AdeyT

Thank for all the help

Thanks for the help. I know there is a debate about the red rubber grease contaminating the brake fluid and my apologosies if I'm bring up old arguments. I was planning to just use the red rubber grease around the outside of the piston, that way almost all of it should get pushed out to the outside by the dust seal when inserting the piston, (should give it added protection). I could still use new brake fluid to help put the seals in though. That all sound ok?

Thanks for the reply, red rubber grease no good then for lubricating the pistons?

Going to tackle my front brake calipers this weekend, got all the seals in a rebuild kit and have a good idea how to go about it but just asking for any tips or anything I should be mindful of. The bike is a ZZR600 2001. I understand getting sticky pistons out is a problem and I can try and clamp the free ones while using the bikes hydraulics to remove the sticky ones, also have compressed air at work but would mean the job would be on hold until I get to work Monday. I was planning to use Autosol to clean the calipers and pistons and use red rubber grease just around the outside diameter of the pistons only for lubrication. Thanks in advance Adrian

Bike now fixed and running better than ever, Turned out that it was a corroded float jet, the guy who sorted it for me also balanced the carbs, set the mixture and tidied up some wiring at a not too bad price. Very happy

That's what I thought, I'll charge the battary and check the connections and do a few tests on the stator and regulator.

If the voltage went up to 14V when revved and the lights on then it is charging....it wont charge at tickover... here is a good article to read on carbs http://www.classicfordmag.co.uk/files/2011/07/CLF166.bike_.pdf‎ ...I still think you have a jet blockage or dirt in the float bowls... and here is a video showing how bike carbs work http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=uMAKyTvjqaQ Thanks for the info. A friend of mine who know electrics said that the voltage should be constant not wavering and shouldn't be as low as 12v at tick over which led him to believe the regulator was faulty. His thinking was yes the battery is charging but at lower revs the regulator is not supplying the bike a high enough or constant voltage.

Had a multi meter on the battery, 12.5v before starting up, tick over was 12.5v and 12v with headlight on, went up to 14v when reved up then went back to 12v on tick over, all the voltages stated were wavering up and down by 0.1-0.3v. Voltage at one point on tick over went down to 11.8v. The battery is less than a year old and is holding charge so I am thinking it may be the regulator, any thoughts?

Thank you for the offer. To be honest I do like doing the work myself and with the help of the haynes manual and researching on the net I don't mind tackling most jobs, at the moment I don't have a lot of time and trying to strip down carbs in an organised fashion in a 6x8" concrete shed is not ideal, although I'm tempted by the challenge and will look into it I will probably leave this one.

I try and do most the repairs on the bike and my car but I've limited tools, workspace and knowledge, when it comes to the more complex things like carbs I would prefer someone with far more experience and the right tools to do the job hopefully at not a too silly price. When it comes to a problem like this where there could be lots of reasons for it happening I have to weigh up the cost of paying someone who hopefully find out quickly whats wrong and fix rather than me trying allsorts and speniding time and money on the wrong things and having the bike off the road.

Definitely getting worse, time to get it booked in

Thanks for that, was thinking that may be the next best step.

This past week my 2001 ZZR600 (20k on the clock) is sounding lumpy when setting off until the revs pick up to around 2k, it doesn’t happen all the time and only starts to do it after about 3-4 miles, don’t know if it’s my imagination but seems to happen more the longer the distance travelled coming up to a junction without having to use the throttle. I changed the plugs this weekend hoping that might cure it but the same thing happened again on my commute to work this morning. I don’t want to start throwing money at it in the wrong direction and would like to take it to a garage with maybe some ideas of what could be the problem, any suggestions greatly appreciated.

Thanks for that

My 2001 ZZR600 is due an oil change and in the past I've used semi synthetic 10w/40 Guardian Rock oil. The place I used to purchase this oil no longer stocks it, I have a opened litre bottle of this stuff left over from last year which is almost full and was thinking of just buying 3 litres of this stuff and using last years left over to do the oil change. I could buy this oil of the internet or could just buy another brand from the local shop. So my questions are firstly is it ok to use the opened bottle of oil from last year and secondly is it ok to mix brands as long as I use semi synthetic 10w/40?