HuckaDuck

I was determined to get this bike going as it's a gift for my wife. My Kodiak is too big for her and she struggles to drive it. So hopefully a smaller bike will be easier for her.

Well good news everybody! She runs! Woke up early this morning to get started. Took the whole top end off. Went to swap out the rings and found out that the middle ring was basically married to the piston and took a hot minute to get it off. The piston was in immaculate shape all around. Did the new rings and the valve lap, tested it with no spark and the suction issue was gone and now she starts on first push! I attached the video. It is smoking white, probably from the brake clean I used as starter fluid and some of the Marvel's mystery oil I put in the cylinder so the rings wouldn't dry up on the first couple spins and she is loud because the muffler is non existent. Probably just going to pick up a cheap tractor muffler from tractor supply. PXL_20230116_144829360.TS.mp4

I think I've finally found the issue. Taking the exhaust completely off and putting my hand over the hole and spinning the flywheel with a socket I can feel air coming OUT of the exhaust. But when I use the electric start air goes IN. Putting bike at TDC and blew smoke into the the cylinder through the spark plug hole. I can see that some of the smoke was escaping through the exhaust valve. I'm guessing that using the electric start causes a higher compression which is why when using the socket I didn't feel it sucking any air in. My guess is that it's slightly not sealing on that down stroke, it's sucking in so much air through the slight gap in the valve, It's making that loud suction noise. Going to order a new valve set and install those when I go to install the new rings. Hopefully by this weekend she'll be smoking pretty!

Checked the covers today they are the exact same size, I don't think that they could cause an issue if swapped. Went ahead and ordered new rings. Should be in by Friday. I'm going to inspect the valves to make sure nothing is bent and if all is good I'm going to go ahead and lap them. Might be a sealing issue and the leak test might have just not been enough to show that. Also going to really make sure that when I go and set timing I'm setting it on the compression stroke. I'm 100% sure I did when I set the timing last time, but I could just be an idiot...

I wasn't aware the valve covers might be different sizes, but that is a possibility. I didn't see anything indicating the valve hitting the cover but I'll try swapping them and see.

So after checking the timing again, it's correct. I did find out that now when I take the exhaust valve cover off the suction stops and it starts blowing out the exhaust pipe.

I tried some wrench tapping but no luck.

Was given a 1997 Bayou 220 for free that had sat in the back of a barn for almost 9 years. Owner had parked it because his kids got too big for it, and they have other bigger bikes, said when it was parked it ran fine. He gave it to me as a trade from some networking I did in his home. First steps: *Marvels Mystery Oil bath down the cylinder to free up the piston rings (I let sit for 24hrs) *New battery as old one was shot from not having a charge for 8 years. I took my multimeter to the entire wiring harness and cleaned EVERY contact possible, as not even the headlights were working. After a few hours, everything electrical is now working. Headlights, green dash light, red reverse light (goes on and off with changing from reverse to neutral), and starter spinning strong (after a conversation with my mallet). *Drained old oil (no glitter!) 2qts fresh oil with new filter. *CDI was shot-- had zero spark and using a multimeter up the wiring harness everything was good up to the CDI—replaced with new one along with new plug wire and new plug now have excellent spark The original carb was a total loss. I'm assuming it was parked full of fuel with the fuel switch on. It looked like they found it buried in the sand and put it on, it was so eaten and corroded my thumb went through it trying to get it apart—so new carb. I did also inspect the intake and none of what was in the carb made it into the engine, thankfully. After oil bath, compression was still low—threw some brake cleaner down the intake and noticed smoke escaping from the head gasket—took the head off and saw the original head gasket was completely shot. Replaced that, and now compression is up to 90 from 50. I'm assuming, it'll need to go through a few heat cycles for the compression to really build back up (had the same issue with my 2000 Kodiak 400 from siting for 5yrs after a few heat cycles went to 180) While the head was off, I did a leak test on the valves and liquid stayed, so no signs of gaps in the valves sealing. Also took a look at the piston and wall and both are in excellent shape, very clean conditions. At this point, the bike should fire off or at least pop… but now that compression is back it's sucking air in though both the carb AND the exhaust pipe. Putting my hand on the pipe (no muffler) I can feel it sucking air in, doing the same with the back of the carb, I can feel it sucking air there as well. It isn't pushing air out anywhere. I've checked timing and it's correct. The TDC mark on the flywheel is lined up with the spot on inspection hole. The mark on the timing gear in the head is lined up with the mark on the casting there as well, so timing is spot on. I don't believe it has a leak from the exhaust valve due to the leak test I did. I also don't believe a valve is sticking, I can see them both moving just fine when looking through the inspection holes. In the past, I've had a bike have intake from exhaust and exhaust going out carb, but that was the timing being off, which doesn't seem to be the issue here. Any advice on this would a big help as I'm stumped on what could be causing double air intake. Chances are it might be something simple that I'm not even thinking of. At this point, I'm about to order a box of hair from Amazon Prime from all the head scratching going on.