1984 Aspy idle and low speed miss

[royando]

1984 Aspy with 32,000 miles. Left front cylinder dead at idle up through mid throttle. Have done the following:
new plugs, good spark, no arching at night
good compression, cam timing is correct
carbs have been cleaned 3 times, synced, float bowl is full, 2 tanks of Seafoam
adjusting pilot screw makes no difference because cylinder is not firing
does run better with choke on and rpms above 2000
rpm picks up with carb cleaner sprayed into sync screw hole

I am sure it is the slow speed jet or the idle mixture circuit, but how do I check these circuits? Can I test the idle mixture circuit on the bike?
Now what do I do???

[dwitgoldwing]

I have had my carbs off 7 times on my '86 and completely rebuilt them twice.
I will tell you during the 3rd time off the bike, I found rust in one of the carb jets that would not blow out with
120 psi compressed air. I ended up using a very small guitar string, (.009") and CAREFULLY poking the rust out.
that was the only way to get the fuel passageway cleared, (since rust won't disolve with carb cleaner).
My idle was perfect after that, but I have since had more problems with a rusty tank and fuel system.

I have been chasing performance problems with my bike since I bought it 7 years ago and I finally bought another
bike last year, (1985 LTD). My '86 had problems all along, but I was able to get the low speed performance and
mid-range performance to work very well, (it still does). I have terrible high speed performance and no power at
70+ mph, and frankly, I'm tired of fighting the '86 engine and carbs. That bike was flipped by a previous owner
and even though I've made it beautiful, it still just isn't right. That's why I'm taking it off the road and switching
all my Pearl Yellow body panels to my LTD.

Let me encourage you to carefully check every passageway. When I finally cured my idle issues, was when I sprayed carb
cleaner through every port and watched carefully where it sprayed out. Make sure to wear goggles or eye protection, (carb cleaner burns the eyes). If you have a carb that you KNOW is working right, spray carb cleaner in the low speed ports and watch where it comes out and compare with the "bad" carb.

In speaking to a mechanic at a local Honda shop, he told me he worked on his brother's GL1200 and had the carbs off 3 times before he got it running right. And that guy knows what he is doing... These carb issues can be a real pain. I even have an extra set that I rebuilt so I could just change them out.
Best wishes, and hang in there... I love my GL1200 WAY more than the 1800 I used to own. It will be worth it eventually.
Don W.