TNK's '83 KZ550LTD

The_New_Kid wrote:

well, thank you, I need to know what the indicator lights are, thats the part that has been ripped off of mine, although about 5 minutes ago we managed to start the bike, it's not drawing fuel (we used a spray bottle) and we get a lot of backfiring. we only had a few small fires (spray bottle missed the carbs) and the bike is ok.

alright, could the air box being off keep it from idling? it won't idle unless we tap our hands over the carbs (drawing fuel in)

I think we found our problem... there was a spider (and some other junk) in the petcock, that would be why we couldn't get any fuel flow I guess

alright, we have found our problem, the bike would run and higher rpm's and we managed to determine our problem was our pilot jets, so we pulled them out and huess what, they were clogged, we tried carb cleaner, tip cleaners more carb cleaner and they aren't clearing up. we're buying new ones. other things in our shopping cart include: bowl o-rings, pod filters and main jets (130).

another $180 and it should be running good...

soaked the pilots in carb cleaner for about a week and pushed a little wire through them, the bike idle's now and I rode it today, it won't accelerate like it should and when I hold rpm it sputters a little, although when I accelerate from idle it hits on all four consitently.

help?

do these bikes have ignition problems constantly? it isn't hitting on #3 all the time, sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't...

You could try redoing the spark plug wire connections at all points from the coils to the plugs. The connections become poor from oxidation over time.

Also, you could check the physical condition of the coils: they shouldn't be cracked or damaged.

If it is missing just on # 3 cylinder, it could be a bad spark plug wire or fouled plug. Coil should be okay other wise cylinder #2 wouldn't fire either. Most likely something still clogging the carb feeding cylinder # 3. Did you clean out the tank? Do you have an inline fuel filter installed? If not, you could be clogging the carbs you just cleaned with crud still coming out of the tank.

If not already done, would also perform clear tube test to assure correct fuel level inside float bowl.

Fuel level too high can cause excessively rich mixture resulting in fouled spark plug.

Fuel level too low can cause excessively lean mixture resulting in inadequate combustion.

What is compression psi?

Are valve clearances within specs?

Is the spark plug producing a healthy blue spark?

Good Luck!

----

150 PSI on all 4

checked and clipped all four wires, all 4 holes fire, number 3+4 intermittently

tank is clean, took care of that before we ran the bike

valves are not done yet

healthy spark on all 4

all the rubber is good (hoses and mounts)

Guess who's back?

As it turned out I was only working on the bike and ended up getting everything cleaned up and put tires on it and charged the guy, now he wants to sell it, and for me it's just as much as he had in it when he paid me.

I'll be picking up the bike again on saturday, if I get my check this week. *fingers crossed*