Is one cylinder to hot?

hi,ok here goes. 3 of the 4 header pipes near the 1st bend have a gone a light golden colour and #2 has a blue tinge to it. i recently put in a new air filter(genuine) and new plugs,the plugs are the correct ones and gapped to .30" . The plugs that i replaced were a nice tan colour and looked good against the colour range chart, the old filter defenently needed replacement. Its running very well, heaps of grunt right up to redline.Am i being overly concerned,the header pipes are original.thanks

 

I had the same problem on one of mine pipe #2 was getting blue turns out the vacum hose was cracked and sucking in air that caused the cylinder to run lean and therefore hot check your hose and petcock.

 

Yep, you've got one lean cylinder there. The gold is probably a slightly rich condition, that's harmless. That can happen from just riding with the choke on too long.

But when they start turning blue, that cylinder is torching the head pipe...lean does that. Start looking for a vacuum leak.

I painted my spark plug caps with engine hot enamel, when it cracked an intake boot gasket that plug actually got so hot, the paint peeled off the cap...

 

thanks,allright as far as the golden ones go fair enough but i never run the choke while riding so from what you have said then im not worried about #1,3 and4, but 2 turning blue is a worry. i know virtually nothing so i will go and check my manuel so i can put a face to a name so to speak,the vacuum hose ? is that the one from the petcock?thanks ,i will do a search, thanks

 

Thats just the most obvious and easy to check could be other problems we will bring up if thats not it. Do you use Sea Foam in your fuel? How many miles on the clock? How long have you owned it? I guess the most important question is what color is the bike?

 

ok, i checked the vacuum hose and all seems well, the fueltap didnt leak when i disconnected it.i havent used sea foam in my fuel,(by the way what is seafoam?)the bike has about 25k miles on it and i have had it for about 4 months and it only started(header) changing colour a few days ago,but it still goes like the clappers,oh almost forgot waldo its black,lol ,anyway im going to drink some beer and read my manuel so i could be missing in action till tomorrow, catch yas later.

 

Try switching the vacuum hose to a different cylinder, it really does not matter which one its connected to. If that pipe starts turning blue rebuild fueltap it can leak air and not fuel it has 2 diaphragms. Seafoam is a fuel additive highly recommended can be purchased at Walmart and auto-part stores. Its a little known fact that red bikes are faster.

 

Stock headpipes should not change color, period. Unless there is a problem of some sort.

Richness does not cause golden pipes; HEAT causes discolored pipes, EXTREME heat turns them blue.

If you're 100% positive about the running condition of the motor (and I would be doing some plug chops to verify) then there is another issue that can cause it:

Some breach (either rust out or cracking) of the inner pipe. Stock headpipes are double walled. If the inner pipe rusts through (or cracks) such that hot exhaust can now come in direct contact with the inside of the outer pipe then you will get discoloration.

If the pipes are solid inside and still turning color then you are definitely running too hot/lean.

Stock airbox or pods?

 

Beg to differ...rich mix will get a spontaneous relight of the unburned fuel going the instant it leaves the cylinder and meets an undepleted supply of air in the pipe. Thus it will toast the pipe slightly gold at the exhaust port...

A lean mix is just coming out of there hotter than all hell to begin with.

So yes, heat causes both. In my experience slight gold is indicative of rich. Lean condition temps usually go straight to blueing, skipping the gold stage altogether.