Pushrod backed out

[haggis]

Son of a bitch!
Get home from work fire the purple bastard up....and ...running on the back cylinder only!!W.T.F!!! Got spark, got compression( lifted my finger off the plug hole).
Took air cleaner off (Linkert) ..primed again and it farted out the carb when priming(ignition off) tried again ..same thing on priming ..farted out the carb... what the hell? do I have a stuck inlet valve? Haggis

[57JOHND]

Haggis,
That would be my guess. Possibly a piece of carbon on the valve/seat.
If its carbon sometimes it will clear with a squirt of Marvel Mystery

JOHND

[57stroker]

Doesn't seem like it would have much compression if it was. Try new plugs or switching the spark plugs just for the hell of it. I've seen plugs just die after sitting overnight.

[57JOHND]

Dont know if youre running auto advance dist or not but if so, the advance can get a little sticky and cause all kinda weird crap too

[sleeper]

Haggis, try switching plug wires at the coil & see if the dead Front cyl. switches to the rear....

[Rainjester]

Same damn thing happened to me too. Turned out to be a bad plug to my relief. Good advice on swapping the plugs and wires (if you can) to see if it works the other way. It's what I did to find out one of the plugs were bad.

jester-

[haggis]

Found the problem.......and it wasn't electrical..though I did try all the above mentioned. Front exhaust pushrod had backed out...Valvey no worky! You would Think I would have heard the chatter, maybe I.m going deaf as well as blind as I get older!!! Haggis

[dereborn]

Good to hear I'm not the only one that misses things!

[DuoDave]

I had the same thing happen last summer, but out on the road. The bike started losing power and popping and banging. It eventually gave up completely. I soon found the problem, but I did not have the right size wrench. Out with my "other toolkit" (cellphone and recovery service card). "No problem sir, he'll be with you in two hours." Two hours! What kind of service is that? It's not like I was out in the back of beyond. To top it all, I could see a huge rainstorm heading my way. Fortunately, The Reluctant Dragon had been considerate enough to pack up right outside a house with a well equipped workshop. The nice old fellow and his daughter were only too happy to let me use what I needed. The pushrod was reset in a jiffy. The front plug had fouled, but with a spare plug in place, she fired right up. I gave the old boy back his tools and thanked him profusely. I took off just as the first raindrops were starting to fall and just managed to stay ahead of it. The heavens opened as I was rolling the bike into the garage.
You meet the nicest people on a Panhead!