points sparking

The bike feels reel rough. Won't idle steady. The point for for 1 and 4 has a small spark. The timing is dead on but doesn't feel like it. Every time I think I fix something another problem arises. Sometimes I really feel like I suck at this.

Give a little explination on what repaires you have done and that may help your cause. Also a year and model would help.

I suspect the condensors(capacitors) need replacing.

76 kz 900. Valves, Carbs, coil mod. Float levels were just checked and adjusted accordingly. I went on a long ride last week and had a sputter above half throttle. I suspected timing because I am still a little green at diagnosing and noticed a screw was striped so I thought it may be grounding out. Got it fixed and still a sputter. So when I took the carbs apart the emulsion tower had the jet just sitting in there.I tightened accordingly and preceded to check float levels since one was leaky. It fixed the leak, but now it's running like it's misfiring or something.I went to take the carbs off again and one of the manifold clamps wasn't tight. So I am thinking vacuum leak and possibly a bad condensor? It sounds like it's not firing on all 4. It sounds terrible and was embarrassed at lights on the way home. Thanks guys

So what would be one way to test the condenser's?

An analog multimeter on the resistance scale works well, digital works not as well.
Put one lead on the end of the wire, the other lead on the case, and watch the resistance increase, should increase all the way to infinty. If it shows zero resistance and never moves, throw it in the trash.

Digital multimeter with a built in capacitor checker works best, but costs a bit more.


A real good test is to charge the condenser with 115 v and hand it to the guy that's been bugging you.

Matteson wrote: So what would be one way to test the condenser's?

If they are more than 5 years old, punt them.

buy a dyna.
set it and forget it.

I'm going too but the three kids and wife are more important sometimes. Gotta keep them happy.

if the point contacts are pitted then its condensers which the probably will be if they are sparking,if you have a dwell meter then this is the best tool to use for setting your points don't rely on point gap,if money is a problem replacing points and condensers all the time will kill your wallet and a dyna s is a one time purchase you can set it and forget it. they come up used all the time on e-bay for less than 100.00. most of the replacement points and condensors seem to be coming from china and they are junk.

timebomb33 wrote: if the point contacts are pitted then its condensers which the probably will be if they are sparking,if you have a dwell meter then this is the best tool to use for setting your points don't rely on point gap,if money is a problem replacing points and condensers all the time will kill your wallet and a dyna s is a one time purchase you can set it and forget it. they come up used all the time on e-bay for less than 100.00. most of the replacement points and condensors seem to be coming from china and they are junk.

+1 Carefully set the points gaps first; then set the dwell. If this is done correctly and new genuine Kawasaki points and condensers are used you should be good for 10,000 miles at the very least. If you do not own a dwell meter (they don't cost much and are well worth the money) there is a fairly easy way to set the dwell using a multimeter, but it will only work if the gap is set dead on. Ask if you need instructions. Ed

Even though what I did might not be accurate I did it anyway. I put the multimeter on 2000k ohms setting and touched each lead separately. One lead read something but the other had nothing. Maybe the condenser is bad? I wish I had somebody around to throw it at to test it! Just trying to rule out some stuff. Ya I do have a dwell meter. .50 at a flea market. I will be getting the dyna soon.