ZX6R carb icing (or is it?)

[javaman]

My bike 2000 ZX6R really hates the cold. Especially a foggy, early morning type of cold. After a while at constant throttle it would simply "burrrrbbbb" when accelerating. This has happened few times (tasmania, gippsland, etc) but really annoyed me on the way to sydney few days ago (it was feckin cold).

Is there a quick remedy to this (not the 'change the carb') ? Can I put something in the fuel, lets say "silkolene FST' as google says ?

This is considering tomorrow I will be transversing the snowy mountains which according to today's weather it was -3 to 5 degrees today

[Gosling1]

Andi - if it's carb icing, you might need to get the dealer to sort it out - I know some ZX9R models had this issue, and needed a 'de-icing' kit installed, which basically ran the fuel lines close to the cylinder head to keep the temperature of the incoming fuel warm......or something like that anyway. I don't think there is any *quick* fix to this issue.....

[Ratmick]

My '98 ZZR600 had the same issue. Circa '99-'00 they changed the inlet manifold so that it had hot water running through it from an extra outlet nipple on the water pump. This was enough to heat the carbs and they didn't have the issue any longer. Hence I'm surprised your 2000 ZX6R has this problem (I bought a second-hand 2000 ZZR600 water pump and the extra nipple was on it) .

Alas, I'm not sure what to suggest, although the guys in the US who ride in the really cold weather block off part of the airflow through the radiator with a pice of cardboard. No real science around it, more of a 'suck it and see' approach.

[javaman]

Great.. at least these are known problems with known fixes.

I wonder whether few winds of cuprothal wire on the fuel lines will warm it up enough

For the moment I will try the cardboard approach. Basically it will make the engine warmer right ?

Thanks.

[Neka79]

Great.. at least these are known problems with known fixes.

I wonder whether few winds of cuprothal wire on the fuel lines will warm it up enough

For the moment I will try the cardboard approach. Basically it will make the engine warmer right ?

Thanks.

correct..makes ur bike run hotter.... a problem in summer, shouldnt be in winter...

[Ratmick]

For the moment I will try the cardboard approach. Basically it will make the engine warmer right ?

The reduced airflow should allow a bit of heat buildup to occur under the fairing and the problem shouldn't happen...in theory. I never tried it myself, just swore at the bike and pulled over for a few minutes when it occurred .

A caveat on this would be to keep a very close eye on the temperature guage and remove the cardboard when the ambient air temperature gets above the point where it occurs (for me it was about 3 degrees and at 100km/h).

Same problem with the venerable GPX250R as well. More info here:

http://faq.ninja250.org/wiki/What_is_carburetor_ice%3F

[shadowzx9]

The C1 ZX9R had this problem, the fix was a new set of carbs from Kawasaki, from a C2 that had brass lines leading to a fitting that basically piped radiator water thru them, to the bottom of the float bowls which kept it from icing with just heat transferance

or something like that, i never paid much attention, i just handed em keys and said she fucked in the cold, FIX

[Rossi]

Andi,
buggered if I know if you can get it here in Aus but us hardcore UK winter riders used a product call Pro FST about 15ml to a full tank of fuel sorted it out

Have a read here
http://www.silkoleneoil.com/techtip7.htm

[javaman]

I tried to look for this Silkolene FST and could not find it anywhere . Apparently Kawasaki asked Fuchs to produce this thing due to many complaints from UK people.

On the way back via Snowy Mountains, I did not have the time to find a cardboard so experimented few things. I found out that holding the RPM to 8000 RPM actually solves the problem. It makes a noisy ride and inefficient fuel consumption but the bike is fine otherwise

[MiG]

The C1 ZX9R had this problem, the fix was a new set of carbs from Kawasaki, from a C2 that had brass lines leading to a fitting that basically piped radiator water thru them, to the bottom of the float bowls which kept it from icing with just heat transferance

My bike has those. Unfortunately they're a pain in the arse when pulling out the carburettors because you need to drain the coolant too. Grrr.