Can running lean damage my bike?

:?:

Can it?

 

Well that depends on how lean your bike is running. Post some pics of your plugs that would help. These bikes run lean from what I've seen anyway. As long as your not burning off plugs or have spark knock, lean is fast... A richer running bike is better on the engine but doesn't make the hp.. My bike has over 41k miles on it and I run light gray with a little tan in my electrodes.. I'd rather blow up than be beat by my friends HD and we are dead even right now..
James

 

Basicallt it come down to if you expect it running lean it probably is running extremely lean (they were tuned lean from the factory).......so yes it will cause your engine to overheat and can cause some major problems

 

Biggest problem would be if the mixture suddenly went lean under high load, like something blocking the main jet while you're at WOT at 7K RPM. At that point, the combustion temperature, airflow, and force of the other working cyinders carrying the suddenly lean one could cause the cylinder to start burning aluminum - i.e. burning the piston, the head, etc.

 

Well, I know 2 of the 4 are running lean, white plugs and bluing pipes.

I know I need to check the valves and it really needs a major carb cleaning, but I want to wait until the riding season is over before I dig in. Since I just bought it a few months ago.

Just want to see if I'm damaging the bike just riding it now.

 

If it's lean enough to be bluing pipes it's lean enough to be doing other damage as well. You don't want to hole a piston (or two.)

 

Anyway, to "clean" the blue off the pipes?

Since it seems to be running a lot better lately?

 

there is something called blue away or something that is supposed to take care of that.

 

I'm going to have to check the plugs tonight too....just to see if they've changed color since the carbs were slightly de-gunked.

 

Generally, if it's going way lean under load (i.e. with high enough cylinder temp to cause damage), you will see little specks of metal on the very white insulators of the plugs.

 

Thanks!

That I didn't see the first time I checked the plugs. Just two white plugs, one tan, and one black.

That was back before it started idling without choke on all the time. All of a sudden, one day it idled perfectly at 1050 and ran a lot smoother. The Seafoam treatment must have cleared something out.

 

My bike runs lean.

I rode it from Pittsburgh PA to Chico CA.

It's still running.

With these bikes, you can go nuts trying to tune them to perfection, or just say awww f*** it, and ride it the way it is.

 

Some guy on here showed us 2 holed pistons a while back, so be careful. I guess if you think you are too lean and still need to ride, you could just baby the bike around, if you needed it for transportation.

 

What are signs of "too lean"?

 

Clean Spark Plugs
Overly Hot Running
"Using" Oil -- Needing to Top-Up frequently
Stress Fractures on the ceramic surrounding the Center Electrode on the Plugs.
Burned Valves
Cooked Oil Smell
Knocks
Catastrophic Failures:
>Rods
>Welded through Pistons
>Melted Combustion Chamber
Engine Seizure

 

a little duct tape will take care of that.
:lol:

 

Any quick temporary fixes?

 

Tweak the fuel screws for the lean cylinders and watch the spark plugs. It's not rocket science.

 

Running Lean.
You have to know "How Lean" you are!
Pull your Plugs and examine them. If you have Color on the Plugs its a good sign.
If you DO NOT have Color; you need to rectify the situation ... immediately.
On Plugs that are Clean. Use a Magnifying Glass and look at the Ceramic Tip surrounding the Center Electrode.

If the Ceramic is eroded, cracked, stress fractured or pure white ...
THAT is a sign of being "Critically Lean" and needing corrective adjustment to prevent serious damage from occurring.

 

Turning the Pilot screws alongside the start enricher slider (choke) anticlockwise make it richer.