I had been having trouble getting my 85 Vulcan 700 started, and once it did start, it backfired. I got a clymer manual and rebuilt the carbs, which turned out to help in the backfiring department.

The problem is that it's still a bear to start. Here are the symptoms: the sparkplugs in the back cylinder have oily deposits on them. Also, when I tried to drain and flush the coolant system, the coolant from the back cylinder had a brownish color liquid in it. When I was flushing the system, the back cylinder would not drain like the radiator, the front cylinder and the bottom drain all did. It was just a slow drip of old coolant (no fresh water was coming out). Lastly, when I fill the radiator with coolant, the resevoir by the secondary cover doesn't fill up.

I can't find anything in my Clymer manual about this. Does anyone have any theories?

Thanks!