Oh boy has this been fun. Ill try to make it short and include all necessary information.

I bought a 1986 fxr. mostly stock as far as I can tell. I rode it around all summer with very minor issues, needed rear brakes, little oily. Near the end of the summer I noticed the stator plug was smoking. Decided to park it and do a stator and clutch as I didn't know how old the clutch was. Installed new stator, I believe Drag specialties entire kit and similar clutch from J and p. I did find the last stator was not installed properly and the plug was not fully pushed towards the outside of the engine case. I finish the Job. go to start the bike and I'm getting very soft puffs, not even real firing out of the exhaust. I end up trying everything. Checked the ultima ignition, coil, checked pinion gear, timing marks, end up replacing stock pushrods with S&S quickie. The cam was replaced at some point with an andrews but the owner must have pulled the engine to do the job as solid pushrods were in there. I rebuild the carb. I'm stumped as at first nothing was touched that would cause a no start. I have spark. Finally I pull the cam cover off and check everything a 3rd time. to prove a point to a friend i check compression. Both cylinders have almost 0 compression. I check timing and pushrod adjustment a 4th time. Everything looks and adjusts perfect according to every youtube video and according to the factory book. I'm at a loss. I pulled the front top valve cover for a quick inspection and found nothing out of the ordinary. In the morning I'm going to loosen either both exhaust pushrods or just all 4 then roll the engine over and see if the cylinders have any capacity at all to create a vacuum or pressure. Other than that I'm stumped. I'm no harley mechanic but have worked on engines enough to know something funny is going on but cant explain it.

 

Did you do any other type of work to the engine/bike (other than stator and clutch) between the time it was running good and when you noticed the "no compression" issue?

I can't understand how a clutch and stator repair would give you a no compression issue. Maybe I am missing something. I assume dual fire ignition? (not single fire)

Without knowing anything else, it sounds like cam/pinion/breather gear chest timing marks out of alignment, or bike was timed 180 out, or if aftermarket ignition then the switches are set wrong????

 

Only thing I can think of is the pistons aren't moving.
But I just woke up.

 

Back the pushrods off until they just make contact, and retest- they may have solid lifters, or limited travel lifters.

 

Ok 1 - no one has ever made push rods for solids that do not adjust way to many variables - the evo engine with solid push rods comes apart when you remove the top rocker boxes - the pushrods pull out going up with the gas tank out of the way

in my shop we teach pushrod adjustment with adjustable pushrods solid lifters is different then adjustable for hyd lifters - this is what you do

all the pushrods covers open rotate the engine using the rear wheel no sparkplugs clockwise from the right side - until one of the intake lifters is at full lift rock back and forth to confirm the rear wheel — then adjust the other intake push rod down 3 turns only - we marker the rod and lower thread so we know the spot to tighten together the push rod - thats it your done that one


then you do the same width the other intake - rotate the engine till the intake you just adjusted is at full lift - you can then adjust the second intake we start with the rear cylinder first but it does not matter — you then do the exhaust the same way one exhaust at full lift the other is the one you adjust - 3 turns down all of them with hyd lifters

when you have that done close up the pushrods - then do a compression test - report what you have

you said andrews cam did you see the EV number on it if so what was it maybe 13 — you should aways ask when you do engine stuff a as you can avoid a mistake and its always a money thing to fix a mistake

 

So the process was I rode the bike to my garage after I saw the burning stator wire, I decided to do stator and clutch. After I did this the bike would crank but not start. I did not check compression at this time because my thought was that couldn’t be a problem.

My buddy who’s a HD mechanic said to look at the pinion gear and the internet had a lot of talk about the ultima ignitions going bad. That took me down a rabbit hole of the timing/ignition. Opened up the gear case, pulled the cam, had to cut the pushrods and replace. All the timing marks are spot on for sure. Yes pistons are moving.

I will pull it open one more time tonight and check that I didn’t accidentally time the cam 180 off and before I pull the cover with the pushrods all out I’ll crank it to see if I gain a seal witch will tell me if the valves and rings are at least sealing more than they are now.

 

I'd remove the pushrods to close all valves, and sparkplugs. With a hose adapter for the spark plug (like a compression tester), use compressed air to see where the air is exiting. If it's an intake valve, you should feel air in the intake / carb. If it's an exhaust valve you should feel air escaping from the exhaust. If it's pistons / rings that it will be coming our of the breather.

Does it have compression releases? Could it be an automatic compression release stuck open?

Paul

 

Ok, Thank you for all the responses. I will try to cover all questions and go from there.

1st. Originally the bike started and ran good for a old bike. I parked it only because the stator wire was burned, turns out the last install didn't get the plug all the way out of the case so it was basically flush and eventually burned up. I put the clutch and stator in, ran new oil hoses and cleaned up the wiring. It had a Ultima 53-644. I cut out the old ignition wiring and removed the rest of the old system. zip tied and covered wires in loom. After that the bike would only crank but no start, very soft puffs from the exhaust even with starting fluid. Changed nothing else. And I verified spark and tried new plugs. several times reset the ignition module to TDC.

2nd. Since then my Harley Mechanic buddy and the internet sent me down a rabbit hole of the pinion gear, ignition module, timing, ect. I have only verified everything is to spec. when i removed the cam cover to look at the cam timing marks I found stock pushrods, so I have a set of S&S quickie rods. I pulled the pinion gear and the key is fully in tact and gear was firmly stuck to the taper. The Cam/pinion/breather gears are all in line. I have adjusted pushrods several times and verified proper adjustment.

3rd. So for pushrod adjustment. I did get back into the cam chest and pulled one lifter out. No numbers, looks like a stock lifter as far as i can tell. The Cam is andrew EV27. So for pushrod procedure I went to S&S. They have a video and a step by step on the same page with slightly different directions. The step by step written directions say TDC on front cylinder (I'm verifying using the vertical line in the timing hole on left side of engine) and both lifters being down, and on the rear cylinder they are on overlap, one going up the other going down. I adjust both rods on the front cylinder with fingers until no play is felt, Mark the rods and turn them out 4 turns, I lock the nut down now so nothing moves later, let the lifters bleed down 15 min then test by trying to spin the rods with fingers. Rotate the engine with the wheel until the front cylinder is right in the middle of overlap and both rear lifters are still, then I do the rear the same way. Good results every time. The only thing I found is the video says 20 flats, the text I went by said 4 turns witch equals 24 flats.

Now since then I was still convinced there was no problem with compression as why would there be. Nothing I have done should have made any issue. So yesterday I put a compression tester on it and cranked the engine 5-6 revs. I saw no indication at all on the dial. I thought my tester was broken. I put my thumb on each spark plug hole and only felt a slight puff of air equal to holding your hand up to your face and blowing on it with your mouth. I could hold my thumb down on each hole and crank the bike with no problem.

Update as of today. I went further than my original plan of just loosening all the rods and doing the thumb test again. I bought the Harbor Freight leak down tester. Watched some videos and tested each cylinder at TDC of compression stroke. This is a cold engine, It has never been rebuilt to my knowledge and 1986 with 57,000 on the OD. Both cylinders tested 20% leak at 95-100psi. I had the timing plug out. the only air I could sense leaking was on both exhaust valves. I verified that on both the pushrods could be spun with my fingers while doing the test. Just to see what would happen on the front cylinder I completely loosened the exhaust pushrod after I found the leak just to verify that somehow the rod was not misadjusted. It made no change in the leak. after the leak down test I readjusted that pushrod. Had a friend there i was running past all this. I cranked the bike and he felt both spark plug holes and verified almost 0 compression when cranking. I then showed him how I was doing all the pushrod adjustments, and opened up the cam chest again to verify timing marks, pinion gear not spun, even turned the engine over with the pinion nut to verify the shaft itself is not somehow loose. That is everything to date.

Thank you for any help this is a mystery to me. The only thing I can think of is to pull the heads, clean the heads and lap the valves and start over, but I really don't think that will help this problem.

No compression releases, engine is stock as far as I know besides pushrods, cam and Ignition.

 

"Now since then I was still convinced there was no problem with compression as why would there be."

I'm with ya man...Can't understand how this would happen all of a sudden and was hoping it was something simple.

When I installed my Ultima ignition I thought I messed up my wiring because it would only try to fire up on one cylinder. It was just one of the micro switch settings on the ignition. The switch was on single fire (two coils or 3 wire coil) when it should have been on dual fire (single coil or two wire coil).

Ultima did have problems with their ignitions a long time ago but as far as I know that issue has been resolved many years ago. Never a hint of trouble with mine and it's going on at least 5 years old.

While 20% leak down ain't great, it should fire up. I don't know your skills, but it sounds like your no stranger to wrenching, so maybe back track on your wiring repairs while your waiting to determine where to go from here. Would be nice to take advantage of this surprise nice weather we are having in Michigan right now. Wish it was an easier find/fix for you.

 

You got really great and detailed advise from JohnJZ. I strongly suggest you follow his instructions and then report back. Something is not timed properly.

In retrospect, you should have just removed the rocker boxes, pulled out the stock push rods and then reinstalled later. One less variable in the equation.

Good luck.