2000 ZX9R running on three cylinders? :(

[TimMc]

G'day. I've got a 2000 9R that I've had since new. Only done 28,000km, reasonably well looked after, serviced & garaged. Run, if not ridden, at least every few weeks.
The last few times I've wheeled it out it would only run on three cylinders for the first ~five minutes and then ran on four. Now I can't get it to run on four at all. No. two cylinder is not functioning (the header pipe is cold while the others are hot). On advice from my local Kwaka service centre (Team Moto Kawasaki, Albion), I swapped no. 1 & no. 2 plug coils over but cylinder two is still dead while cylinder one still runs fine. I pulled out number 2's spark plug and it looks good (clean, good gap). Plugged it back into the coil, turned over the engine and it sparks fine too (while not screwed into the head anyway)? Using my workshop manual I then checked out the resistance of the primary and secondary windings of no 2's coil at all is within tolerance. Anybody have any idea what else I should check? Number 2's carby? Don't know much about carbies... By the way, the air filter is in good nick (hasn't disintegrated and clogged up the carbs). Fuel tank is not rusty and full of new 98 octane.
Thanks!

[tim]

new leads?

[Slow and wobbly]

Carbs need cleaning. I would say that the emulsion tube on no.2 is blocked / varnished. 28K is not much in 12 years so it has been sitting for longish periods of time with fuel in the carbs. It evaporates and leaves behind residue.

[robracer]

Carbs need cleaning. I would say that the emulsion tube on no.2 is blocked / varnished. 28K is not much in 12 years so it has been sitting for longish periods of time with fuel in the carbs. It evaporates and leaves behind residue.

+1

[TimMc]

Thanks for the advice.
There's no high tension leads on the 9R Tim but I did check out the LV wires & connectors leading to the coils. Found a little corrosion on one of the connectors so I cleaned that up but it made no difference.
The carb cleaning sounds most plausible Rob & S&W. I'll look down this path now. So often I've started the bike after a long storage time and it's taken a while to fire & then run rough for until the float bowls are refilled due to evaporation and/or gunk is flushed out. As a bit of a novice with the carbs, is there anywhere I could look to find out about cleaning the carbs, or is this a job best left to the experts? When I filled the tank last week I put some Motul injector/carb cleaner in the tank as I thought this might help. It hasn't had a real opportunity to work it's magic yet.
Cheers, TimMc

[Slow and wobbly]

It may seem daunting but it is quite easy. From your above posts you have managed to find the spark plugs and thus I figure you can easily complete this task without much drama.
This might help. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exa467_e ... re=related
In the first minute of part 2 he removes what he calls the jet. He actually removes the emulsion tube to which the jet is attached. The emulsion tube is the most common area of gunk build up.

[TimMc]

Thanks Slow. I'll give this a go. How hard can it be... I've got a jet kit I bought some years ago & never installed so here's my chance too. The only thing I'm concerned about is needing to rebalance the carbs when I'm finished. Something else to Google...

[greenmeanie]

Go see Darcy @ Bike Performance Enoggerra Ph: 3355 1089 .......he'll balance your carbs for you & have it running like new.

[TimMc]

Taa Glen. I may do that.
The carb cleaner seems to be doing it's job. Bike is running well again on all four. Still might pull down, clean out and fit the jet kit while I'm at it. Always fun tinkering in the garage...

[KiwiMat]

same problem here..... outside right pipe cold.
drained carby bowls, good flow, few specs came through.
Plug looked good, swapped the coils (if thats the long thing on the spark plug) with one next door, other pipe now cold, so replace coil yeah? (with Denso on it).
Should i just replace all the coils? or is 1 ok. Done nearly 1000km since i had the bike.

[Mister_T]

Hi Kiwimat. Seems like you found the issue. Whether you change all the coils is up to your finances. I would be inclined to buy one and see if that really fixes the issue and if so maybe buy another one to keep spare. At least you have a nice visible part number on the coil to search with.

To the original poster TimMc, in my experience the fancy high octane fuels "go off" faster than the basic 91 octane unleaded. For a vehicle so rarely used, I suggest using fuel stabiliser at all times if you don't really know when the vehicle will be run again. Currently I run "Sta-bil" and regular 91 in my club/historic rego'd GPX750. I know Penrite do a fuel stabiliser and there would be other brands as well, but Sta-bil seems to the most common in the chain auto parts stores.
The only downside to the fuel stabiliser is the price per litre of fuel it works out to. In my case it is worth it if I don't have to go through the hassle of pulling out the carbys and cleaning them. In the case of a friend who has a nice original R33 Skyline which spends 99.999% of its life locked in a garage under a cover, stabiliser would have saved us the hassle of replacing the in-tank electric fuel pump when the 98 octane fuel went off.

[KiwiMat]

Hi Kiwimat. Seems like you found the issue. Whether you change all the coils is up to your finances. I would be inclined to buy one and see if that really fixes the issue and if so maybe buy another one to keep spare. At least you have a nice visible part number on the coil to search with.

might just buy 2 from the wreckerz, 1 in and one on the shelf for the next one that goes and save some pissing around with the bike in bits waiting for parts. we will see when i ring kawasaki tomorrow.

[Smitty]

Hi Kiwimat. Seems like you found the issue. Whether you change all the coils is up to your finances. I would be inclined to buy one and see if that really fixes the issue and if so maybe buy another one to keep spare. At least you have a nice visible part number on the coil to search with.

To the original poster TimMc, in my experience the fancy high octane fuels "go off" faster than the basic 91 octane unleaded. For a vehicle so rarely used, I suggest using fuel stabiliser at all times if you don't really know when the vehicle will be run again. Currently I run "Sta-bil" and regular 91 in my club/historic rego'd GPX750. I know Penrite do a fuel stabiliser and there would be other brands as well, but Sta-bil seems to the most common in the chain auto parts stores.
The only downside to the fuel stabiliser is the price per litre of fuel it works out to. In my case it is worth it if I don't have to go through the hassle of pulling out the carbys and cleaning them. In the case of a friend who has a nice original R33 Skyline which spends 99.999% of its life locked in a garage under a cover, stabiliser would have saved us the hassle of replacing the in-tank electric fuel pump when the 98 octane fuel went off.

thats a case in point.. different fuel brands react differently

learnt early on in the piece after ULP came out.. never EVER use Shell (Coles) ULP or Premium in a carbed bike
stops ém dead in their tracks




ps.. the Penrite stabiliser is better than the Sta-bil imo

[Mister_T]

thats a case in point.. different fuel brands react differently

And it will vary with geography. The fuel you get in a far north Queensland summer may be different to the mix you get in the depths of a Tasmaninan winter, and then there is the anti-sniffing Opal fuel in remoter areas.

learnt early on in the piece after ULP came out.. never EVER use Shell (Coles) ULP or Premium in a carbed bike
stops ém dead in their tracks

Didn't notice that with my RC17 Or KLR, although the Shell would blacken the rear bumper of my Nissan 280ZX (and later a 300ZX) noticably more than other brands. My local servo is a Caltex so I have used their 95 on and off with good results.

ps.. the Penrite stabiliser is better than the Sta-bil imo

I keep a lookout for the Penrite, might as well support an aussie company although fuel and stabiliser consumption has not been an issue down here in the Lockdown State.

[KiwiMat]

I had a mate tell me to avoid Shell and have for a long time.

Turns out it was spark plug, not coils, 4 new plugs, back on 4 cylinders, can get on with balancing carbs now.

cheers
KiwiMat