What Next? [ZXR250A 1990]

[Daisy]

Yes.

[Stealthassassin]

You're a legend Daisy! Thanks heaps.

[Daisy]

You only need enough charge in it to get your bike going. The best charger for a motorcycle battery is a motorcycle.

[Stealthassassin]

Well... It worked out fine with the charger (Cheers again Daisy). Managed to charge it for an hour or so, hooked it all up and got good solid power. But she wont kick over now! I checked that there was fuel getting to the carbs, which there was. So it must be the plug leads again. I havent sourced any as yet, but they wont be too far away. I am also guessing i may have fouled the plugs. Can these just be cleaned and used again?

After about 5 minutes of trying to get it started, i thought i would try and get the carbs out as i would need to replace the o-ring anyway and was going to give them another clean for good luck, but i started stripping the heads on the hose clamp screws on the rubber manifold I dont know why?? They were just really soft?? Anyways, after i finished swearing at my lack of progress, i packed up for the weekend and decided not to think about it for another week!

But here we are again, still feeling a bit lost as to what i should be doing next.. I guess it's a bit overwhelming, kinda like flying blind, cause the problems i am having, i can't tell if they are normal or whether im just uncovering myriads of issues from neglect. [\ ]

[Gosling1]

......Well... It worked out fine with the charger (Cheers again Daisy). Managed to charge it for an hour or so, hooked it all up and got good solid power. But she wont kick over now! .....

You need to charge the battery overnight. If the charger is an 'intelligient' type, it will gradually reduce the charging rate as the battery becomes charged........as a rough 'rule of thumb' for charging times, a 10 Amp-hour battery needs 10 full hours of charging @ 1 A/hour, in order to reach a fully-charged state. 1 hour charging -would be enough to kick it in the guts and get it running no worries, but if you then let it sit without riding it, that one run may have discharged the battery enough to prevent any more starts.

Do a full overnight charge, and then ride it all day the following day - then do some system checks to see if the battery is charging up OK off the alternator.

[MiG]

but i started stripping the heads on the hose clamp screws on the rubber manifold I dont know why?? They were just really soft??

A misshapen screwdriver and/or not enough thrust can do that to screws of sufficient strength. The Phillips head is fucking shit. I don't know why it's so popular considering that it was invented to reduce the amount of torque that assembly monkeys could apply. It's designed to cam out and when that happens you round off the recess.

[sicarius]

Hi Guys,

We bought a 1990 ZX2R last weekend from a mate who'd left it sitting in the back yard for a year under covers. There were no storage procedures considered before the bike was left to rust. It faired pretty well, from what i can see on the outside anyways... A bit of surface rust but should scrub up ok.

Since getting it home, we have:
Changed Oil and Filter
Flushed the radiator
Cleaned out the tank.

Tomorrow, we'll do:
Spark plugs
Change the brake fluid
Clean the carbs (hopefully we can do this without removing them as i havent done it before??)
Change the fork seals and oil (if time permits)

Steps that will follow above will be:
Change brake pads
Lube cables
New tyres
Chain and sprockets
Blue slipped and rego'd.

Can anyone suggest things we may have missed or tips in completing what we are setting out to do? What would be on your checklist if you had a bike in the same circumstances?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated

Here's a pic just after getting it off the trailer

http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=aVR5KG9

Is yours the japanesse Import?

[MiG]

They are all Japanese imports. And yours is certainly is not a 2000 model, they didn't make them that late.

[sicarius]

Quote: Compliance Plate - Date of manufacture: January 2000.
Date of Import: April 2004.
Certainly sounds like a 2000 model to me.

[MiG]

But yours isn't built by Kawasaki, not that it matters to you. Apparently Peter Stevens built zxr250s in australia from old parts (which stopped being made in 1994). I guess it's irrelevant from an ownership point of view that your parts had been stored for 6 years before being assembled by a third party. If you check the production dates on the inside of your fairings (the dates are punched into the mould that makes the parts) it should settle this issue.

[sicarius]

But yours isn't built by Kawasaki, not that it matters to you. Apparently Peter Stevens built zxr250s in australia from old parts (which stopped being made in 1994). I guess it's irrelevant from an ownership point of view that your parts had been stored for 6 years before being assembled by a third party. If you check the production dates on the inside of your fairings (the dates are punched into the mould that makes the parts) it should settle this issue.

So okay...Hows does this Peter Stevens build a Kawasaki ZXR2 ( in Australia) and compliance stamp it as being manufactured in Japan by Kawasaki on January 2000. In addition to this, every number I can find on the bike and its corresponding parts all say the same thing - manufactured in Japan 01/2000.... how can you therefore make a 2000 model bike from parts that ceased to exist in 1994? Irrelevant from an owners point of veiw? HARDLY . I'd love to find the bugger who made this bike and give him a peice of my mind....

[Stealthassassin]

Hi Guys,

Welllllll... Its been a long time since i had done anything to the ZX2, simply because it twisted my brain into a very unhappy place

I asked a good friend to come over and lend some experience with the troubleshooting side of things and he really made some progress , though we did have a couple of set backs that i was hoping someone here may know about.

*The bike wouldn't start without a squirt of carby cleaner through the top of the carbs
*Once started, although the revs were smooth the engine would stall after a minute or so.
*Even after the bike was warm, still couldnt start it without the carb cleaner.
*Bike blew a lot of smoke (later found a thread on here that describes this as being common with the airbox removed?)
*We took the carbs back out and adjusted the butterflies(?) to let more air/fuel through - but still wouldnt start of its own accord.

Do these bikes have problems with being started minus the airbox? We were thinking that it might have had something to do with the vacuum line pulling in too much air?

Any clues as to how i can get past this?

Cheers,
Stealth.

[sicarius]

Mine does exactly the same thing... and therefore has been sitting in the bikeshop for close on a month now... The mechanics tried similar things like you ( Start ya bastard down the carbies etc) but tells me the bike just refuses to start. He did say that number One cylinder was low on compression, but stated that shouldn't prevent it from starting.

Strangely though, before these problems occurred, the mechanic said that they couldn't get the bike to run WITH the airbox connected??? Not really sure what they did but they got around that somehow.

I spent close on $2,000 on tyres, major service, another set of carbies, urridim plugs and leads, new air filter, battery, blah blah...but nothing fixed the problem. It refuses to fire ...
When you solve your problem, I'd be interested in hearing about it.

[Stealthassassin]

Mine does exactly the same thing... and therefore has been sitting in the bikeshop for close on a month now... The mechanics tried similar things like you ( Start ya bastard down the carbies etc) but tells me the bike just refuses to start. He did say that number One cylinder was low on compression, but stated that shouldn't prevent it from starting.

Strangely though, before these problems occurred, the mechanic said that they couldn't get the bike to run WITH the airbox connected??? Not really sure what they did but they got around that somehow.

I spent close on $2,000 on tyres, major service, another set of carbies, urridim plugs and leads, new air filter, battery, blah blah...but nothing fixed the problem. It refuses to fire ...
When you solve your problem, I'd be interested in hearing about it.

Hey Sicarius,

Yeah, i confirmed over the weekend that the bike DOES NOT run even WITH the airbox attached. This is shitting me sooo much now, 'cause she'll fire with the squirt of carby cleaner and run well for 30-60 seconds then just fade out! I can't get my head around where the problem could be from

Do you think it could be the regulator? Only reason i ask that is you have replaced virtually everything else?!

Guys, can you think of anything to get this bike going?

[dave#3]

Mine does exactly the same thing... and therefore has been sitting in the bikeshop for close on a month now... The mechanics tried similar things like you ( Start ya bastard down the carbies etc) but tells me the bike just refuses to start. He did say that number One cylinder was low on compression, but stated that shouldn't prevent it from starting.

Strangely though, before these problems occurred, the mechanic said that they couldn't get the bike to run WITH the airbox connected??? Not really sure what they did but they got around that somehow.

I spent close on $2,000 on tyres, major service, another set of carbies, urridim plugs and leads, new air filter, battery, blah blah...but nothing fixed the problem. It refuses to fire ...
When you solve your problem, I'd be interested in hearing about it.

Hey Sicarius,

Yeah, i confirmed over the weekend that the bike DOES NOT run even WITH the airbox attached. This is shitting me sooo much now, 'cause she'll fire with the squirt of carby cleaner and run well for 30-60 seconds then just fade out! I can't get my head around where the problem could be from

Do you think it could be the regulator? Only reason i ask that is you have replaced virtually everything else?!

Guys, can you think of anything to get this bike going?

As complex and effin infuriating as they can be, four stroke engines are still really just simple devices which require fuel, compression and a spark. Given the symptoms you describe I'd guess it's most likely a fuel problem.

The first thing I'd do is check the fuel pump is working OK. While the bike is running can you see fuel flowing through the fuel filter? How are the float levels? I'm guessing that you're using all the fuel in the carb, the bike stops and while it sits while you scratch your head trying to work out what's wrong with it some more fuel drains down into the carbs.

Good luck with it!