KZ550 misfires

Ahh that's a good idea. I'll try to make one. Thanks Ed

nickleo373 wrote: Thanks Loudhvx. That was helpful. How do you take the float bowls off with the carbs on the bike to make adjustments after I reset them? Mine have the JIS screws that came with the bike and I can't find a screwdriver anywhere that will fit between the crankcase and the carbs

It's very tight under there, so converted to stainless steel allen screws.

But even then, for fuel level setting, you really want to have the carbs off, preferrably on a stand.

A few tips for taking the carbs off and on:
Make sure the clamps are super super loose. The TK carbs have o-ring shapes molded into the inside of the manifolds, so the manifolds have to stretch a lot to release the carbs.

Make sure all of the bolts holding the airbox inplace are removed to allow it to mave as much as possible.

I take the tank off and sit on the bike on the center stand with my feet on the alternator cover and ignition cover. Then I pull the carbs back into the airbox as far as possible. Then I nose the front ofthe carbs either up or downto get them out of the manifolds. Then they will come out of the airbox boots easily.

I do the reverse for installing them.

After awhile, as long as it's warm out, and you learn all the little tricks, it's not very difficult. It takes about twice as long if you try to do it by taking the bowls off while the carbs stay on the bike. The only reason I sometimes change jetting while the carbs stay on the bike is to disturb the sync as little as possible. That's what takes the extra time. If you haven't synced them yet, then it's faster to take the carbs off.

BTW, do whatever you can to get that drain screw out. I would take the bowl off and mount it somewhere, maybe in a plastic cup, so you can fill it with some sort of penetrating oil.

You can never be sure of the fuel level until you use the clear tube method. Make sure to up th diameter of the clear tube to no less than 1/4 ID, otherwise you can get false readings.

I've been able to put the carbs on and off fairly easily since I bought new air box boots. I'll take the carbs off again tomorrow and soak the bowl again in penetrating liquid. I had it sitting in some for about a week with no luck so I'm not expecting it to work but it's worth a shot. I may need to just find a bowl on ebay or something. I was looking for other things that could be causing the problem tonight and found that when the bike was idling, every few seconds there would be a single knock and then the engine would sound normal again. I was reading somewhere this could be caused by the timing advancer not being lubricated. The previous owner stripped one of the screws on the cover for the timing advancer and I don't know how to get the screw out. Is this something that could be causing the problem? I don't want to waste time trying to open it if there's nothing wrong

If the timing advancer was stuck, it would affect all of the cylinders equally. So it's hard to say if that is the problem or not. But eventually you will have to go in there to check timing. It's also where you check timing for valve adjustment too.

If the head is stripped, the best way is to rotate the screw with a small chisel and small hammer. Get a small, but very sharp chisel, and figure out where you can get the chisel on the screw head in two places that are on opposite sides of the head. Then very gently tap the chisel on one side, in a way that will rotate the head. But, you are not trying to rotate it yet. The first thing you are trying to do is simply watch to see if the head moves a tiny bit sideways. Once it does, stop. Then tap gently from the other side, and watch for when the head moves back the other way. Repeating this will help break the screw loose. Keep going back and forth and eventually you should see the head start turning while still moving back and forth. I've gotten many screws out this way without breaking them.

Use a tiny bit of anti-seize on the new screw.