New guy on a KZ650

Put some oil in those cylinders if you haven't turned it over yet and the carbs might need cleaning, but before you take off the carbs, make not of where the fuel lines and vacuum lines and vent hoses are, so you don't fall in a hole like I did for 4 months.

Well, after dumping the old gas and replacing it with new, 4 spark plugs, and some fresh oil, she fired up! Amazing. Unfortunately, if I take it off choke more than halfway, it sputters and eventually dies. Same thing if I use the throttle. Any bright ideas? Anything more complicated than a chainsaw or a lawnmower and I'm lost.

thedoog wrote:

Well, after dumping the old gas and replacing it with new, 4 spark plugs, and some fresh oil, she fired up! Amazing. Unfortunately, if I take it off choke more than halfway, it sputters and eventually dies. Same thing if I use the throttle. Any bright ideas? Anything more complicated than a chainsaw or a lawnmower and I'm lost.

Your carbs are gummed up - time for removal and a thorough cleaning.
It's really not that hard if you have a manual (and of course us here to cheer you on and help you), and with the right tools and no interuptions can be done in less than a day if they're not to badly clogged.

That's what I figured. I've ordered a manual that should be here on Thursday. What kind of tools does it take? Is it likely that I'm going to need to pick up a carb rebuild kit or anything? Do they even make them?

As far as vacuum hoses and things, there were several small hoses coming off the carbs that weren't hooked up to anything when I first started. But as far as I know, they were never hooked up before - I'd never touched them.

Thanks for all the help so far. I'm sure I'll have a ton of questions over the next couple of weeks - is there a better area in the forum to post them? I'm not much of a message board guy, but I know most people don't like miscategorized topics.

If you check on eBay there are almost always the "po' boy" carb kits listed.
They basically jusy consist of the gaskets and o-rings which are all you should really need, unless of course any of the jets are buggered up beyond cleaning or use.
For jets I'd recommend checking with either Wired George here on this site or with Jeff.Saunders at Z1 Enterprises.com , who is also a member of this site.
Jeff will likley have just about anything you can imagine your bike will ever need, and cheaper than a dealership too!

The vacuum hoses you're refering to, exactely where do they hook up to on the carbs?
You should have one fuel hose (fits on the "T" between carbs #2 and #3 and to the larger fitting on the petcock), one vacuum hose (goes from the smaller fitting on the petcock to the fitting on the left front of carb #2), and two float bowl vent hoses (coming off the left rear fitting on carbs #2 and #4) that route over the front of the airbox and around the air filter cover and basically just vent to the atmosphere.

Whatever future questions you have, just click the "Forum" tab at the top of any screen, and then just select the appropriate forum (engine, carb, suspension, etc) from there to post your question(s) in.

Post edited by: RetroRiceRocketRider, at: 2007/04/24 23:25

A suggestion, try some SEAFOAM in your gas tank. I had problems with my carbs earlier this spring with sputtering and pissing all over. I didn't want to pull the carbs and lose riding time, so I tried a tip I found on this forum. Worked great for me and only about 6 bucks.
Worth a try. Add it to your gas, take it for a ride and wind it up. Burn a gallon of this mixture, it may work and save you wrenching time until next winter.
BTW...welcome to the forum.