1979 Kz1000 Wont start, need help?

Hey Guys need some help here. Had a small accident with my KZ last june and stored the bike in a heated garage until last month(Ilive in Montreal) when I pulled it out and fixed the front end and oil cooler.Once I got it back together I started it on the first shot. It ran for a few minutes with no problems,it throttled well and the choke worked good. Three days after that went to start it again and nothing. I almost killed my battery trying to start it. Why would it do that ? It started after all that time with no problems and now it's behaving like the carbs are gummed up or something .

Anyway any thoughts would be appriciated.

Did you store it with fuel in the tank and carb float bowls full? If so it may well be gummed up from the crud in todays gas. I'd pull the sparkplugs and check for a strong spark when turning it over, if that's good look at cleaning the carbs.

The small jets and passages are probably full of deposits and junk. After cleaning the carbs and replacing the gas from the tank go to the nerares Wal Mart or any good auto parts store and purchase a can of "Seafoam" It's a fuel additive designed to help clean out crud from fuel systems.
www.seafoamsales.com is their website. Just follow the instructions on the can for mix instructions.

Just a thought, if aafter crash bike was on its side for a period, might have gotten oil in air box. check for clean & oil level.(possible fuel contamination)try w/ fresh plugs. luck G

since it started once an now nothing, have you checked the fuses, if good then.

1 do you have fire to the plugs
2 if not check voltage to the coils
3 does it have points? if so may need to check them and the condensers
4 check all wire connections.

Change the oil. Replace the air filter. Drain tank and refill with fresh gas. Replace the gas filter, if one is installed.

The bike has pod filters and everthing on it was changed last year invested over 5000 $ on it . But I did store the bike the way it was after the crash with the gas on & probably and the bowls full. also noticed when I took the bike off the center stand and put it on the side stand fuel leaked out off the left carb.Not much just a little.

tsar wrote:

The bike has pod filters and everthing on it was changed last year invested over 5000 $ on it . But I did store the bike the way it was after the crash with the gas on & probably and the bowls full. also noticed when I took the bike off the center stand and put it on the side stand fuel leaked out off the left carb.Not much just a little.

I think the other posts are on target about the fuel system needing flushing. The gas had probably oxidized and gummed up the carbs when you ran it. Carbs leaking gas usually mean the float valve system is not working or needs adjusting. Check the fuel levels in the bowls and see. If you have a carburetor flooding, it can make the thing a real bugger to start.

BSKZ650 wrote:

since it started once an now nothing, have you checked the fuses, if good then.

1 do you have fire to the plugs
2 if not check voltage to the coils
3 does it have points? if so may need to check them and the condensers
4 check all wire connections.

Yup.......79 might have a pulse coil depending on model. That has a different method of diagnosing. Check for spark. Make sure fuel is evident. If you have the vacuum petcock make sure vacuum line is ok. Try spraying a little starting fluid into air bok or pods.......if spark is present it should bust off.