rosszx9r

well i guess if i've got a moped or a scooter then this is the place to be otherwise, i need to find a motorbike forum.......

Hi Guys, long time no speak bike has been off the raod since last summer when i blew the head gasket! finally got round to rebuilding the engine... (ZX9r B1 44k miles) making progress with the engine rebuild.... top end complete with no issues but i'm baffled with the gearbox fault... the reason i was stripping the bottom end was because the bike was not always engaging 2nd or 3rd gear from time to time unless i really forced it through. it would also occationally jump out of gear when under load. i was expecting to see worn forks or dogs but they all seem fine... http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=PqEiuNr the fork ends measure 6mm which acording to the haynes, it spot on. the fork ends do look shiny and at first i thought they had been rubbing but this is just coloration. i can't feel any signs of actual wear (there would be a step from light to dark areas) any suggestions on what else it could be? (selector drum is fine too) all help appreciated.

kwakers use the cooling system to stop the carbs icing up. twas just an idea before knowing what bike it was i'd suggest you drain the fuel tank down completely and refill with fresh petrol.

i'd be very surprized to find it is water! are you sure it's water? do you turn the fuel tap off at night? if the float valve in carb isn't seating properly and you leave the fuel tap on, you'll over fill the carbs so draining them down would allow the bike to run properly. this is just a guess but far more likely than water building up in the carb after a day or so. if it really is water then it could be from the cooling system. what bike is it and how old is it

how long have you had it? more than a couple of months and you don't really have any come back on the shop. sounds like they can't @rsed to sort it for some reason! if you bought it recently from them, you really need to push them to sort it quickly or you'll loose your oppertunity. don't be too sypathetic toward them, they may well of knowingly sold you and old dog of a bike!!! there are loads of things you could check on the bike but it depends how much you can do yourself.... plugs, ignition lead condition, fuel/ air filters, oil levels, battery charging, good earth connection......... have you tried calling a dealer to get an idea of prices? it may not be as bad you think and they will certainly be able to sort it out.

most common fault is excessive use of the throttle enjoy...

first thing i'd check is the throttle cables. you have one to open the throttle and one to close it. if the closing cable is broken then only gravity can close the throttle!

OOooooooooo........ got your toys back yet?

NO NO NO NO NO... if he doesn't know what went where, then stripping it down to the sum of its parts means he has a pile of bits and no idea where to put them.. gives us some amusement though......

kawasaki carbs have a vacum diaphram on the top of them to open the main throttle body inside it. what you describe could be any one of the following... vacum hose split diaphram split or leaking badly carb sliders stuck or a very stretchy throttle cable take the tank and airbox off and check all the operating cables work (i.e. the butterfly valves open on the carbs) check the hoses (again just in case) then with throttle open (engine off!) stick your finger inside each carb and slide the throttle body up then let it drop back down. each one should be perfectly smooth with no sticky points and should make a swooshing sound when pushed up as air escapes from above the carb body. if not, it's a full carb strip and examination...

i'd check to make sure the fuel tap works and that any inline fuel filter is clean. then look at cable/pipe routing. something is clearly being dislodged or trapped when you put the tank back on. it may not be the tank thats trapping something, it could be pushing part of the airbox down onto something.

just a thought...... there is a small drain screw in the bottom of the carb that has a small hose attached to it.... the drain screw is closed isn't it

so take it back and get it fixed

if it's leaking fuel when not running, its the float valve that is not seating correctly. usually stripping down and cleaning is enough but it may be worn. wemoto do replacement kits for around £10 to find it: take the bottom off the carb, the float has a little flange that presses against a spring laoded plunger (bery small, about 1mm in diameter). remove the hinge pin from the float. this is sometimes held in place with a small screw at one end of the pin. once the float is removed, the float valve can be lifted free and cleaned. once clean, you will need to reassemeble and set the float to the correct hieght. this can be very model specific so you'll need either a haynes or a helpful kawasaki dealer to give you the clearance figure. you've done the hard part by taking the carbs out

i wouldn't laugh mate, if your getting gas in the coolant, the head gasket may of popped exact same symptoms as my deceased ZX9...

the subject line doesn't give it away so what bike are you talking about? they are all different and i think it's the pilot screw your refering too. it is alegidly possible to set it using the bikes idle speed as a guage to the correct mixture but i've found that method to be wildly inacurate the only proper way is to use an emisions sensor up the exhaust

well if you'd said that in this thread it may of helped you can make payments to paypal via credit card. you just need to register it with your account so when you buy with paypal, it automatically deducts money from your card or bank account or you can use it to add funds to paypal.

twas me pete, i actually bought it from Argos for £30. it still wasn't easy getting the front sprocket off though and i'd actually recomend taking the bike to a garage to change the front or at least get it loosened unless you have: 1 - no money (but you have an impact driver) 2 - eternal patience both jobs are really easy (technically) you just need to take your time and think. like.... were is all the brake fluid going to go when you undo the bolt on the caliper?.....

well this wasn't too hard to find

with the bike on a centre stand and on level ground, the oil indicator window should only be half full with the engine 'off' any more than this and it is over filled.

the wear on the bike and engine are due to 2 factors... 1 - the weather the bike is riden in (effects general condition and items such as chain, brkaes, bearings) 2 - the way in which it is riden the second point is probably more to do with what you are asking. if you stress any engine, it won't last. smaller engines are easier to stress. by stress i mean rev past 3/4 max RPM for whatever the bike is designed for. the example of the zxr7 run by a london courier is a good one. there is little chance (even for a courier) to regularly rev the nuts off a bike like that in central london so it will see less engine stress through it's life (tho the guy must either be a midget or have arms like popeye ). it's also going to rack up a lot of miles quickly so rust and rot are likely to be less than a bike with similar miles in the hands of mear mortal others mentioned 200k on a busa.... again, not really a surprize given the size of the lump. who could ever stress a busa or a blackbird then there are the middle wieght bikes, these are the most likely to have early wear issues as they can be stressed on normal roads quite regularly and because it's good fun! (in the right place at the right time ). but if they are maintained and you can control your right wrist (while on the bike ) then it should be good for 100k trouble with buying second hand is you've no idea how it's been treated. my bike is a case in point, 45k and the head gasket blew. done a bit of research and it's common on these typs of sports bikes that are thrashed (not nessesarily a knackered engine but still bloody expensive to repair). i haven't had it long enough to thrash it hard enough to damage it so it looks like i bought a bag of sh@t... just goes to show, you get what you pay for!....

aarghh.... NO don't use them, i did once.... and i blew my engine within 5 minutes the addatives thin the oil so it runs down through the drain channels easier. trouble, this happens pretty quickly and it you give the bike too much revs, you run the serious risk of engine seizure. i managed to blow a honda maggot (usually unburstable engines!). seized a piston, snapped a con rod and punctured the engine casing. the white oil smoke plume could be seen for miles just warm the engine and drain as normal. if you change the filter at the same time you'll of replaced ~98% of the oil anyway. when manufacturers recomend oil change intervals, this is taken into account so as long as you stick with regular oil changes and do it properly with a new filter each time, there is no need to do anything else.

yep, you got a blockage. start from the master cylender and work down to the caliper. loose each joint in turn (only slightly) and put a rag under it. gently pull the lever and you should get fuid out of the joint. do that a couple of time for each joint to make sure it's clear. if you get fluid at the caliper banjo bolt, you'll need to strip the calipers again. there are very small holes in the caliper casing that can easily block with dirt. i usually squirt brake cleaner through the holes when i overhaul calipers just to prove to myself there is nothing blocking them. the only other thing i can think of is you've put the master cylinder piston seal on back to front so it's pumping the wrong way start with checking for blockages, it should be simple to narrow the problem down from there...

if you go to thier web site they have contact detailer for distributers with fitment database. give them a call and should be able to tell you all the bikes it will fit.

or a set of extra long jump leads so it can get to the MOT station