Emergency help Needed

Hi I have kind of an emergancy!
Suppose to go on a trip tomorrow and Bike goes flat at 3000-4000rpm. Its like a dead spot or sputter.I cant accelerate out of it.
Put in nuetral and it reves up fine.
Details...
1977 kz 1000ltd
All stock except for electronic ignition and coils.

I took the bike to my shop (5-10miles) to clean and adjust chain. ran fine going there. (It was Raining)
lifted the bike with my mc jack and adjusted the chain and cleaned up the chrome thats it.

Whent to ride home and imediately when i accelerated it goes starts to sputter run realy ruph and i cant accelerate out of it. I put it in neutral and it reves up fine no sputter.

If water got in the points cover would this happen? the thing that stumps me is it accelerates fine in neutral
Thank You in advence for your help

If it's got the stock air box, yank the filter and see if that cures it. Takes no time at all.

I have had water in the points cover before. Take the cover off and blow it out with an air hose and see how it runs?

Stock ignition coils? Original sparkplug wires(the ones that go on the sparkplugs? Same for the sparkplug caps? All of these are 34 years old, & in my opinion have gone beyond their useful life.

Ever cleaned the many and various electrical connectors?

Cleaning Motorcycle Electrics

Get some of the De-Oxit electrical contact cleaner and figure on spending a good day going from the front of the bike to the back. It’s a plastic safe cleaner/preservative. www.deoxit.com is their website.

On the older Kawasaki's, a majority of electrical connectors are inside the headlight housing requiring removal of the headlight, then the fun begins.

Do one set of electrical connectors at a time to avoid mixing up what connects to where. Usually disconnecting, spraying with De-Oxit and reconnecting is about all you'll need.

However, when encountering the green crud of corrosion, a brass wire brush may be needed on the pins you can reach.
Some 400-600 grit wet and dry sandpaper strips rolled into a tube should reach the male and female pins in the more difficult to clean connectors.

Smoker’s pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and wooden toothpicks work as cleaning aids.

Really small electrical connectors may require the use of a welders tip cleaning tool assortment.

Most pins in the connectors are coated with a thin plating of tin, and others may be nothing more than copper or brass.

If moisture is added, the resulting corrosion lowers the voltage/current being carried causing dim lights, slow engine cranking, slow turn signal responce and lower input voltage to the ignition coils resulting in weak spark.

The left and right handlebar switch pods will need attention too as they have circuit functions like turn, horn, run/stop, and start.

Usually a spritz or two with actuation of the switch is about all needed for these switches unless corrosion is detected and then careful disassembly is required.

The ignition switch may or may be not sealed to allow spraying the internal contacts. I urge caution if attempting to open this up as springs, and ball bearings may fly out never to be seen again!

If your bike has the older style glass tubed fuses, I suggest replacing them as vibration can cause internal failure. AGX is the type used, and most auto parts stores can get them for you.

Clean the fuse holder clips, looking for signs of overheating(discolored insulation, signs of melting).
I use metal polish on a cotton swab, followed by spraying another clean swab with the De-Oxit and then rubbing the inside of the fuse clip.

All battery cables must be clean and tight for maximum current transfer. Check the cables going from the Negative(-) battery terminal/post to the engine mounting bolt

Also the one going from the Positive(+) terminal to the starter solenoid and from there to the starter motor.

If any battery cable feels ”Crunchy” when flexed, replace it as possible corrosion is inside the insulation.

Each "Bullet Connector" will have to be sprayed to ensure good connectivity, especially the ones going to the energizing coil of the starter solenoid.

The alternator output “Bullet Connectors” are usually behind the engine sprocket cover and will need inspecting and cleaning too.

The turn signal light sockets will benefit from a spritz from the contact cleaner along with the tail light/brake light socket.

Some brake light switches can be sprayed on the actuating rod, with the spray running down inside to the electrical contacts, others may be sealed requiring replacement if the switch is intermittent in operation.

Some people put the Di-Electric Grease on cleaned terminations/connectors, I don’t, as I’ve read/heard it can cause problems when it gets hot, actually insulating the connections, so the choice is yours to use or not.

I think I've covered about all of the electrical systems on the bike.........

And:




Why WD-40 Should Not Be Used On Motorcycle Electrical Items.

For many years, I was proponent of the use of WD-40 on fuse clips, fuses, switches and connectors. After hearing of other peoples experience with intermittent and sporadic activity, I shrugged it off as maybe they did something wrong in the application of the product.

It wasn’t until the time I rode my 1982 GPz1100 B2 model to downtown San Diego that I encountered the problems others had gone through.

After concluding my business downtown, I walked to where my bike was parked, turned the key to unlock the forks, and prepared to start the engine. The key was in the "On" position, yet I had no lights in the dash panel, the fuel pump was not running(I have FI), and the horn and tail light were not working.


Stumped as to why nothing electrical was happening, I remember my earlier conversations about how WD-40 will over time become a non-conductor(more like an insulator). I had some pieces of 400 and 600 grit sandpaper in my tool kit and with them was able to scratch away the coating from the WD-40 on the fuses and clips.

After removing the insulating film, the bike started and ran like it should. Since that time, I’ve told people about the problem with WD-40. If you must use a contact cleaner, I recommend getting some "De-oxit" from Radio Shack Stores or any good electronic supply store.

cavanaughracing wrote: If it's got the stock air box, yank the filter and see if that cures it. Takes no time at all.

Hey Larry,

Glad to see you back on the forum.

Any way to the OP have you run it till EVERYTHING was up to Temperature ( takes 20 minutes, min.)?

Bill

davelKZ1000 wrote: ...goes flat at 3000-4000rpm. Its like a dead spot or sputter.I cant accelerate out of it.
Put in neutral and it revs up fine.
Details...
1977 kz 1000ltd
All stock except for electronic ignition and coils.
I took the bike to my shop (5-10miles) to clean and adjust chain. ran fine going there. (It was Raining)
lifted the bike with my mc jack and adjusted the chain and cleaned up the chrome that's it.
Went to ride home and immediately when i accelerated it goes starts to sputter run really rough and i cant accelerate out of it. I put it in neutral and it revs up fine no sputter.
If water got in the points cover would this happen? the thing that stumps me is it accelerates fine in neutral....

Revving okay in neutral, but lacking power at higher rpm, may result from the timing advancer being stuck in it's idle/retarded position, which could result from water/moisture under the points cover.

If not already done, would lube the timing advancer (especially the weights pivot points), which might be sticking, or maybe both clean and lube.



After removing only the points cover, access to apply lube may be done without further disassembly by going through the inspection window where the timing marks are viewed. Hand rotate the crankshaft by turning it with the 17mm nut (NOT the smaller 13mm bolt head) until each of the two pivot points may be in position to receive a drop or so of oil.










May assure correct operation with a strobe-type timing light, and watch the advancer quickly move back and forth as rpm is varied by blipping the throttle.

The advancer should NOT be rusted as shown in this example:



Good Fortune!

Make note of how the advancer is installed, as more than a few have been re-installed 180 degrees out(start the bike and see if it runs better).

Mine did the same thing due to a faulty ignition coil.

Truely stumped here.
Blew air in points cover. Changed air filter
Changed plugs.
Removed electronic ignition and reinstalled points.
Im not ignoring any posts here. Im jist trying the quick stupid suff first. I would really like to not miss the trip tomorrow.
got hotel reservations!

If i accelerrate slowely it seems ok but if i twist throttle hard it goes dead or hesitates.

Coils and wires are new this year along with electronic ignition.

Also very clean dry and rust free under points cover.

What brand sparkplugs? I used to run NGK B8ES's untill I had more than a few fail right out of the box. I now use either Denso W24-ES-U's or Accel # 112's gapped to 0.032"

What do you have for a fuel filter? Sounds just like a dirty filter to me. Pull the petcock, and check for junk on the filter screen. Is an inline filter present between the tank and carbs? If so, check that for junk. Finally, pull your float bowls and look for junk, then re-install and check the fuel level via the clear tube method.

Additionally, along the lines of fuel problems, it could be a blocked fuel cap vent causing a lean condition. Replicate the stumble, and then open the fuel cap to see if this solves the problem. Don't forget that your choke is your friend when diagnosing fueling issues. Replicate your issue and pull the choke. Does this make it worse or better. If worse, then you are too rich. If better then too lean. No change, then expect an ignition issue.

Also, take Patton's advice about checking the ignition with a timing light. Just because all the ignition components are new does not mean that they are good. Assumption is the mother of all F-ups.

Good luck!