2000 KZ1000 ENGINE FAILURE

I have to concur with MDZ1rider, A fuel flow restriction.

You already proved it is as I said initially. You probably have gummed up carbs issues. Suck it up and remove carb's. You have to do it.
It is not that hard and there are dozens here that do all the time.
I pulled mine off, striped them down, cleaned, reassembled and installed three times one afternoon after pulling my bike out of 3-4 years of mothballs. You just need to do it.

Barry2 wrote: I have to concur with MDZ1rider, A fuel flow restriction.

Sounds like a restriction in fuel getting to the carbs, when it sits the float bowls fill up so it runs for a while but because the fuel flow is too low, after a while it starts to be starved of fuel. Perhaps something like a clogged filter or petcock is causing it. The issue with the valves does not sound severe enough to cause this issue, although they obviously do need to be adjusted for long term reliability and peak performance.

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The exchange rate is 1:4

You're right, but there are no parts in Brazil, so I'd rather spend $100 in advance just in case, than having to wait 2 weeks for a kit to arrive to finish the work, just because of a single bad gasket..

So, do the older kits fit my bike?

OK! The valves have been adjusted. I had to replace 3 valve lifter shims. On 2 valves the gap was too narrow, on 1 valve the gap was too wide. I assume we need to adjust the valves from time to time because parts wear out and the gaps get too wide. So I wonder how there were 2 valves with gaps below specs.

Unfortunately that didn't help the problem at all, the symptoms were still exactly the same. After running nicely for about 10 minutes, the engine started to lose power, until it couldn't even idle.

So I moved on to the carbs. I removed and disassembled them, the float heights and the float valve needles were ok, but there was A LOT of sludge and the pilot jet o'ríngs were damaged. I cleaned everything well, replaced the damaged o'rings, reassembled and reinstalled the carbs, and adjusted the pilot screws.

The engine ran smoothly like never before, but again after 10 minutes the RPM started to drop until the engine failed completely, exactly like before I started any work.

Note that the tests were done with no gas tank, no gas petcock and no gas filter, with a fresh gas bottle and a hose going straight to the carbs.

Now the only thing I can think of are the coils. I checked the temperature of the exhaust pipes with an infra red meter, and curiously, the #1 and #4 pipes (RH coil) were operating at 140 degrees, which was almost HALF of the temperature of the #2 and #3 pipes (LH coil), operating at 250 degrees. To my knowledge the cylinders operating at low temperatures are not working properly. The fact that these 2 cylinders are fed by the same coil, and that everything else has already been checked, indicates that the coil is the problem.

Any other suggestions before I buy a new coil? I usually buy from Partzilla. Can you recommend any other online suppliers?

You might look into Dyna coils and a Dyna S ignition. NO MORE PROBLEMS. Z1E has them.
Steve

I went through this once, and it turned out to be the magnetic pickup coil that would start acting up when it got hot. Cold it was fine, heat it up and it would start acting up. Fire the bike up, and as soon as it starts acting bad hit the magnetic pickup coil with some cold spray like contact cleaner, or the freeze mist that the TV repairman use, cool it down, and then fire it up again.

Good idea but I'd do it the other way around. Heat it or the coils with a hair dryer.
Steve

Possible your fuel bottle has no breather and the engine starves for fuel when the fuel can't flow anymore?

Sounds like a faulty component. Heating them up might save on buying coils or ignition parts.
Steve

When the engine dies out, turn off the fuel source and remove a float bowl drain.