surging, popping, and running faster than ever

the other night on the way home from work, i was climbing a hill and the bike started to "cough" a little bit, then it started to pop out the exhaust, i nursed it to the gas station, checked to tank and it was good. i lete her cool down for about 20 minutes, while about 5 riders stopped and asked me if i needed help. after she cooled down, i looked at the oil level, it was on the lower side of the site window, so i added a bit. When i got back on the road, it still popped, but when the popping subsided, it really went, i mean like 40 in second gear, i'm a newbie to motorcycles, all the research i' ve done makes me think i am too lean. any feed back would be helpful thanks.

It definitely sounds like a lean condition to me. Did this just pop up out of the blue? Was the bike running smoothly prior to this happening, or have you had tuning issues in the past? Have you recently changed anything like exhaust or air filters? Are you running a fuel filter between the tank and carburetors? Also, what model of bike are we speaking of here? There are several different types of carburetors used throughout the KZ range.

it pops when i just get about 1/8 to 1/4 throttle, nothing is new, yes i do have fuel filters on my 79 kz 750 two cyl. I've only had the bike a little over a month, the carbs are clean, the floats are set the same. Before this happened, it ran pretty good, but i thought it should have more power, now whan i get on it, she really goes, i took out the plugs to look at them last night, the left on was turning black, the right one was tan in color, there is no vacuum on this thing at all, so do i necessarily need to get the carbs balanced? thanks another problem arises this morning, i thought it was a little low on fuel, so i put in about a half agallon, turned the petcock to the on pos, and gas comes right out of the overflow tube on the left carb, CRAP, so this means the float isn't set right after all, is that correct?

jacksdad wrote: the other night on the way home from work, i was climbing a hill and the bike started to "cough" a little bit, then it started to pop out the exhaust, i nursed it to the gas station, checked to tank and it was good. i lete her cool down for about 20 minutes, while about 5 riders stopped and asked me if i needed help. after she cooled down, i looked at the oil level, it was on the lower side of the site window, so i added a bit. When i got back on the road, it still popped, but when the popping subsided, it really went, i mean like 40 in second gear, i'm a newbie to motorcycles, all the research i' ve done makes me think i am too lean. any feed back would be helpful thanks.

Sounds like a piece of crud blocked a main jet and then got washed through. Used to happen to me all the time until I flushed the gas tank and installed inline fuel filters.

gas flooding means you need to clean or replace the needles and seats in the carbs and set the fuel levels with a clear tube. Wrong fuel levels will make it run terrible, it's always the first thing you set when adjusting carbs.

i guess that might explain why when i put gas from the can in it this morning, it ran right out the right carbs overflow tube, peice of something on the float needle?, won't close tight?

i have often battled with crud getting into the float valve, it doesnt take much to hold it open and flood the bowl.

if the bike has a filter on it, the filter may be deteriorating and sending adhesive chunks into the carb. i had that happen on a customers machine.

a rich condition will give you the black plug as well as some go juice when the butterflies are opened.12.5:1 is where max power is, but that is pretty rich and most of us arent jetted to that point.