm going to go with my gut feeling and see what they're have to say about it. I'd like them to give me their opinion after running some test on what they think it could be before starting anything on it.

Oil still clear not black not using oil, I would say unlikely to be rings on that low a milage.

I would go with new spark plugs and Spraying electrics with WD40, if it runs on both cylinders it will burn off oil in cylinder...

Is there a local bikers Facebook group you can use to find a mechanic?

For a top mechanic search FWR in Se11 and ask for Matt ..

I would say unlikely to be rings on that low a milage.

I would go with new spark plugs and Spraying electrics with WD40, if it runs on both cylinders it will burn off oil in cylinder...

I gotta agree with onesea

Try new plugs first

Just a note dont torque plugs down hard.....about 8-10 lbs is all they will need

high torque risks stripping the spark plug thread

Such low mileage on an old bike could indicate the piston rings had time to corrode to the cylinder wall and are past their best if it sat around for a long time.

The picture shows that deposits have gotten up the threads of the plug, so it suggests it's oil. But to be sure are the deposits on there wet and oily? Or is it dried on carbon? The latter means you've got a very rich fuel setup. If it's oily I'm going to guess it's a piston ring issue, caused by the bike probably being sat around for so long the rings and cylinder walls were too dry or just corroded to each other.

Piston rings aren't pricey, it's getting the cylinder checked and possibly honed which is the sticky bit. But you can save a lot of money doing this yourself if you feel confident with a Haynes Manual.

As a side note, I still have my fingers crossed it's just a new plug and possible carb clean job

Just a note dont torque plugs down hard.....about 8-10 lbs is all they will need

high torque risks stripping the spark plug thread

Or in english

You feel the plug screw in by your fingers then it becomes to finger tight (6-8 turns?? or more give or take never counted) with socket spanner you can feel the "gasket compress" (½ - ⅔ turn more) as it gets harder to tighten, STOP IMMEDIATELY.

Ok I might have gorilla grip but I tighten with ONE HAND thumb on top of socket, the other could be behind my back, not dissimilar to this position.

https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/2/20/Tighten-a-Windshield-Wiper-Retaining-Nut-Step-4-Version-2.jpg/aid317347-v4-728px-Tighten-a-Windshield-Wiper-Retaining-Nut-Step-4-Version-2.jpg.webp

What stands out is how the oil has migrated all the way up the plug thread......this is not normal. Would seem to indicate that someone has been a bit enthusiastic when tightening the plug and buggered the thread. If so, heli-coil is needed to repair it. You need to do a compression test and then put about 15 ml oil into the plug hole and check again. If the compression increases, then the rings are shot. If compression is OK, then I suspect leaky valve guide or valve guide seal. Only way to see for sure is to take the head off.

Alright so I decided to bring the bike in because this was getting on my nerves.

They changed and clean both spark plugs and the inside. They also change a piece that I genuinely can't remember what it was exactly. Now the bike isn't firing up straight away which i had that kind of issue before. Like it starts for 3 seconds and dies again unless you give it some throttle and keep it high. So they also check both valve clearance (?) on the front and back cynlinders nothing there so they also check that fuel was going into the carburators and that was fine as well. I told them that I used Redex a few weeks ago and they think that I might have something in the tank. They believe that Redex isn't a great product i can't remember the reason because I'm sort of stress. I'm living london tomorrow for a week to fly back home in Switzerland and i told them that I wouldn't like to have any surprises money wise. At the moment the cost is about £140 and they said they work at 65£ an hour. They'll keep my bike until I'll be back and try to work it out.

I've got good kidneys or lungs. If anyone wants to buy one of them just so I can cover any extra ££ on the bike

Has the tank been drained and flushed?.......could be some crap floating about in there. Having to give it throttle on starting suggests to me to be an idle jet problem...

Hi everyone,

I had to travel back home for some issue in my family

So I left my bike at the shop. I thought I would give some news about the labor they did on it.

You'll see a screenshot of the invoice they sent me.

Total: £176

What do you guys think?

Hi everyone,

I had to travel back home for some issue in my family

So I left my bike at the shop. I thought I would give some news about the labor they did on it.

You'll see a screenshot of the invoice they sent me.

Total: £176

What do you guys think?

Has it worked? Here's hoping.

176 for a mechanic to do all that? If it's fixed it I'd say not bad as they have checked a fair bit. I also imagine they are charging for the fresh fuel so at a guess I'd say they have probably charged for about 2 hours labour plus parts.