No Start Condition... after heavy rain.

St.Catharines... Ontario?

Where abouts, cause I'm right downtown.

I could swing by if you're still having issues , probly fix you up in no time.

Private Message me, and I'll give you my #.

650ed wrote:

Pods :laugh:

... yeah, I know.
I've read through the arguments for and against pods a bunch of times, and am still on the fence about it, but the previous owner did the swap and rejetted the carbs. I don't know if my riding style demands the swap, but for the moment the thought of buying a stock airbox+ K&N filter to get good flow and doing all the rejet work is a little much.

In any case, the boss said he didn't really need me this holiday, so Ima spend a good part of today seeing if I can sort the girl out.

Jon

My guess is that if you plan on a reliable street ride, you'll get sick of the pods, go back to the stock air-box and jetting, you will be better off. Smoother, better fuel economy, less pollution, and if you get caught out in a rain storm, your carb's won't care.

I use both pods and airbox, (on different bikes, obviously), and what Motor head says is true. But sometimes it's hard to lose the addiction you get on the highway when you go WOT with pods.

Also, if you haven't done a bunch of carb removal with the airbox, and you already have it setup for pods, you can avoid that little piece of hell and live longer not having had to endure that hardship.

loudhvx wrote:

Also, if you haven't done a bunch of carb removal with the airbox, and you already have it setup for pods, you can avoid that little piece of hell and live longer not having had to endure that hardship.

Yup. My 440 has the airbox, and in the process of cleaning and retuning the carbs, I learned all too well the particular pleasure of kawasaki airbox removal and reinstallation. I tend to think of myself as a generally pretty well behaved and spoken person.... but I think that one specific part taxed my command of foul language.

In any case, I've had a little time over the past while to check on a few things and follow some of the recommended advice above. Even bought some new plugs and tried that out in case I was wrong about them having been clean enough to be serviceble. Nope. Wrong. Not the plugs. Seems that after all that I'm not getting spark.

So.. now comes the least best part of motorcycle maintenance. Dig out the multimeter and start from the start. Woot! This, of all things is the true test of motorcycle Zen for me. But it has to get done, since I get sadder every day I get in my cage and drive to work, and leave her behind again.

Updates and more question are sure to follow.

Jon

It's probably something simple, like dirty switch contacts or connectors with corrosion/water in them.

I do hope that's the case...

Teknine was gracious enough to come by and help out, or really, do some electrical work on my bike. I won't pretend I was much use at all.

He was able to rule out a few of the basics, and we checked a fair bit of wiring looking for something nasty which would prevent spark... No dice overall, however we did find a few poor connections, and at least she is now delivering more voltage to the coils, and I once again have 4-way flashers.

Thanks all for the continued forebearance, and a shout out to Teknine who deserves recognition for being not only a great KZ'er but a bike lover who is willing to drop by in the evening and tinker on someones elses bike over a few cold ones.

On the plus side as well, the idiot roofers who just recently did some work on my building also deferred to tell anyone they were starting work, and figured it was no big deal to throw shingles off the building, and onto Lila. So, now I need a paintjob as well. I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop at this point...

Basically just can't wait till this is all over,and I can ride again.

Jon

So still no spark, is that correct?
Have you tested the coil its self? If close to battery voltage is getting to the coils at key on, >12v. And the points are opening and closing, you can check this with either a test light, or Ohm meter. Then I would say Coil/ secondary ignition. Do you have a test light or a Ohm meter you can hook to the primary side of the coils? One end to positive and 1 to ground, key on light should lite. Crank engine, light should stay lit. Now for the points side, disconnect the wire at the coil coming from the points, then hook test light to end from points, this will be intermittent ground, and the other to 12v side of coil. Crank engine with key on, light should basically blink. This will tel you that the point circuit is working. Although it could still have worn points, bad condenser, and the gap/ dwell can be off, etc.

Cudos to Teknine for helping another member out. Thats what it is all about. Hope you get her figured out soon.

Well, not too bump an old thread again and again, but I figure this is worth a quick post.

After taking much of the good advice given in this string, and applying some of it to Lila in the hopes of getting her running, tima and frustration eventually got the better of me, and she is now the proud owner of a shiny new DYNA S ignition system. Which incidentally solved all problems and fired up beautifully at first shot.

I sort of wonder now if the rain had anything to do with it at all, but the grommet which seals off the ignition plate chamber wasn't in such hot shape and perhaps enough moisture got in to fry the condensers on the old timing plate. In any event, I even had enough beginnners luck that the first install of the DYNA was perfect, and the timing was bang on right from the get go.

Much thanks again to Teknine for his assistance and breif lessons on the finer points of making an excellent soddered connection. (no quick clips for me thank you, I hope that this is a permanent solution to ignitions worries) And his willingness to lend some time and a very fancy timing light to the cause of keeping another old KZ on the road!

All that said, much other advice was considered an ultimately taken, and many electrical connections the length of the bike are now much cleaner and better sealed than they were when I picked up the bike. I guess 32 years will take its toll on marginally well sealed connections. As well, I was able to confirm the proper operation of many other components along the way.

While I remain a newby in the electrical repair and maintenance feild, the continued support hear is always of great benefit and I want to send out a big thanks to everyone for taking a few minutes to chime in on the problem and offering their advice. I feel a whole lot better equipped to tackle problems with this kind of support. At least, untill I read through some of the more encyclopaedic posts by Loudhvx and OMR (and all you other KZ wizards out there) which make me feel like a child playing with toys on occasion.

Meantime, there is still riding season left here and I intend to make the most of it!!

Thanks again all!!

Well said... the waiting is the hardest part! :laugh:

I'm glad you will be able to take advantage of the time left this season.

Cheers!

Glad you got it running!

That is strange if water killed the condensers, but weather is the big enemy for bikes, for sure.