TOPIC:

I just got a 81 Kz1000LTD and the owner told me that I have to spray starter fluid into it when its cold so that it will start, and he has the choke applied also. Do you think my carbs might be dirty? If so I will run some carb cleaner through it, I dont feel like interupting any mechanical features on it right now, I like how it runs, better than my 650!

Get the carbs cleaned and adjusted, spraying starter fluid into a KZ motor to start it is a recipe for disaster in my humble opinion.

It's one of those things that I just flat out refuse to do

the quick start will save from cranking and cranking the starter and battery. ( fire hazard )

when you get it started you should flush out the old gas and get fresh gas.

heat up the engine completely so it is good and hot then do a oil and filter change. the junk that builds up when bikes just sit is incredible.

after that see if it starts better.

when a cam chain needs adjusted it will become a "hard starter" sometimes-- not always but enough to mention

are there any other indications that the cam chain needs to be adjusted?

Nope the engine runs great. I think that is just a carb problem, wondering if I might not be getting enough gas on choke. Thats why I posted in carburettor peoples.

As an alternative:
starting fluid (ether) is a killer on engines. If the only problem is that you're not getting enough enrichment via your cold start circuits, good ol' fashioned carb cleaner works good and doesn't hurt the engine. In fact, use carb cleaner just once, and see if it works. If it does, then it is your choke setup.
This is a quick-and-dirty trick to use on any machine that doesn't want to start. It helps tell if it's a fuel problem or something else.
This advice is worth every cent you paid for it.

I know the problem now. The spark plugs were drowned which means the choke is working but the spark plugs are having trouble sparking, now they arent sparking at all

pstrbrc wrote:

As an alternative:
starting fluid (ether) is a killer on engines. If the only problem is that you're not getting enough enrichment via your cold start circuits, good ol' fashioned carb cleaner works good and doesn't hurt the engine. In fact, use carb cleaner just once, and see if it works. If it does, then it is your choke setup.
This is a quick-and-dirty trick to use on any machine that doesn't want to start. It helps tell if it's a fuel problem or something else.
This advice is worth every cent you paid for it.

What's your routine for this method? My KZ often sits for weeks between rides and then is a brute to start cold. I'm fairly confident that the carbs are getting mildly gunky between rides, but they seem to cheer up after fresh gas runs through them for a while.

What's your routine for this method? My KZ often sits for weeks between rides and then is a brute to start cold. I'm fairly confident that the carbs are getting mildly gunky between rides, but they seem to cheer up after fresh gas runs through them for a while.

THere ya go. Actually wanting advice. (sigh) Let me think. Back when my GPz was running (lessee, February of 1990, wasn't it?)...
Oh, yeah, I remember. Oops. Let me tell you how it worked on fuel injection. (Never did it on a 4 cylinder bike with carbs. Only a CB360 and a CB450. With pods. Much easier. I digress...)
If I remember, the FI only used one cylinder's vacuum port for the FI signal, and one other's for the emissions doohickey (that's a technical term). The other two were plugged. I ganged all four vacuum's together into a common vacuum line, split off for both. Seemed to function just fine, and smoothed out the idle. Kind of a cheater's throttle syncronization(sp?). Wouldn't work on carbs. Anyway, I'd just unhook the hose going off to the FI and emissions doohickey, spray some carb cleaner down the hose towards the throttle bodies, blow just a little bit of air through it to make sure all the carb cleaner made it to the throttle bodies, plug the hose connector back together, and VROOM. With carbs, that'ed be another matter. You'd need to spray some in at least two carb throats, preferably ones that fired opposite each other, either 1 & 4, or 2 & 3.
No help at all, huh?

Post edited by: pstrbrc, at: 2007/01/02 22:27