Starts with difficulty and wont stay running

I am brand new to bikes, but not general mechanicing. There is a lot different about bikes though. I have a kz750ne spectre with keihin carbs. Well it will start with the choke on, but with a lot of cranking. It back fires and pops and generally feels like it is out of time. It revs up like nothing else when you put that choke on, but after a while it works its way down in RPM and dies. I have to pump the throttle to even keep it going for just a bit. 1,2,and4 plugs are black and 3 plug is white. When I got the bike it had been sitting for a long time so I got new plugs and briefly cleaned the carbs. It ran, but had some trouble sticking at high rpm's as well as rough spots at certain rpm's. I decided to take the carbs back off and clean them more thoroughly. While I had them off I decided to go ahead and put pods on. After cleaning the carbs extremely, to include taking out all jets and needles, I put it all back together and now it runs like crap. really it doesnt run. should i go back to stock breather? It seems as though it is getting too much fuel, but would that be enough to keep it from running? Thank you

welcome to you you came to the right spot. the symptoms your describing are related to what sounds to me like completly plugged pilot circuits in your carbs use a can of good quality areosol carb cleaner and compressed air to blow all the passages completely out after you spray them with the carb cleaner remove the carb tops so you don't get any carb cleaner on the diaprahms also remove all the jets and any rubber o-rings under the fuel screws make sure your getting air flow thru all the ports and passages if any are still plugged after this take some copper wire or tip cleaners and work them thru the circuits.when you put the carbs back to gether check over the slide diaphrams over and make sure there are no holes in them. also when you get them back in place work them up and downto make sure they all move evenly. also by putting pods on them you have increased the air getting to them so they will be lean so i would look at installing a dynojet carb kit in them to compensate for this. what exhaust does the bike have. hope this helps

PODS ARE BAD MODS. There are alot of Pod Haters and there are alot of pod heads.Punny Huh. If you didn't rejet it for pods then its not going to help your problem. I am a stocky Jocky. It was made that way by people who spent lots of time and trials to get it to run good stock. Best left alone or buy a Harley. Someone who has had the same problem will be with you shorty.

if you know how to set the bike up pods are fine all my bikes but two use pod's or no air cleaners at all (i have three drag bikes no air cleaners on those) my 73 is still original and for now my kz 1000 j until i figure out what i'm going to do with it.

well first with pods you should have to increase your jetting. it sounds like the carbs are still dirty. are you getting good spark to the plugs?

when you had the carbs off the second time did you soake them in carb solvent and blow out all the small holes. mainly the ones for the slow speed circuit. if it runs with choke but not without its almost always the pilot jets being pluged, at least it has been for me.

mzandmz wrote:

PODS ARE BAD MODS. There are alot of Pod Haters and there are alot of pod heads.Punny Huh. If you didn't rejet it for pods then its not going to help your problem. I am a stocky Jocky. It was made that way by people who spent lots of time and trials to get it to run good stock. Best left alone or buy a Harley. Someone who has had the same problem will be with you shorty.

pods are not bad mods....how many drag bikes have ya seen with stock air boxes?....pods are just one part of the equation in making a bike faster.....

mzandmz wrote:

PODS ARE BAD MODS. There are alot of Pod Haters and there are alot of pod heads.Punny Huh. If you didn't rejet it for pods then its not going to help your problem. I am a stocky Jocky. It was made that way by people who spent lots of time and trials to get it to run good stock. Best left alone or buy a Harley. Someone who has had the same problem will be with you shorty.

kzrider.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&...w&catid=13&id=320150
Pods are almost as bad as running old air in your tires.

Are you guys truly stating that PODS are crap? :blink:

Please, you must be joking....

What next, Velocity stacks are crap as well compared to OEM filters.... :blink: :S

Sure you'll have to re-jet, wonder why, oh that's right, increased air flow.... :S

Ok, Ok, I didnt mean to start an argument about pods..... just wondering. The answer for me is to go back to stock, because I cant afford the 140$ jetting kits out there. What I have discovered by doing some more reading here is that I need to get a rebuild kit just in case my float needle is bad. However it seems to me that my bike would actually run if it were just a matter of flooding????? Some help here. could it be flooding sooooo much that it wont even run?

mzandmz wrote:

PODS ARE BAD MODS. There are alot of Pod Haters and there are alot of pod heads.Punny Huh. If you didn't rejet it for pods then its not going to help your problem. I am a stocky Jocky. It was made that way by people who spent lots of time and trials to get it to run good stock. Best left alone or buy a Harley. Someone who has had the same problem will be with you shorty.

just plain wtf??? forget the meds today?

chadeastin wrote:

Ok, Ok, I didnt mean to start an argument about pods..... just wondering. The answer for me is to go back to stock, because I cant afford the 140$ jetting kits out there. What I have discovered by doing some more reading here is that I need to get a rebuild kit just in case my float needle is bad. However it seems to me that my bike would actually run if it were just a matter of flooding????? Some help here. could it be flooding sooooo much that it wont even run?

Based on the initial report, imo "flooding" likely isn't an issue. Chances are the existing float valves and floats remain perfectly serviceable, as is often the case. And a "rebuild kit" may not be needed. Perhaps no new parts will be required.

Would concur with timebomb's advice about the carb primary circuits not yet being thoroughly clean.

Good Luck!

Thank you, I did go ahead and order a rebuild kit, some of my gaskets are in bad shape. So I put on the stock breather and now it starts right up! However now when it starts and you rev it, it sticks at high rpms, around 3500. The cable moves freely and I have lubed up the advance cam. It moves freely. The idle adjustment screw is set so just the first idle port shows. the pilot screw (the one on top of the carb) is turned out 2 full turns from seated. It responds well going down the road but backfires when I throttle down. the #2 cylinder gets hot, but not quite as hot as the rest. All the plugs but #2 are white, while #2 is wet when pulled.