Stumped.... Fuel, Spark and Air, but still no go

I was hoping for some input or suggestions. 3 and 4 cylinders not working at all. I have a fresh set of plugs in all cylinders and checked spark.(running electronic ignition) I am getting strong spark to all four plugs. I have a freshly rebuilt set of carbs in, and which should be correctly jetted. I have not synched them yet though. I visually checked the throttle bodies and it looks like fuel is being atomized in all four carbs when running. When individually choked all four carbs are drawing fuel.

I checked the compression and have roughly 100 psi in all cylinders (95 - 101 psi....low, but consistent) I also pulled the cam covers thinking that I could get a rough idea if the valves were sticking or something looked funny, without taking the head off, when hand turning the motor. Everything looked good though.

Any suggestions? I am a stumped!

Do you have an inductive timing light? If so put it on each of the offending cylinders and rev it a bit to check even constant spark. Is also a good Idea to put a dwell meter across your - side of each coil, to see if different dwell from electronic Ignition.

did you check the valve clearance when you had the cover off ? I went thru pretty much the same drama on my 750. I went thru everything, spark, carbs etc. I had 120 psi across the board for compression. Some of the valves had almost no clearance, once I set them it ran fine.

have you checked to make sure the plug wires were in the correct order? I had the same problem. I hooked the coils up, left to 1 and 3 and right to 2 and 4. It should be, left to 1 and 4 and right to 2 and 3

I didnt check the valve clearances....I never done it and was hoping it was something else before I tore into the engine.. although I may have to as a few other people have alluded to an issue with the valves. I just ran out to the garage to check the order of the the plug wires...silly question here but when you refer to left or right coil is that in relation to sitting on the bike or looking at the bike head on?

#1 is on the left side, which is where your clutch lever is when you sit on the bike.

That might be the problem.....gonna have to try it in the morning as I have grumpy old neighbors. Thanks...didn't even think of that. Hope it solves it

Ignition Coil Primary And Secondary Wiring

Ignition coils on the 80’s Kz1000,Kz1100’s and Gpz1100’s are wired the same, that is as you sit on the bike, the LEFT ignition coil primary(small wires) are two wires, RED and BLACK. The secondary (or sparkplug wires) go to #1 and #4 sparkplugs.

The cylinders are numbered left to right as you sit on the seat; #1,#2,#3, and #4.

For the RIGHT ignition coil, the primary wires, again are two wires, RED and GREEN, with the secondary going to #2 and #3.

The RED wire gets it’s voltage from the run/stop switch on the right handlebar switch pod.

The BLACK and GREEN wires connect to the IC Igniter(if the bike has the Kawasaki supplied electronic ignition) it actually gives the coils their grounds to fire the sparkplugs.

Primary(small wires) side of the coils will read between 1.8 to 3.0 ohms.

Secondary(sparkplug wire ports)side of the coil will read between 10.4K to 15.6K ohms.

To stress the ignition coils, take a hair dryer, heat the coils and see if the ohm readings change from cold to hot . If they do, it’s time to buy new coils.

Keep in mind, the wiring is reversed for the 550’s 650‘s and 750‘s, that is the RIGHT coil primary will be two wires, RED and BLACK with the secondary(sparkplugs) going to #1 and #4.

The LEFT coils primary wiring would be again two wires, RED and GREEN, with the secondary(sparkplugs) going to #2 and #3.

These engines have what is known as a “Wasted Spark” that is, a sparkplug will fire during an exhaust stroke. It does no damage and many other motorcycle engines have this design.

FYI:> When I was hooking up the wires to my 82 1100 Shafty,the Clymer book had the green and black wires reversed in the written pages.Backfired hard enuf to blow the carbs off the boots!!! Good thing the wiring diagram is in color,and I got it figured out.When I get it all back together,this Mutha' gonna scream!!!