Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

Hey Guys and Gals,
I just bought myself a 2000 japanese import Kawasaki ZXR 250 NINJA.
A very clean bike that I managed to get for a really good price.
I brought it home yesterday only to find that when I got out on the highway and started to pour on the throttle, the bike died. There was absolutley no power at all. So okay, those die hard Kwaka riders are going to say, " Well it is a 250 man, what do you expect?" But seriously, when this thing hooked and went, it screamed.
I thought the problem was fuel or spark plugs. So I took it down to the bike shop today and forked out over $700 for a complete major service. New oil, spark plugs, air filter, Tyres, etc....
They assured me the problem was fixed.

As I peeled on to the highway and began to merg into the traffic, I opened the throttle and, nothing.... No power at all.
As I negotiated Mack Trucks that were bearing down on my 45kph arse, I began to swear and cuss the mechanic.

Can somebody point me in the right direction here. The bike seems to idle okay...even rev okay...That is until you start to move and accelerate... It's like its starving for fuel...stuttering and lacking in any acceleration.... But then, all of a sudden, it launches itself and comes good, threastening to rip ya arms out of their sockets.

If anyone could give me some idea's as to what the cause of this is and how i might go about fixing it, I'd be grateful.

Thanks .

Sounds like junk in the carbs. Remove the carbs and then pull the float bowls off - then clean any junk out you find. Fit an inline filter before the carbs while you are at it. I put an inline filter after I did the carbs on the ER last year, and haven't had a problem since...

Sounds to me like one of your coils might be loose, i had this in my ZZR-600 once. I loosened the terminals when i changed the plugs, it rode fine for a while then started getting real slow with huge bursts of power.

Felix wrote:Sounds like junk in the carbs. Remove the carbs and then pull the float bowls off - then clean any junk out you find. Fit an inline filter before the carbs while you are at it. I put an inline filter after I did the carbs on the ER last year, and haven't had a problem since...

I had a similar issue on my ZZR, had water in the fuel bowls. It would idle fine, blip the throttle and it was ok, but get moving and it wouldn't rev and it would severely die in the arse. Get out on the road and accelerate and it was like only two of the four cylinders were working...PITA.

Drained the float bowls, and Bob was my Uncle (well, he was until he died, but that's another story).

Mick

Matey,
If I had just forked out $700 for a service.........It'd be straight back on their doorstep

yer sounds like junk in da carbys did they touch them in the service? and $700 go back and tell them it ant fixed lolz also guys not to shore on this but can poor vaccum pressure cause this?
cheers Tim

Felix wrote:Sounds like junk in the carbs. Remove the carbs and then pull the float bowls off - then clean any junk out you find. Fit an inline filter before the carbs while you are at it. I put an inline filter after I did the carbs on the ER last year, and haven't had a problem since...

Thanks Guys. How much would one expect to pay for an inline filter?

I paid about $7 for one at repco. SuperCheap had some for $2 or $4...Just check how much room you have under there and get one that'll fit. Might pay to buy a short length of fuel hose too. I bought half a metre and replaced mine.

It could also be the ram-air hoses disconnected (do zx2r's have ram-air???).

I bought a bike from Sydney this week. Test ride went well. Got it home, 900km later and no starty. Easy fix. Loose battery terminal.

dave#3 wrote:It could also be the ram-air hoses disconnected (do zx2r's have ram-air???).

No i don't believe they do, afaik those tubes just deliver clean air to under the tank where the airbox intake resides, theres no pressurisation whatsoever.

Firstly id be trying to figure out if the engine caves at a certain throttle opening, or if its revs related. if it happens at a certain revs, it'd be ignition related, if it happens at a specific throttle opening and backing off and rolling on past the one specific point makes it work/break then its definitely carb related, and i'd say most likely related to running rich/lean, if its scattered and happens at a range of revs kind of based on the throttle opening, but not really, then its likely to be crap / water in the carbs.

Id also suggest having someone tail you while you go test the revs, it could be a twisted fuel hose (in which case you'd see nothing) blocked jets (same again) or it may just be running rich as hell, in which case your tail would see a heap of black smoke.

It could be a fuel problem but it sounds to me like one or more of your high tension leads has broken down or the coil as stated previously.
Take all four leads off and check the resistance levels with a multimeter, you may find that one of them has a huge internal resistance meaning its buggered. If they are all similar lengths (which they should be) they should have a similar reading

ZZR-Dan,

When you resolve this please let us know.

Thanks Guys,
I took the bike back to the bike shop this morning and they told me it was probably the carbies. So, I left the bike there and told them to fix it.
About an hour later I gets a call telling me that the job was going to be more involved than first thought and I could expect a bill of about $250. I told them to do it.
I went back to pick up my bike later that arvo and the shop manager informs me that the bike was no running worse than what it was before I'd brought it in.
He reported that there were no visable signs of problems and he'd cleaned the carbies and fuel lines etc but although the bike was running fine, when they attempted to close the air filter box, it would run sick.
They found that two of the jets were smaller on the inside than the outside and proceeded to bore them out in an attempt fix the problem. It made no difference.
Because the bike is an import, there was no data on the jet settings here in Austalia. And to get an air filter, they would have to order one in from japan. ( can you believe this shit?) So anyway, I kindly informed the mechanic that some trusted friends from the KSRC Forum suggested I try a number of things, but as you'd expect, I was kindly told that you blokes didnt know what you were talking about. It was , in their expert opinion, nothing to do with the fuel or filters etc... In their defense, they worked for close on 6 hours and have set my fee at $300 when they get the thing to work. They were just as frustrated as I was.

So, the bike still sits at Pro Honda Rocklea until tomorrow when they will attempt to locate another carbie to trouble shoot with. So, my grand total so far in repairs has reached the $1000 mark.
An interesting point made by the workshop manager was that these bikes redline at 19,000 RPM. ( A four cylinder engine ).
He told me the bike need to be ridden at around the 9,000rpm mark to acheive optimum performance. I would've thought it wasn't unreasonable for me to want my bike to travel at the speed limit of 100kph in top gear without losing power at the slightest incline...

I'll keep you informed Guys. Thanks.

hmmm id b pissed that id spent $700 and they wanted to bill me $300 more when they didnt fix the problem...

considering guys here suggested the carbs, and they found the jets at different sizes, maybe they should trouble shoot on here?? toss bags...

good luck with it mate....