Choke question

Hey everyone.
Today I started my KZ550 after 3 days of sitting in my garage. My bike requires the choke to be all the way on to start (which I have heard is normal, however when I put my choke all the way on my rpms spike to 8 or 9K. Because the bike was sitting for a few days, it took a while to warm up enough to come off the choke. It took about 15 minutes of raising and lowering the choke to keep the rpms from spiking or stalling the bike out. The constant rpm spike on a cold engine is beginning to allow a small oil leak out of my valve cover. Is there a way to make the bike idle at a reasonable level while on full choke so I don't have to pull the choke lever up and down over and over?

The choke lever is not an ON / OFF type device; it works at all settings in between all the way on and all the way off. So you can lower it some without closing it all the way after starting the engine then gradually lower it as the engine warms up rather than pulling it up and down repeatedly. Ed

It needs to stay in the upper half of the setting for the first few minutes which spikes the rpms. When I lower it into the middle to bring the rpms down the engine sputters and stalls. After the first five minutes on a normal start up when the bike has not been sitting, the choke can come all the way off and the bike will ride without stalling

Read the fast idle mod,

home.comcast.net/~loudgpz/GPZweb/TK22mai...astIdleScrewMod.html

You should check to see if you have a vacuum leak at the carb holders. Here's how:

Make sure the vacuum caps are tight on the carb holder nipples.

Warm the engine up to normal operating temperature.

Temporarily set the idle as low as possible without stalling the engine. It should be down below 1000 rpm. The lower the better because when it is set low the carb slides are closed (or nearly closed) and this raises the vacuum level in the carb holders. The combination of the increased carb holder vacuum level and the very low idle amplifies the effect of the leak test.

Once the idle is set low, spray carb cleaner around each of the carb holders where they bolt to the cylinder head and where the carbs attach to them. If there are leaks, the vacuum in the carb holders will suck the carb cleaner in and this will affect the idle. It may cause the engine to stall. If the leaks are at the carb holder / cylinder head mating surface you need to replace the holders. If the leak is where the carbs attach to the holders you may be able to tighten the clamps enough to seal the leak. Some folks use starter fluid or other substances for the test, but carb cleaner works best as it doesn’t evaporate too quickly like ether and leaves no residue on the engine like WD40.

If you do need new holders just bite the bullet and buy them. Trying to seal things up with some kind of sealant or goop will only lead to frustration as it will at best only last a short time.

Ed

I think its probably the fast idle problem loudhvx was talking about. Seems to sound like the same thing. No vacuum leaks in the boots, i swapped them all out on the rebuild a few months ago. Now I just have to fix the rpm issue before my valve cover gasket gets messed up