Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

About a week ago I was riding along at about 60ks and changed down gears for a corner, when I started to power up to exit the corner, the bike felt like it was lacking heaps of power. So I wound the throttle right on and slowly it picked up to normal again. Next corner, clutch in to down shift and the engine dies and wouldnt start again. >:(

I got the bike back from the mechanics today and took it for a run out of town. The mechanics pulled off the carbies and cleaned them, emptied the tank and cleaned it out (apparently the carbs were filthy), new plugs and fuel filter. Anyway, bike ran fine for a few ks then felt like it was lacking power again. I hit the hundred zone and gave it a bit and could only get to 120ks and the engine was feeling really 'flat'. So i pulled over and it died again and wouldnt start. After alot of swearing because I had no phone signal and was about 10ks out of town, i started pushing it back and came to a hill, so I tried to clutch it in 2nd which got the engine just chugging over with full throttle. Eventually it picked up speed and ran fine into town and back to the bike shop.

The mechanic took it for 2 rides and found no problem and said he got it to 160ks which is about normal. He suggested possibly a kink in the fuel breather line but I deliberately kinked the hoses but nothing happened...

WTF??? Has anyone else had this problem?

Sorry about the length, but I wanted to put as much detail as I could... Any help is REALLY appreciated!!!!!

Thanks!!!!!

Sounds very similar to the problem I'm having with my girlfriend's ZX2R!

Yeah I was thinking that when I read yours... I've checked the breather hoses and theyre all clear...havent checked the fuel lines yet.

And Daisy, i checked the air filter, its clean but there is a fair bit of oil residue in the housing, but the foam itself is not too saturated...so I still dunno...

Had similar problems last year...

ZZR250, ran Ok but refused to idle when hot. Bike shop test rode it around the block but didn't get it warm enough. In the end they left the carbs in a bucket of carb cleaner overnight and it came out OK.

Could be a dud battery........worth checking anyway.....

Gosling1 wrote:Could be a dud battery........worth checking anyway....

I had that happened to me and it was a dud battery.
It could also be low on fuel, do also check the manual fuel switch and make sure the fuel line is not squashed under the tank.

and check ur fuel tap...make sure the tap itself isnt stuffed/blocked...

sounds like a fuel issue...

regulator rectifier..

My zx2r reg rec went south over about a month or so, i went through 2 batteries then figured it had to be something else, very similar symptoms to what you have described.

It would be fine, then all of a sudden start to die. (like it was running out of fuel).
If i put an indicator on, it would die.

Wasnt cheap to replace, but didnt cost the earth either. Might be worth a look anyway.

Nah, its not the battery, it still cranks over fine, just wont fire. I was thinking a fuel problem of some kind. I just need time to check the hoses and fuel tap. It may be related to the tap as a few days before it died, I switched over to reserve and only managed about 3ks before it stopped. Luckily it was outside a servo. Filled up, went ok.

WTF is a regulator rectifier??? Where does it go?

Quick_Stix wrote:Nah, its not the battery, it still cranks over fine, just wont fire. I was thinking a fuel problem of some kind. I just need time to check the hoses and fuel tap. It may be related to the tap as a few days before it died, I switched over to reserve and only managed about 3ks before it stopped. Luckily it was outside a servo. Filled up, went ok.

WTF is a regulator rectifier??? Where does it go?

basicly a regulator/rectifier converts the massive amount of power the bikes generator (stator) creates, and basicly turns it into a usable level of power to charge ur battery, and not cook it...

a bike will produce abt 17-18volts of power, but more than abt 13V will damage bike...so it basicly disposes of some power (thru heat i think) so ya dont ruin ur lectrickery system...

ussually its on the subframe, under the ductail, and often there may be a vent of sum sort to help air flow..

HTH

oh and id look for fuel probs ...

I might have a solution to your problems as i had some similar probs with my ZZR 250. I could get it to start kind-of but had no power under throttle. I cleaned my fuel tank, carbies, fuel tap, spark plugs and replaced the inline fuel filter all to no advail.

Then out of pure frustration I replaced my ignition coils with a spare set I had and that seemed to fix my problems . Give this a go to see what happens. Also make sure there are no cracks in your spark plug leads which could let the spark earth out.

Let me know how it goes.

Cheers
Ben