"Cluncking sound"

650ed wrote: Here's another thought - you may want to ask your mechanic to temporarily hook up an electronic tachometer to your bike, start the bike cold, and see if both tachometers agree on the rpm. If your tachometer has a problem and is reading low you could be chasing a problem that becomes nearly impossible to diagnose. Ed

I'll do that and post back with a definite answer.

Do you have access to a Kawasaki Service Manual? I would recommend you work with your mechanic friend to go through the bike and perform a full tune-up and all normal maintenance. You may find that simple maintenance fixes the problem. For example - if when cold the timing advancer is sticking but if it loosens up and works adequately when warm you could experience bad cold idling. If that is the case, simply cleaning and lubing the advancer, which is part of routine maintenance, could remedy the situation. There's probably other stuff like that that could cause all sorts of issues; so if the full maintenance / tune-up schedule has not been followed now would be a good time to do it. Ed

650ed wrote: Do you have access to a Kawasaki Service Manual? I would recommend you work with your mechanic friend to go through the bike and perform a full tune-up and all normal maintenance. You may find that simple maintenance fixes the problem. For example - if when cold the timing advancer is sticking but if it loosens up and works adequately when warm you could experience bad cold idling. If that is the case, simply cleaning and lubing the advance, which is part of routine maintenance, could remedy the situation. There's probably other stuff like that that could cause all sorts of issues; so if the full maintenance / tune-up schedule has not been followed now would be a good time to do it. Ed

It's on it's way in the mail. Ed, you mentioned it before and it's time I do this properly instead of bits and pieces. Thank you for mentioning it.

I don't necessarily have a "mechanic" friend, it's more of a DO-IT-YOURSELF Shop that I have access to with lifts and tools. Knowing that, I'm confident in my mechanic and handyman tools. Would doing a full tune up require a mechanic on hand?

ps I was beginning to get frustrated by how much work this bike was beginning to need to run reliably, and that was mostly because things kept popping up. But, hopefully by doing a proper full tune-up things will settle and I'll have some peace of mind again.

For the first time it might be helpful to have someone with experience (especially KZ experience) walk you through the process. Also, you may not have some of the tools (such as a torque wrench calibrated in INCH pounds or vacuum gauges for synchronizing the carbs), but maybe the shop has a lending policy or the mechanic should have them. Ed

Luckily, I have access to all of those tools and more. I'll give it a go and see what I can do and what I can't. I'll post back sometime soon.

Thanks everyone for the help and dropping some knowledge.

If you haven't already seen the info on the crossheads screws you should check out the link below. Those innocent looking screws are not Phillips, they are Japanese Industrial Standard (JIS), and using a Phillips screwdriver on them is a big mistake. Check out the link for more info. Ed

kzrider.com/forum/21-tools/532335-budget...ewdriver-tips#532335