ZX6 running like a dog???

[MrStompy]

Gday
got some problems with the ZX6 today.
Its flat spotting in every gear and surging. it feels like in the car when you get water in the distributer after a car wash...
anyway i tried to ride it out but it is still doing it (sometimes quite badly) after about 30ks or riding.

The last time i rode it was to/from phillip island and it certainly didnt give me any problems then.
Since then i havent ridden it at all but i washed it last sunday in the garage.
I thought i must of got some water in the electrics but like i said it wont stop it after a decent amount of riding.

im now thinking that maybe i have water in the fuel. thats a bit of a goose chase cause i only think that cause the only thing that has happened to the bike since it last worked ok is a wash.

has anyone got any suggestions on what else it could be or what i could check?

also it had its 6000k service just before the island ride (2500 ks ago)

thanks
Jayc

[ross79]

Sounds like a fuel pump problem (although your bike sounds a bit new for that), could be a loose connection somewhere, start with the battery terminals.

[Yankee]

When mine had water in the tank, it behaved just as you described.

I had to siphon the junk out and get a fresh tank of fuel along with some sort of special tablets to clean out the water from EVERYWHERE.

Sorry, don't remember what the tablets were. I think they were similar to a carby cleaner type of stuff though....???

*also, "a buddy of mine" was "WD-40ing" around his tank filler cap once, and the same thing happened* apparently he was trying to make the key lock smoother, which it did, after it wrecked the tank of gas... or so he said.

[MrStompy]

thanks for the reponses so far

*also, "a buddy of mine" was "WD-40ing" around his tank filler cap once, and the same thing happened* apparently he was trying to make the key lock smoother, which it did, after it wrecked the tank of gas... or so he said.

thats exactly what i did....
after i washed the bike i used some wd40 on the lock of the fuel cap.

i think i will start by draining this tank of fuel and putting in fresh stuff.

any ideas on the easiest way to drain a tank on an 05 zx6 anyone?

i havent lifted the tank on this bike before.

[SocialSecurity]

take it in for warranty

[MrStompy]

take it in for warranty

thought of that too but from what ive heard it would take them weeks to get around to doing anything and then they would say its my fault anyway.

im gonna try sort it myself this weekend and if its still rooted then its off to mr kawasaki to deal with.

[red_dave]

any ideas on the easiest way to drain a tank on an 05 zx6 anyone?

Start the bike and run it til it runs out of fuel...

[MrStompy]

Start the bike and run it til it runs out of fuel...

dropping a match in there would get rid of the fuel quicker i reckon

that would probably get me banned from KSRC though wouldnt it

[Burky]

dropping a match in there would get rid of the fuel quicker i reckon

that would probably get me banned from KSRC though wouldnt it

Not exactly you could plead insanity as it drove you nuts big time, but you would still need to suply video footage.

Apart form that the bike sound totaly screwed. I can take it off your hands though.

[mike-s]

1) take tank off, unlock lid, turn upsidown
2) unplug fuel line off efi bar andput into a jerry can, using wire short from the +ve on the battery to the positive point on the fuel pump.

if theres a relay for the fuel pump (like on a car) short that out instead, that's how you drain a car fuel tank

[Johnnie5]

easiest way is a jiggle hose, get em at auto parts shops

its a hose with a one way valve that you jiggle up and down to siphon out the fuel , once the siphon starts you can stop jiggling

everyone should have one

[BladeBoy]

1) take tank off, unlock lid, turn upsidown
2) unplug fuel line off efi bar andput into a jerry can, using wire short from the +ve on the battery to the positive point on the fuel pump.

if theres a relay for the fuel pump (like on a car) short that out instead, that's how you drain a car fuel tank

I would not allow the battery connection to spark or all your troubles will be gone including your eyebrows

[MrStompy]

drained all the fuel last night.
just disconnected the fuel line from the bottom of the fuel pump and connected a different hose to drain it all into a drum.
(just turned the ignition on/off and as the fuel pump primed it pumped out the fuel)

left the tank open today to evaporate anything left over.

while i was in there i pulled the airfilter out just to see what it looks like and its filthy so i am picking up a new K&N tmw.
I dont think that has anything to do with my current problem but i might as well do it now that i am looking at it huh.

I will put new fuel in there tmw and see what happens

Im wondering if i should pull the spark plugs while i am there.
i dont have a torque wrench and ive read you should put them back in to a correct torque setting.
ive never bothered with correct torque setting in cars before but i like my bike more than cars...

[Yankee]

.....so, how'd it go?? Could you SEE any "foriegn" liquid settling on top of the drained fuel?? the WD-40 that I, er, uh, my buddy, got was quite easy to see!!

let us know how you go!

[aardvark]

I had a similar problem. Tried everything I could think of to fix the bloody thing.

In the end, it turned out I had a loose connection on the battery terminal.