Help!! kz1000 Electrical Gremlin??

Hey Guys, my kz1000 has developed an intermittent problem that for the life of me, seems to be electrical in nature... but

The bike starts and runs just fine when cold. With a normal warm-up, I take off and after about 6 - 8 blocks of riding it feels like it suddenly begins to miss on one cylinder. Basically, I nurse it home and after checking plugs, cleaning and cooling down, I repeat with the same result. The #1 plug seemed to be a little blacker than the rest, but not alarmingly so.

My suspicion is that there's a problem in the wiring with an overheating connection in the harness. I've had similar intermittent problems with my old '74 Kawi h2 Triple and with my much newer '05 zx10r Ninja. Both ended up having bad connections under the seat.

The onset of winter this week will likely prevent me from getting very deep into this issue any time soon, but I'd love to know if anybody has faced anything like this with their kz?

Thank you! I appreciate anything you might have to contribute here.

If not already done, would perform clear tube tests to ascertain whether fuel levels are within specs.

A too high fuel level is expected to produce an overly rich mixture from an otherwise perfect carb.

Good Fortune!

If you suspect the misfire is just one cylinder then the plug, plug cap and HT lead might be worth checking out. A few years back I had a misfire and found I had a faulty plug cap. Resistance between one end of the plug cap and the other was infinity. I replaced all caps with new ones but decided to dissect the problem one for interest sake. Below is a pic of the internals plus the silver thingy which fits the spark plug top. Funny thing thing is that the resistor (red white and black thingy) measured 5k ohm (which it should) when out in the open but I had no reading when everything was together.


Your problem might even be solved by something as simple as trimming the HT lead by 1/4 inch and re inserting the cap in the HT lead

Power for the coils comes from the right side handle bar switch and joins the main harness via a 4 pin (at least it does on my 750) connector under the tank. These connectors get brittle from the heat and I had one crumble and the bike died. If your problem is here then I would think both coils and all cylinders would be effected but you never know until you look.

Just a couple of suggestion to keep you occupied over the winter

Hey, I appreciate the feedback guys!

Further to this issue, the bike ran great last year and for the first few weeks this season too. Nothing else was changed or adjusted prior to this suspected 'misfire' issue. :huh:

I'll check these suggestions a soon as I can get back to it.

I had a weird miss a while back. I would remove the tank and carbs and adjust everything right to spec and would run fine. After I put the tank back on and ride for a while the miss would return
. Turned out it was the vacuum Petcock. The diaphragm had a leak. It is connected to #2 cylinder though