New to Kzriders Need help with suspected Fuel/Carb

Hey there new here and in need of a little help.
I bought this 1982 kawasaki spectre 1100 about 2 years ago for $350 bucks the owner said it was running rough and he had nor the time or knowledge to fix it. He claimed the the third carb wasnt getting fuel. Turns out just a vacuum line had come off. (felt kinda bad for what i paid) The bike ran great after that strong running, easy starting even on the coldest of mornings. NOW this summer i put the battery back in go to start it. fires right up, (thats my girl i say to my self) Go to take it for a spin to get the oil good and warm before i change it and about five miles from home it begun to spit and Sputter until it finally quite on me. come to find that the petcock wasnt allowing fuel to run, turn it to PRI. Then it started up but wasnt running like it normally does (at that point i didnt care being i had no cell phone and in the middle of no where) So i race it back home (all the time it was spitting and coughing) put it in the garage, felling betrayed i drug my pride to the house. The next day i noticed that the carbs and boots wher soaked in fuel. I pulled them off and cleaned the needle and seat and adjusted the floats a slight bit (And ordered new seats and needles) Then i checked out the petcock was flowing fuel in all positions. I tore it down and put a new o Ring on the plunger cleaned up the diaphrames and put it back together and tested it with vacuum pump. Working Good now but i've ordered a rebuild kit for it anyways.
NOW with everything seeming ok as far a fuel leaks and the motorcycle running like its old self ASIDE from a hesitation when i snap the throttle but that seemed to go away after it warmed up for an hour. SO i took it down the road after letting it run outside for about an hour or so. SAME thing begins to happen so i spun it around and gave it heck all until about a mile from home it died all at once (also when it began to spit and sputter again i immidently turn the petcock to PRI) like some one shut the key off. So while pushing the bike i tried it again and it fired and i gave it all she had until it died again but i was going fast enough to coast it in the drive way.

NOW Im all out of ideas as to what could be wrong Im going to replace the seat and needles and rebuild the petcock as soon as the parts get here. But im not convinced that those two things are the problem. Also i put new spark Plugs in it. But they have resistors in them a side from the original ones dont know that would affect anything thou.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Before you put the battery back in the bike, how long had the bike been sitting without being started? Ed

only over the winter so idk 4-5 months i put heet in the fuel and ran it for about half and hour before i took the battery out for the winter

have tried some fresh fuel yet? the Heat in the yellow bottle is Isopropyl alcohol, and the fuel has Ethanol= grain alcohol. This would make the fuel heavier and cause it to run leaner.

yes it has fresh 91 octane with a little bit of seafoam i drained the tank in order to replace the old fuel line that was hard and began to leak. Then i put the old gas in my mower and topped off the bike with the new fuel

Have you checked for fuel flow to the carbs when all this happens? Runs for awhile then dies you say? Sounds like maybe there is a restriction in the fuel delivery system, fuel filter, bowl screen, ect.. Just a thought.

Buy and install 4 Denso W24-ESU sparkplugs, gap to 0.031". I'd suggest replacing the coils and sparkplug wires too. I've had new NGK plugs fail right out of the box, so try changing plugs before tearing into the carbs.

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mobius_one wrote: only over the winter so idk 4-5 months i put heet in the fuel and ran it for about half and hour before i took the battery out for the winter

4 or 5 months is a long time for fuel to sit in these carbs. They may be gummed up. It's better to run the bike long enough to get the engine hot enough to boil off condensation every couple weeks during the winter, even if only in the driveway. That way the fuel won't form varnish in the carbs and things will stay lubed. Another option is to drain the carbs, but that won't keep oil on the cylinder walls like running it. Ed

mobius_one wrote: ...1982 kawasaki spectre 1100...about five miles from home it begun to spit and Sputter until it finally quit on me...spitting and coughing...it died...while pushing the bike i tried it again and it fired and i gave it all she had until it died again....

Hello, mobius_one. and WELCOME to KZr!

Perhaps fuel starvation due to clogged vent in the fuel tank cap.
May test for this condition by running with the cap loose.

Too tight valve clearances may also cause loss of compression when engine attains normal operating temp.

Because of the fuel leakage, would sniff test the crankcase oil and examine its physical condition, as gasoline might have entered the crankcase.

Good Fortune!

Firstly, welcome. Its always nice to see a guy getting his hands dirty around here with a love for his KZ.

Secondly - Dont let your bike run for more than 10 minutes or so idling (if that is what you suggested) - its really hard on your internals, they overheat easily.

Here's the meat n' potatas: You need a compression tester, and some feeler guages .001 - .008 thousansds of an inch. A nice set of vacuum manometer guages dont hurt :laugh: Cept maybe your wallet.

Compression - should be good if she pulls hard. CHECK it.

Valve lash - Usually good until very hot - then a valve with too little lash can have seating issues. CHECK it.

Advancer - Should be lubed nicely and snap back to inital position with ease. CHECK it.

Spark/coils - Coil voltage should not be less than battery voltage by 1 volt. You spark should be bright and light blue, and jump an air gap of about a cm.

Carbs - If the bike runs strong for a while - carbs should be fine. Could require some cleaning, but most likely...
fuel starvation from vent cap not venting properly. Check vent cap by flipping gas tank over somewhere - if gas leaks out around the cap, it vents fine. Dont do this if you have a cheap rattle can paint job! :laugh:

To check if spark is consistant/coil failure. Get a timing light and hook it up once the bike starts to sputter and die like. No matter if the cylinder ignites or not, the spark should be created on every crank revolution for both sets of pickups. You will see an intermittant flashing of the timing light if something is wrong with the coils, wires, plugs, wiring, pickups/points, igniter (if applicable).

Your bike could deffinately benefit from a vacuum manometer balancing.

YOU CAN DO IT :laugh:

Peace.

Thank you for all the advice all of it will be taken in to great consideration
I have noticed my battery becoming extremely weak but still able to crank the bike but only a few times but i figured once the bike is running the charging system on the bike would be able to sustain enough voltage to keep every thing running good. But could i be wrong

mobius_one wrote: Thank you for all the advice all of it will be taken in to great consideration
I have noticed my battery becoming extremely weak but still able to crank the bike but only a few times but i figured once the bike is running the charging system on the bike would be able to sustain enough voltage to keep every thing running good. But could i be wrong

The alternator/stator on the bike is mearly a charging device that is not capable of sustaining the entire electrical system on its own - this would put a great deal of strain on the system.

The battery being properly charged and maintained (with a good auto maintaining charger), is critial to the operation of the electrical system. The battery acts as a massive capacitance that smooths out the overall power of the system, and provides a large well of energy when required. The charging system cannot be called upon for this energy requirement for long before it will overheat/burnout.

Good battery is a must...

Make sure to top up your battery and get it on a maintenence charger... these bikes are old, and not very tolerant of worn out electrical stuff.

Good luck.