The old "oily plugs" question.

Hi' guys,

did a bit of a thread search regarding oily plugs, so I'm guessing you'll say it's probably the guide seals or rings, but.......

My 82 KZ1000 LTD runs great - heaps of power. Always starts good etc etc.

But.....sometimes when i take it for quite long rides and where i might be doing higher speeds....all legal, about 70 mph...I will notice that the bike develops a vibrating "buzz" through the bars, tank ......it's the way it starts running. When I get home, I'll check the plugs (it's definitely not anything to do with the handling), and No2 and No3 are heavily fouled and apparently oiled up. 1 and 4 are great.

I clean them up, and away i go again, sometimes for a couple of months in between.

I've only just bought a manula and waiting for it to arrive, but just thought I'd throw it out there.

Any opinions very much appreciated.......I love the bike, by the way.

Peter
Sydney, Australia.

Try the link in my signature for the manual.
Also I have the same bike. There has been reports from Larry, who has worked on these for a very long time, that the valve guides come lose in the head. Mine hasn't had that problem, yet. But I've done rings and a valve job, with the Viton oil seals. I don't use oil any more on my motor. I had been using alot, after a trip across the Desert. It took the tension out of the old rings. Was using a quart with every tank of gas, :sick: But it ran fine still, never fouled a plug.
Have you checked the voltage at your ignition coils compared to battery voltage? See if you are nearly the same. These LTD's have an issue at the fuse panel, where the old glass fuses get hot, melting the plastic. The little clips end up with less pressure on the fuse, and then they lose connection. Lots of guy's have changed out the old style of panel, and are using the ATO/ATC style of blade fuse panel. You could also have an issue at the ignition, or right hand kill/ start control. Or some of the connection in the head light bucket.
Also the Brown Wire, that goes into the Regulator/ Rectifier for voltage sense. If this has a voltage drop below battery voltage, the bike will overcharge the battery.

Compression and leak down test for some more insight...

Do yourself: Z1, APE, Dynoman, Schnitz Racing etc... for Rings, seals and gasket.
Valve Seals and head gasket <= ~$100 to swap out, easy enough.
Rings, hone, head gasket <= $200, easy enough.

If required:
Valve job, contact Larry C.... easy enough...

I'd bet on valve seals first. Obviously, oil ring might cause it too but I would think it wouldn't run so good if the rings were hosed up.

coil could be weak. Check all things possible before tearing down motor. All part of on going maintance and tuning. Look for the easy stuff first..

G'day guys,

thanks very much - I really appreciate the help. Not too worried at this point, but it's just a bit annoying as it's such a great bike generally.

I never actually considered it could be an electrical problem at all until it was mentioned. I did have some problems with blown fuses and disgusting looking contacts early on when I forst got the bike.

Still bumbling my way around motorbikes. It may interest you to know that I had two bikes until recently. The other was an 09 Softail Deluxe. I didn't see the need for 2 bikes and had to make the choice of which one to sell - it was the Softail. Beautiful bike, but for the riding I do and general day to day performance, the old Kwaka came out on top.

Thanks again for the help.

Peter
Sydney, Australia.

The sparkplug caps(the part that screws onto the sparkplug wires(high tension leads for other parts of the world)contain a 5000 ohm resistor, that can go bad over time due to heat and vibration.

To check them, unscrew the cap from the HT lead, put a multimeter set on OHMS(it looks like an upside down horseshoe, the letter Omega) range of 20K,put one lead on where the sparkplug attaches, and the other lead where the HT lead goes. If the cap is good, you'll see resistance.

If they don't pass, new ones can be bought at most Japanese motorcycle shops.If they do pass, cut about 1/4" off the end of the HT lead, and re-install them.

For increased reliability, do this to your bike's electrical system:

Cleaning Motorcycle Electrics

1. Get some of the De-Oxit electrical contact cleaner and figure on spending a good day going from the front of the bike to the back. It’s a plastic safe cleaner/preservative. www.deoxit.com is their website. It can be purchased at most Radio Shack Stores or any electronic supply places. Or use any plastic safe electrical contact cleaner(NOT WD-40 !).

2. On the older Kawasaki's, a majority of electrical connectors are inside the headlight housing requiring removal of the headlight, then the fun begins.

3. Do one set of electrical connectors at a time to avoid mixing up what connects to where. Usually disconnecting, spraying with De-Oxit and reconnecting is about all you'll need.

4. However, when encountering the green crud of corrosion, a brass wire brush may be needed on the pins you can reach. Some 400-600 grit wet and dry sandpaper strips rolled into a tube should reach the male and female pins in the more difficult to clean connectors.

5. Smoker’s pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and wooden toothpicks work as cleaning aids.

6. Really small electrical connectors may require the use of a welders tip cleaning tool assortment.

7. Most pins in the connectors are coated with a thin plating of tin, and others may be nothing more than copper or brass.

8. If moisture is added, the resulting corrosion lowers the voltage/current being carried causing dim lights, slow engine cranking, slow turn signal responce and lower input voltage to the ignition coils resulting in weak spark.

9. The left and right handlebar switch pods will need attention too as they have circuit functions like turn, horn, run/stop, and start. The older Kawasaki’s have reports of the soldered connections crumbling, if your bike has this problem, just ask, as I’ve got a repair procedure for this.

10. Usually a spritz or two with actuation of the switch is about all needed for these switches unless corrosion is detected and then careful disassembly is required.

11. The ignition switch may or may be not sealed to allow spraying the internal contacts. I urge caution if attempting to open this up as springs, and ball bearings may fly out never to be seen again!

12. If your bike has the older style glass tubed fuses, I suggest replacing them as vibration can cause internal failure. AGX is the type used, and most auto parts stores can get them for you, along with boating supply stores.

13. Clean the fuse holder clips, looking for signs of overheating(discolored insulation, signs of melting). I use metal polish on a cotton swab, followed by spraying another clean swab with the De-Oxit and then rubbing the inside of the fuse clip.

14. All battery cables must be clean and tight for maximum current transfer. Check the cables going from the Negative(-) battery terminal/post to the engine mounting bolt

15. Also the one going from the Positive(+) terminal to the starter solenoid and from there to the starter motor.

16. If any battery cable feels ”Crunchy” when flexed, replace it as possible corrosion is inside the insulation. Inspect all heavy duty battery cables and the smaller wire terminations(Bullet Connectors), for failed crimps, and those used in the electrical connectors, as they can fail over time.

17. Each "Bullet Connector" will have to be sprayed to ensure good connectivity, especially the ones going to the energizing coil of the starter solenoid.

18. The alternator output “Bullet Connectors” are usually behind the engine sprocket cover and will need inspecting and cleaning too.

20. The turn signal light sockets will benefit from a spritz from the contact cleaner along with the tail light/brake light socket.

21. Some brake light switches can be sprayed on the actuating rod, with the spray running down inside to the electrical contacts, others may be sealed requiring replacement if the switch is intermittent in operation.

22. Some people put the Di-Electric Grease on cleaned terminations/connectors, I don’t, as I’ve read/heard it can cause problems when it gets hot, actually insulating the connections, so the choice is yours to use or not.

I think I've covered about all of the electrical systems on the bike.........

“I spent a weekend going through every electrical connection and switch on the bike with a little scotchbrite pad and DeOxit - what a difference! Everything was brighter, gauge backlights, indicator lights, turn signals, I was getting a nicer spark, it fired up quicker, etc. Well worth my time. WELL worth it! “

From a forum member at www.kzrider.com

FAR OUT...... :blink:

That's a pretty detailed response. Excellent. I actually do have a problem with one indicator being slower thean the other, and the hazard lights flicking like crazy, rather than how they should.

I've never heard of DeOxit, but I'm sure we have something similar down here.

I went over the wiring when i first got it - pulling each join and trying to clean it, but I didn't go to these lengths - I will this week.

Peter

I post that now and then for riders with electrical problems, the simple "Fix" is to clean the switches and connectors. I suppose any plastic safe cleaner would work, but do aviod brake cleaners & carb cleaners as they will dissolve plastic connectors.

If while cleaning the handlebar switches, you discover failed or failing solder connections, I kave this repair procedure:


Read this for a primer on hand soldering: technologyinterface.nmsu.edu/fall97/electronics/solder.html

Repairing Motorcycle Soldered Connections on the older bikes.

When repairing soldered wires on motorcycle switches or light bulbs sockets, have the following on hand:

1. A 25 Watt soldering iron or one that the wattage can be adjusted.

2. Rosin core solder of 60/40 type. SN60 or SN63 is preferred.

3. Rosin flux or soldering paste (Never use solder or soldering paste designed for plumbing work, as it contains an acid that will corrode the electrical joint, ruining it).

4. 91% rubbing Alcohol, or 70%. The lower percentage will clean up flux residue, but not as good as the higher percentage stuff. Acetone does a good job of removing excess solder flux too.

5. A cut down ½” paint brush, or acid brush for scrubbing the repaired solder joint.

6. Clean rags or paper towels

7. A damp sponge to keep the soldering iron tip clean.

8. Some “Solder Wick” a braided bare copper wire designed to collect heated excess solder, aiding in joint preperation, available at electronic supply stores.

9. Some wooden toothpicks.

10. Small Hemostats or clip on heatsinks.

A. Before soldering, “Tin” the soldering iron tip by plugging it in or turning the iron on, allowing it to get to operating temperature(2-3 minutes).

B. Unroll about 3” of solder from the roll of rosin core solder & then using a clean rag or paper towel moistened with Alcohol, wipe the unrolled solder, removing the finger print oils that will create a poor solder joint.

C. Apply a small amount of solder to the now heated soldering iron tip, wiping the excess off with the wet sponge, keeping a thin layer on the soldering iron.

D. The soldering iron is now ready for use, but before applying the heated tip to a wire, wipe the tip on the damp sponge, this removes any oxidized solder and makes for a much better connection.

E. If the joint to be repaired is grey in color or appears “Crumbled”, apply some rosin soldering paste or flux to the joint with a small toothpick or screwdriver, and then apply the soldering iron tip for a few seconds.

G. The fluxed joint should clean up, allowing for a better connection. If no luck, use the solder wick to remove all traces of the old solder by apply in it between the soldering iron tip and the bad joint.

H. Hemostats and clip on heatsinks will be used to prevent the wire insulation from burning, overheating & pulling away from the connection.

I. Apply a small amount of flux to the joint to be repaired & then a very short duration of heated soldering iron tip & solder(like a few seconds or so).

J. Clean off the repaired joint with the brush & rubbing Alcohol or Acetone, the newly repaired joint should appear clean and bright, almost as if it were polished, with no voids or holes.

K. When repairing the bad or "Cold Solder Joints" (as the Electronics industry calls them), it takes really no special skills, just patience, and a place to work(along with the mentioned tools. You've got to be sober, and not stoned, as the soldering tool can be at 700 F, possibly giving the impaired bike owner severe burns.

L. If you have fine muscle control problems, have a friend do the soldering for you. Moving a wire before the electrical joint has properly set up, can create "Cold Joints" too. If possible, practice on the bench top with some scrap wires before attempting repairs on the bike.

M. This information comes from years of missile test cable and equipment assembly, when I worked at General Dynamics/Convair Division in San Diego California, on the BGM-109 Tomahawk and later on the AGM-129 Advanced Cruise Missile. This was from 1983-1993. The company had a week long soldering school, where you learned to solder meeting “Mil-Spec” standards.

Maybe iam confused, but how is a electrical problem going to cause the plugs to get oil on them? If anything it would just cause a wet plug or improper burning plug, not oil on it.That would have to be something like rings or valve seals.

Powerstroke_fan wrote: Maybe iam confused, but how is a electrical problem going to cause the plugs to get oil on them? If anything it would just cause a wet plug or improper burning plug, not oil on it.That would have to be something like rings or valve seals.

My reference to the coil voltage is for a weak spark, which may cause build up of less complete combustion material. A hotter spark might keep the plugs cleaner, longer. He said it took a while for it to build up. Just would check it no matter what, to be sure of the strength of the spark.

The ignition coils even when new were marginal, add years of baking under the tank due to stop and go traffic, and now they're cooked! Probably going to fail when they hot next time.

If you do upgrade the ignition coils, read this:

Ignition Coils And Sparkplug Wire Choices

Replacement coils can be bought at www.z1enterprises.com . I believe "Emgo" is the brand. They also carry the popular Dyna 2.2 and 3 ohm coils along with replacement sparkplug wires.

Now, you have a choice on sparkplug wires:

1. Copper plug wires with no supression caps(the best choice, will produce greater spark, but will produce audio noise on Radio's & T.V.'s)

2. Copper plug wires with supression caps(a built in 5000 ohm resistor, that can some times fail, like what came with the bike).

3. Copper plug wires with no supression caps, but using resistor plugs(the "R" in the plug number, like B8RES).

4. Supression plug wires with no supression caps.

NEVER use resistor plugs and supression caps or supression plug wires, as now there will be two (2) sources of resistance in the secondary windings of the ignition coils, greatly reducing the spark energy.

Another choice is the Accel 3 ohm coils, with a similar primary(small wire) electrical connection using ring terminals as the Dyna ignition coils. Whatever brand of coil you go with, make sure the primary wires will clear the mounting hardware, as the spacers will come really close, possibly causing an electrical short, blowing fuses. Some riders have replaced the metal spacers with Nylon or Plastic non conductive ones, reducing the chance of an electrical problem.

7mm sparkplug wires will fit the stock ignition coils(if they have replaceable wires, indicated by screw off caps on the coils with ridges). The sparkplug wire fit into a port with a brass “Stinger” that goes into the sparkplug wire or lead(The Brits, Canadians and other countries call the sparkplug wires “High Tension Leads”).