Intermitant Cutting out

Good Morning. My name is Bob and I am new to the forum although I have read a lot of the threads and picked up a ton of tips on my KZ. I have a wierd problem though and am looking for some suggestions concerning the cause. A little history first. I picked the bike up from a friend for $400.00 bucks. The first thing I had to do was replace the motor because of low compression. This entailed removing the head in order to get the old motor out and new one in. I had to shim the valves after noticing a large amount of blow by through the crank vent. Turns out there wasn't even a 5 thousands clearance on any of them! Got that fixed thanks to this forum. I pulled the carbs and cleaned/replace two of the four due to broken parts. Painted the bike and got it running fairly decent.
My most recent problem though has me stumped. I'll be running down the road at 70 mph and all of a sudden the bike will act like it's firing on two cylinders. It doesn't completely die but has now power at all. I will typically nurse it along trying to get it home and then out of nowhere it stops and runs fine. While it's going through it little seizure episode it doesn't back fire at all even when I try and give it a little gas so I'm thinking it's electrical. My suspicion is a bad coil. I haven't done any trouble shooting and am just tossing it out there for suggestions. Thanks for any help in advance. Bob

Welcome aboard! If it intermittently firs on only 2 cylinders you may be on the right track suspecting a coil. It could even be a loose wire or poor connection to a coil or a problem at the ignition points. Have you replaced the points and condenser? Ed

It could be a bad battery, not holding a charge.
If applicable, make sure the electrolyte level is correct.

Redo the spark plug wire connections, as they can become poor over time.
If there's the white crusty oxidation, nip off the ends of the wires a tad.

After riding the bike at high speeds, pull over & check the coils to see if they are getting hot to the touch - press hard w your fingers. Don't get burned by the valve cover. The coils should get warm but not hot. Mine were very hot, so I installed Dyna coils. If your bike has points ignition, I think you can use the Emgo coils - they're inexpensive but good (according to what others have reported).

Also check the pulse generators, they can run fine until the engine gets hot and if one is bad will fail when hot.

Ed, I was thinking about the loose connection also. It came with the electronic conversion thank goodness! I am going to over it this saturday. Can't seem to find the time on the week days.

Great advise Martin. I was wondering if those plug wires were the type that you can do that with. As mush as I've been messing with the bike that would not suprise me. Thanks, Bob

That's an idea too Baldy. Darn bike is keeping me guessing. Thanks everyone I will attack it it Saturday and let ya know what I find. Bob

FWIW - I had one of the electronic pickups go bad on my Dyna-S unit. Intermittent loss of 2 cylinders. Tough to diagnose because it was intermittent.

Had a similar problem on my honda 360 after riding awhile it would lose power and stall and not start. Found no fuel which led me to find a plugged screen in the sediment bowl. Something to consider, fuel follows the path of least resistance so if little flow it may only flow to some of the carbs.

Bob, I had an intermittent fault on a Z1 a few years ago, It was the main harness "brown plug" at the control panel, making intermittent contact.
RegardZ.

sorry, please explain this...pulse generators, because i have this exact same problem now on my 1000j...engine gets hot, and come to s slow stop, it cuts outs or does not fire on number 1 and 4, which is mt left coil.

Ohm Checking Pickup(Pulsing) Coils or in this case called pulse generators.

The pickup coils on the Kawasaki’s with the factory supplied electronic ignition can sometimes fail or become intermittent due to heat and vibration.

1.Trace back from where the pick up coils are mounted,(under a right side CD sized cover) locate and disconnect a small 4 pin connector. Using a multi-meter set on OHMS and range of X 100 check between the BLUE and BLACK wires(#1 and #4 sparkplug wires) for between 360- 540 OHMS.

2.For #2 and #3 sparkplugs the wire colors will be YELLOW and RED, again 360-540 OHMS.

3.If the pickup coils are suspect of failing due to heat, they can be stressed using a hair dryer without the need of the engine running.

4.A replacement set of pickup coils might be obtained from a dealer who serviced the police Kawasaki’s.

5. If replacement pickup coils are not available, your next choice would be to order a Dyna “S” electronic ignition system from www.z1enterprises.com It replaces the IC igniter with a smaller module located where the mechanical ignition advancer was mounted.

6.Checking with Kawasaki.com website has determined that the Pick up(pulsing) coils are available . The pulsing coil # is 59026-1133 and replaces the older # 1002, 1012 which were used from the MKII motors until the 2005 P24.