1995 KZ1000P Won't Start

Yes on both accounts. Granted the air cleaner is not "brand new". It does need replaced but I didn't think a dirty air filter would keep it from running outright, just not running at optimum levels.

nlwatkin wrote: But if I am getting spark to the spark plugs? I would like to explore this option if you have any ideas on where I should start?

Just because there is spark outside the combustion chamber does not mean there is spark inside the chamber under pressure. Either that or the spark is not timed correctly to fire the engine. If it does not fire with starting fluid it is an ignition problem. Are the plugs new?

Something to add here. My KZ1000M is almost exactly the same motor as yours. When you originally started talking about this, you said you sprayed starting fluid into the chamber through the plug holes. Unless you have four arms, all that's going to do is waste ether. This stuff evaporates almost instantly.

With the air box open, spray a good shot of ether into the air cleaner while you crank it. If it fires up for a couple seconds, your problem is carbs. If it doesn't, start looking at compression and spark. Please note that I believe you are going to find your carbs are junked up - specifically the starting jet circuit.

If starting fluid in the airbox doesn't make it catch and run, I'll be really surprised.

If that happens, I'd suggest checking/fixing the following, in no particular order, just to eliminate problems from the landscape.

1) Check your valve lash - the clearance between the cams and the shims should be around .005". Yes, that is five thousandths of an inch (almost no clearance) it took me buying three sets of feeler gauges before I finally found one with blades that small.

Any valve that's tighter than that is leaking compression. Your book will tell you what your intake and exhaust valve clearances are.

2) Take your multimeter and set it to the lowest resistance (ohm) setting. Measure the resistance on the coils between the two 'power' wires. You'll need to remove one of the wires from the coil for this to be accurate. You are looking for a resistance between 2.2 and 5 ohms. If you have no resistance, or more (over say, 7 ohms), your coils are shot.

The coils, new out of the box, are considered "marginal" by many people. There is lots of prior art on why these fail. There are plenty of places that sell replacement coils - just make sure your match the resistance. I installed Dyna Grey 2.2 ohm coils, but 3.0 would have been fine.

There is a checkout procedure for the electronic ignition. If you find that it's dead, replacing it with a Dyna-S ignition should be fairly simple - at least it was when I did it to my KZ1000A (point ignition from back before the war). On the other hand, I've only heard of the ignition getting fried from people that jump started their bikes from a running car engine. Other causes are possible, of course, but my limited experience is that the ignition on this bike is largely bullet proof.

I'd recommend changing the plug wires and boots at this point. The boots are normally resistor boots, but you can skip the resistor boots and go to straight boots, assuming you don't mind being a RFI generator. Stock books have a 5000 ohm resistor which is known to fail from heat and vibration. Regardless, get straight 7mm wire, unscrew the caps from the coils where the big, thick wires plug in. Route the new cable like the old ones and slap your new boots on. This will get rid of the possibility of a pesky intermittent problem.

3) Take you battery to NAPA/AutoZone/Battery Hut/whatever, and get it load tested. You could be suffering from a marginal battery. Not likely, but if you know the battery is good, then there's no guessing.

You have to have to the engine running before you can check the timing with a strobe, so until you get it running (at least) crappy, you're not really going to be able to check the timing. If you have reason to suspect a problem with the valve timing, you can check that by following the procedure for timing the cam chain. Basically, line up the marks and count. I don't have the specifics memorized, so I always rely on the book for this.

Now, all three of these things need to be checked and changed at least once every couple years anyway, and I'm pretty sure you have no idea when it was done last... Just saying.

Fantastic! I will get to looking into this and will report back. Thanks for the input!

Perhaps the signal wires to the ignition coils are reversed.

If not already done, could experiment by swapping the signal wires.

Good Fortune!

Ignition Coil Primary And Secondary Wiring

Ignition coils on the 80’s Kz1000,Kz1100’s and Gpz1100’s are wired the same, that is as you sit on the bike, the LEFT ignition coil primary(small wires) are two wires, RED and BLACK. The secondary (or sparkplug wires) go to #1 and #4 sparkplugs(your primary wiring may be different). The 550’s,650’s & 750’s are backwards to what is listed for the bigger 4’s.

The cylinders are numbered left to right as you sit on the seat; #1,#2,#3, and #4.

For the RIGHT ignition coil, the primary wires, again are two wires, RED and GREEN, with the secondary going to #2 and #3.

The RED wire gets it’s voltage from the run/stop switch on the right handlebar switch pod. Your primary wiring may have a different color.

The BLACK and GREEN wires connect to the IC Igniter(if the bike has the Kawasaki supplied electronic ignition) it actually gives the coils their grounds to fire the sparkplugs.


The sparkplug caps should read 5K OHMS, any higher, or a reading of infinity means new caps should be ordered.

To stress the ignition coils, take a hair dryer, heat the coils and see if the ohm readings change from cold to hot . If they do, it’s time to buy new coils.

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Keep in mind, the wiring is reversed for the 550’s 650‘s and 750‘s, that is the RIGHT coil primary will be two wires, RED and BLACK with the secondary(sparkplugs) going to #1 and #4.

The LEFT coils primary wiring would be again two wires, RED and GREEN, with the secondary(sparkplugs) going to #2 and #3.

These engines have what is known as a “Wasted Spark” that is, a sparkplug will fire during an exhaust stroke. It does no damage and many other motorcycle engines have this design.

Wish I had read all this cause I am now the owner of this non running kz1000 that is the topic of this thread. Before the starter went out I was having the same problems. Going to start of where he left off this weekend I guess

Start your own thread with pics, need pics. :woohoo:
Steve