Rebuilt KZ1000 Carbs, now accelerator pump not working?

Well here is my story. I have a 79 Kz1000 LTD with Mikuni carbs that have an accelerator pump. Earlier this year, the bike would piss gas on the ground when it would sit at an idle, and eventually it started leaking gas when I parked it too. One of the overflows were leaking, and then I would have a small pool of gas to the left of the bike after shutting it off and letting it sit for a while. I decided to order carb rebuild kits, and installed the new jets (the old ones were plastic), needles, gaskets, and the like. I also replaced the rubber vaccuum hoses between the carbs and wrapped the gas t-fittings with teflon tape while I had them apart. The new bowl gaskets were as thick as the ones I had on it, so I thought for sure the thing wouldn't leak anymore.
After the rebuild, I haven't gotten the bike to run quite right, and it still likes to leak gas. The thing acts as if the accelerator pump isnt working, even though I replaced everything inside the accel pump earlier this year and have not let the gas get old. I noticed that there is a lot of air in the accelerator pump lines, and when you pump it, the air just seems to move around. If I recall correctly, somebody on here mentioned that his accel pump wouldnt work after removing the carbs unless he primed the pump first.... Is this true? If so, how would you prime it with the carbs still on the bike? As if the bike not running correctly is bad enough, it has been leaving decent sized pools of gas on the left side again, even if I shut the petcock off. The cyl #1 and #4 bowls have a little bit of gas dripping from the bottom, so I dont know if the accel pump hoses could be leaking or what the deal is. I'm almost sure they are original, as they are turning orange and are very stiff. I may try to add a few pics later if I can, and hopefully someone can help me figure this out! It's too cold to ride around here right now, but I would like to get the bike running good before the season starts. Thanks!

EDIT: Made the pics smaller and added a few more

Here are some pics. I tried to highlight where the gas has been dripping and making it to the ground. These were taken about 5 minutes after the bike had been running and the petcock shut off. As you can see, a few of the overflow tubes are wet where they connect to the bowl, and the backside of the bowl of the #1 carb looks like there is gas all over it.







Post edited by: toadson, at: 2008/01/19 20:25

Check your needle and seats, float level. Make sure float bowel screws snug. Also we (members) discussed parking bike on side stand which allows gas to run to #1 carb and basically overflow. I park my bike on center stand when in my garage! P.S. If you limit your pic's to 550 pixels wide all your wtiting won't overflow and be hard to read.

Post edited by: Bluemeanie, at: 2008/01/19 19:31

I'll keep the image size in mind next time, lol. Somebody has removed the centerstand from my bike, so I don't have the option of parking it level. It has a 4 into 1 header, so I'm not sure if they took it off because it interfered with that, or what the reasoning was. I believe I had all the floats in spec, because when I rebuilt them, I noticed one of the floats being quite a bit off from the others. I guess I need to try wiredgeorge's way, instead of taking measurements when it comes to setting the floats. I installed new needles and seats, so I would hope something isn't wrong there. I'm still thinking it might be the accelerator pump tubes, seeing as they are so hard. There seems to be an awful lot of air in there too, which kinda bugs me. I wouldn't think there should be any air in the lines, but I'm not an expert on these carbs or anything. Thanks for your reply!

Something I forgot to add, does anybody know where the nut on the accelerator pump rod is supposed to be at? The original nut fell off of mine during the summer, and I put another one on it. As you can see in on of the pics, it is almost near the end of the rod right now. Not sure if that is right or wrong, just how it is set at the moment.

Post edited by: toadson, at: 2008/01/19 20:28

I shut the fuel off and let the bike run a couplminutes before i kill it to drain down the float bowls it helps keep #1 carb from overflowing.another thing you may wanna check if you still have the vacuum petcock they have been known malfunction and overflow the carbs.as for the accelorator pump not working it could be a plugged passage way or pump rod adjustment.

Post edited by: 76 LTD, at: 2008/01/19 22:55

Luckily I dont have a vacuum petcock. I'm wondering if I should just check the float levels by using a piece of clear tubing in each drain plug hole, and replace the accelerator pump tubing. Looks like I get to pull the carbs off once again. I bet I've had these things off at least 10 times now since I bought it in the summer. Hell, I bet its been 12-13 times. I bought the thing after it had been sitting and took 3 or 4 times cleaning the carbs to get them right. hen I had to rebuild the accel pump, so that was another time.... and on and on. I love the bike though, so I don't mind messing with it. I just keep learning the more I work on it.

First of all make sure you have the right bowel gasket. The kits I got did not have a provision (hole) for the area where fuel gets to the pump. I had to order those seperatly and find a set of "o" rings. I'll check in my FSM but for some reason 8mm comes to mind on the pump rod nut adjustment. I'm surprised it moved as Kawasaki uses a bonding agent which usually makes the rod break when trying to remove!

May find some helpful info here ---


fuel leak

toadson, here is what I found in my Clymers manual. Remember, this adjustment is for the VM24's on the 650's, not sure if it applies to your carbs. It says you want to apply Loctite Lock N' Seal to threads prior to installing nut. Adjust the nut until there is 0.15-0.16 in. (3.9-4.1mm) of threads exposed past the nut. Hope this works for ya.

Wow, thanks for all the help! I think I am going to pull the carbs off again and check out the gasket on the carb with the accelerator pump. I don't really remember looking for the hole in the gasket. Here is a link to the auction I won: cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=p3984.cWON.m313.lVI

Thanks for the spec on the accel pump nut too, I will check out these carbs today for sure and let you guys know what I found.

Turns out my gaskets DO have the hole in them for the accelerator pump, so that wasn't the issue. When vaccuum was applied to the pump, it would only pump air out of the check valve for some reason. After shooting compressed air, brake clean, and tapping it with a screwdriver, it began working again. I may have also had the spring on the wrong side of the accelerator pump as well, but I am not sure on that one as my dad put it back together and asked me about it. I also bought new lines for the accelerator pump that goes between the bowl and some clamps as well. Then I set the accelerator pump in spec and put some loctight on it.
One other thing I did was check the float levels with a piece of clear hose stuck in the drain plug. Three of the carbs had the float set perfect, but one had it set too high and may have been overflowing. I got it back in spec, so I'm hoping all of these little things will help the bike run better. I'll let you know when I get it all assembled tomorrow. Thanks again!

A little late on an update, but I got to ride the bike some yesterday as it was close to 60* out. I had to run the choke almost full for a while until the bike warmed up, the accelerator pump didn't seem to be working. After a few more minutes of riding, it began to slowly work. By the time I got out to my farm, the accelerator pump lines were full of gas, which was a relief. I also rode it today, but it was colder and the bike didn't want to run very good. I think it is very cold natured, as it never ran very good unless the weather was nice. I also put some hotter plugs in it which I think helped. The old plugs were black, so it mustve been running rich. Another plus was that only a small drip of gas ocming from one of the overflows after being parked for a few hours. Im hoping it stays this way!