Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

by **dutchy** » Tue May 17, 2011 11:43 am

As some are already aware I hit a roo at about 60-50 kmph and the bike was dropped as a result. On the night it happened I got her upright as quickly as soon as I sort of stopped crawling around like a douche, so its was on its side for maybe 30 seconds max. When I tried to turn it over the starter ran but the engine wouldn't fire. I wasn't far from home so I walked it.

The next day I started it up, no worries. All seemed fine.

After a couple of weeks I'd finished the works I wanted to do to the exhaust and started it up to run in the fibre glass wrap. I knew the exhaust would smoke up and I ran it for a short time but it seemed a little rough. I ended up turning it off early because it was still incomplete in the shed and I figured I'd run it in outside once everything was completed.

Yesterday was the day. It was all pretty much together so I charged the battery, got it off the stands, wheeled it outside and tried to fire it up......nothing.

The starter runs fine. It'll go over and over again untill the battery goes flat. Trying to problem solve I hard wired the fuel pump quickly to make sure I could hear it running and it sounds like its working. I removed a spark plug and it seems to be not firing when I hit the starter. It was pretty fowled up so i'm going to take them out and clean them today to see if that helps at all.

One scary thing I should mention is that I doo have a left over brown wire from the gauge install. I don't believe it is anything neccesary for the running of the bike but then again if it completes a circuit that i'm ultimately leaving cut then it might have something to do with the issue. I thought that if I earthed it then that might close the circuit and all would be well, wrong. It simply blows the ignition fuse so.

This problem is the same problem from the night immediatly after the stack so I'm pretty convinced that the cause of my issues is related to that.

Any suggestion?

by **craig mac** » Tue May 17, 2011 1:07 pm

Do you get 12 volts at the instruments and indicator lights when you turn ignition on?

by **tomithy** » Tue May 17, 2011 1:15 pm

Do you have a wiring diagram? From memory, on the ZXR there's a brown wire involved in the key/ign circuit - did you fiddle with the key wires at all?

by **dutchy** » Tue May 17, 2011 3:06 pm

I've set a lenght of clear tube into the fuel filter (to simulate having the tank on). When the starter was running it seemed to sucked the fuel in ok. I had a spark plug out to see if it was throwing spark when I turned it over and it looks like its working but maybe a little weak

craig mac - Yes, 12v at the instruments no worries.
tomtom - heres the diagram.

: elect2.jpg (202.17 KiB) Viewed 2505 times

The wire in question has been coloured. It is cut at the moment where the red line is. Perminant power to the speedo come from the white wire which I spliced near the quick release connection to the loom leading into the key ignition. Ignition (temp) power to the speedo is coming from a line that was used to power the lights in the old dash. This brown line leads into the engine stop switch as well BUT it seems to make no differance and reading the diagram there would still be power going to everything that needs it, or at least I think so.

I still have spark and when I turn the engine stop switch the bike wont even turn over. If I open the stop switch the engine still turns over as usual when started.

I can see it might be something simple and probably a result from the speedo install thus making it my fault. I'll be happy to be laughed at as long as I get the damn thing running again. :lol:

by **craig mac** » Tue May 17, 2011 4:52 pm

if your happy with the spark and the plug condition, could the problem possibly be contamination in the carby's, dislodged when the bike went over? how long since you cleaned the jets, air bleed pipes etc...... or have you ruled this out?

by **dutchy** » Tue May 17, 2011 5:52 pm

CRISIS OVER!!!

You wouldn't believe it. The damn ignition must have just been a little jarred up because it hasn't been operated in a couple of weeks. Squirted some WD40 down the key hole and jiggled the key around for a little back and fourth, on and off, and she fired up. :shock:

Apparently it can be a common issue with the zx7r's as they get older that the ignition connection in the barrel starts to foul up, especially if it hasn't been used in a while. The knock, and a couple of weeks off must have siezed it up a little but it's fine now. It has been operating perfectly ever since.

Thanks guys for the suggestions. guess i'm luck it wasn't anything too major :kuda:

by **z900/zx9** » Tue May 17, 2011 7:56 pm

When things just dont work or a little tight remember LUBE LUBE LUBE

by **mike-s** » Tue May 17, 2011 9:54 pm

May i suggest you use something like brake cleaner as it evaporates away to nothing (which is why it's used on brakes) and spray it down the ignition for it to flush all the old lube out of there. The get some graphite dry lube and give the ignition barrel a little squirt, followed by putting the key in and turning it a few times.

using WD40 on any lock is great as a short term fix but can cock everything else up with it gumming up and causing problems in the long term.

by **ezzazrx** » Wed May 18, 2011 4:55 pm

mike-s wrote:May i suggest you use something like brake cleaner as it evaporates away to nothing (which is why it's used on brakes) and spray it down the ignition for it to flush all the old lube out of there. The get some graphite dry lube and give the ignition barrel a little squirt, followed by putting the key in and turning it a few times.

using WD40 on any lock is great as a short term fix but can cock everything else up with it gumming up and causing problems in the long term.

I use Inox sprayed into the ignition lock after washing the bike, could this gumming up occur, been doing this regularly for about 3 years.
Cheers Eric.