89 Kz1000 police won't run off choke

Hello,
I am working on an 89 KZ1000 Police bike for a customer and I am running into some road blocks.
I have been all over this site and others and still can't get this thing to run right. So I made an account and am posting about my particular concerns.

Ok, The bike is a completely stock KZ1000 and the issue is it will start and run ok on choke, but once warm if you take it off choke it'll die immideately. On choke it runs ok, it takes throttle ok, but sometimes it's hard to start and will die if you crack the throttle, only sometimes though.

What I have done so far:
I first went after the carbs. I pulled them, took apart what I could and cleaned it up as best I could without using new parts. Of course the customer doesn't have much money.
I did find some partially clogged main jets, the idle jets are blocked off from the factory and there is a set idle tube that goes into the float bowl.
I blew through all the passages, pulled apart the diaphrams and everything checked out. Put it back on the bike and the symptoms were better, but still wouldn't idle.

I then looked to spark. I found pretty weak spark on most every hole, so I first replaced the spark plugs, which were pretty fouled. Again, it helped, but still no idle. It would take throttle better on choke and I could keep it revved over 3k and take choke off and it would keep running now, but still no idle.
I started to look at the coils and found the 1-4 coil to have 15Mohms resistance on the secondary winding and the 2-3 had 12.4kohms. So I replaced the 1-4 coil with one that was in spec and again, it helped some but still no idle.
I checked the pick up coils which were both in spec at 460 ohms and 540 ohms.
I checked the ignitor by hooking up the coils, ignitor, and pick up coils and laying the plugs on the head and tapped the pick up coils with a screw driver and the plugs would fire.
So I looked at the power and ground going to the coils and the ignitor and I made jumper wires with new spade termials for the power wires for the coils, the power wire to the ignitor, the ground for the ignitor, and the pulsing wires (grounds) for the coils to the ignitor. I have really good spark now, but still the bike won't idle.

I did notice the intake boots on the carbs to the head were severly cracked, again the customer is low on cash and couldn't replace them at 20 a pop, so I sealed them up with electrical tape as best I could.
I sprayed carb cleaner around the carbs when it was running to see if I had any air leaks and I couldn't find any.

At this point I'm stumped. Please any ideas would be really helpful.

Sounds like you're on top of trouble shooting the bike so that if nothing else it will run a lot better than it did before you got started... now if you could just figure out what the heck is up with the idleing.:blink:
I don't pretend to be any kind of expert, and it sounds like you're way past me in the knowledge department when it comes to these bikes.:blush: ... But, on my bike (1981KZ 1000 C4 Police bike) I found that the fuel line from the tank to the carbs was smaller than the petcock nipple. It had been forced on, and someone had installed a small lawn mower fuel filter on it. :silly: Needless to say the bike was starved for fuel whenever you got above 65mph. After replacing said components the bike runs great now. Just a note to check some of the simpler things that might be contributing to your problem. Who knows what kind of maintenance those Cop bikes were getting. Good luck. Sorry I couldn't be more help.

haha, yeah I've been doin a lot of online searching after having no luck with the carbs, so I've done all that I can figure at this point.
The fuel line is the correct size and doesn't have a fuel filter on it, I will install one once I get it running correctly, but at this point I'm not sure when that will be.

Thanks for the input though.

remove the plugs and clean the idle jets and the idle circuits, there plugged.
advise customer that he needs new intakes.
then walk away from someone who does not have the means to pay for your services. your looking for a huge headache.

So the 'plugs' where the idle jets would be are removeable? I looked in the schematic on bikebandit and they didn't list an idle jet, just the plugs. So my guess is the tube on the engine side of the carbs that goes into the float bowl is the 'idle jet'. Am I correct?

My thought was that I still had something in the carbs, but like I said without getting new parts I couldn't totally dismantel them and soak them.

Thanks for the reply.

Ok, I pulled the plugs that I was talking about. At first I thought they were pressed in, but they just have an oring holding them in.
I found a 7.5 idle just under the plug and yup they are all plugged. What is the reason for the plug? It looks like there is a passage from the main jet into the idle jet, is that where the idle jet gets it's fuel from?

Do I put the plug back in, or should I leave it out? Anyone have experience with this?
Thanks.

Oh, here's a pic of the plug that I'm talking about.

kawsakiman wrote:

remove the plugs and clean the idle jets and the idle circuits, there plugged.
advise customer that he needs new intakes.
then walk away from someone who does not have the means to pay for your services. your looking for a huge headache.

intake leaks dont require money , uselessly piddling with the carbs does,

ahknodd wrote:

...I did notice the intake boots on the carbs to the head were severely cracked, again the customer is low on cash and couldn't replace them at 20 a pop, so I sealed them up with electrical tape as best I could....

Cracked intake boots (aka carb holders) are usually beyond restoration.

Many have tried various sealant products, resulting in failure, or soon failure.

As I recall, the issue is absence of a product that's both gasoline and heat resistant.

Good Fortune!

Patton wrote:

ahknodd wrote:

...I did notice the intake boots on the carbs to the head were severely cracked, again the customer is low on cash and couldn't replace them at 20 a pop, so I sealed them up with electrical tape as best I could....

Cracked intake boots (aka carb holders) are usually beyond restoration.

Many have tried various sealant products, resulting in failure, or soon failure.

As I recall, the issue is absence of a product that's both gasoline and heat resistant.

Good Fortune!

u can seal cracks for a short period of time and get it going, there are those who had success with temp fixes, until money comes in, couldn't hurt,

Electrical tape? Seriously??

Money of not, he must replace those flanges. No amount of bubblegumming will fix them.

TerryK wrote:

Electrical tape? Seriously??

Money of not, he must replace those flanges. No amount of bubblegumming will fix them.

I've fixed them with black Permatex hi-temp silicone gasket sealer. Pick up a tube at Auto Zone. Take them in the house and clean them with dish soap to get all the grease off first. About 4 bucks. Forget the electrical tape, won't do anything. I'm an electrician, this I know.

blipco wrote:

...I've fixed them with black Permatex hi-temp silicone gasket sealer. Pick up a tube at Auto Zone. Take them in the house and clean them with dish soap to get all the grease off first. About 4 bucks....

Reportedly seals okay temporarily until sooner or later deteriorated by the gasoline.

Conversely, gasoline-proof sealants typically won't take the heat. At least none I've found.

Here's what the Permatex folks say ---

Permatex® Hi-Temp RTV Silicone Gasket Sealant
OEM specified. A fast-curing, rubber gasket sealant, particularly well suited to enhance performance of pre-cut cork, paper and composite gaskets. This unique RTV sealant is exceptional for filling surface abnormalities or scratches resulting from scraping of old gaskets, assuring you a failure-free installation and long, trouble-free operating life. Temperature range -65°F to 500°F (-54°C to 260°C). Highly fluid-resistant, permanently flexible and non-shrinking for years of reliable sealing.

Suggested Applications: As a dressing/sealant for transmission pan gaskets, water pumps, thermostats, oil pan gaskets and more. Not recommended for use with cut rubber gaskets or applications in contact with gasoline.

Good Fortune!