Low power, kept having to rev the engine to keep it alive

[paperslammer]

I was riding along a road to test out my bike and all the sudden it just died. I checked to make sure nothing was crazy wrong with it and found that I could start it up, but I needed to keep it revved or else it would die.

Initial thoughts went straight to the carburetor, because I had messed with this recently. I thought something was clogging a jet and the engine was not getting enough gas / oxygen causing it to die. I also found that my points were not original, so I replaced those (even thought this wouldn't cause the motor to die). I tested the bike after adjusting points / timing and no change - would still die.

Now on to the carb. Nothing wrong with it! I tweaked the 26.5mm float height, blew out all the non-existent dirt in the jets and put it back together. Still had to keep revving it to keep it alive.

Searched the forum and found that my gas cap might be constricting the amount of air my bike got, so tried it with the gas cap off - no difference

Each time I tried a solution I would check to make sure the engine warmed up for consistency in my tests. THEN I touched both sides of the engine casing and one was significantly warmer than the other. *light blub* I changed the spark plugs as well as unscrewing the spark plug cables at the distribution box(?) to move around the end of the wire to ensure good contact and IT CAME BACK TO LIFE LIKE AUSTIN POWERS AFTER BEING THAWED OUT. OK maybe not like that but morale of the story check the spark plugs!#!$#&^#% Turns out one chamber was seeing ignition while the other was not!

[Paul Strassmaier]

This may not be it, but dreams are famous for blowing out the seal behind the poins and having oil flick on the points.... I've had it happen twice. The bikes run great, and then at highway speeds after they warm up they start leaking. It's an easy replace. Just a thought.... Paul

[paperslammer]

Hmm thanks I'll give mine a lookin' at

[paperslammer]

Just clarifying the solution to this problem - it turns out I had the choke the wrong way while I was riding (a long time ago) and this caused the spark plugs to get really sooty and then die. I was basically riding with almost not oxygen getting to the engine and all gas!