3 Cylinders!!!

[Saki]

G'day people!

So i just recently gave the bike its first proper clean, and tidy up since i have had it, basically pulled all the nuts and bolts of the body apart cleaned her up, made everything look nice and tidy!

Anyway for some strange reason now its running on 3 cylinders.. Now i did wash the bike but i have doubts thats the issue.

Story goes:
Rode bike after clean up for about 30 minutes, everything seemed to be running ok..... then pulled up at a set of lights and for some strange reason bike is idling fine, give it a bit of a rev to take off and it make a loud snap backfire noise... so i assume maybe fuel ???

Anyway about 2-3 minutes laters it starts to run on 3 cylinders and sounds like a bad arse WRX engine thrown in there!!!

Any ideas wat it might be ?

[Wattie]

Madkaws ZXR750 ran smoother on 2 cylinders than it does on 4

even sounded ok on 3

might be trying to be a daytona 675

[Saki]

HAHA! excellent!! gotta love those kawasaki's

i pulled bits of the bike apart and had a fiddle around and couldn't be farked really getting into it, so took it to the bike mech now and he is gunna rip her open and hopefully sort it out... just wondering if anyone has any suggestions ? i am thinking maybe carbs ?? maybe but not to sure!

[z900/zx9]

Fuel pump mine did that then was ok then wouldnt start after a while

[Saki]

Fuel pump mine did that then was ok then wouldnt start after a while

hmm interesting.... could possibly be... now that i didn't check... did it seem like it was only running on 3 cylinders ?? its strange cause the bike fires up fine it runs, not smoothly, it still gets along ok, its not like REAL bad but u can tell its not running right and its really easy to hear its running not on all 4!

[Benno]

Check your leads. If that fails, undo your plugs one at a time and hold them to the engine head to see if you're getting spark. That's where I'd start anyways. If you have one that's either wet, or very black, then you may have issues.

[Saki]

Check your leads. If that fails, undo your plugs one at a time and hold them to the engine head to see if you're getting spark. That's where I'd start anyways. If you have one that's either wet, or very black, then you may have issues.

My 2 suspects where plugs/leads or carb...

Now i didn't have the right tool for the plugs so i thought i would just take it into the mechanic...

Now i don't think the plug would be fouled.... as i gave it a good "ringing" out and that should have cleaned it. It was 29 the day it started happening and the bike was running on the hotter side of things so any moisture or water should have hopefully dried out, the plugs cause just be old and FARKED!

Maybe the leads have shorted out, but it doesn't feel like its running just 3 cylinders and thats its, it sort of feels little to smooth for 3, more like 3.5 cylinders like the 4th is running but only just, which makes me think maybe one of tyhe carbs is blocked but then i think, why would it do it all of a sudden... so bit unsure, checked leads they where tight and chedk that area and it looked dry!

Maybe some water got in the air box and into the carb ?

[Rossi]

Sounds like a plug breaking down mate........nowt serious if ya only washed the bugger

[Saki]

well rang up the bike bloke today and he said one of the vacumn hoses on one of the carbs fell off, so he rebalanced them, gave it a bit of a finer tune, put it all back together and he said goes really well!

hmmm i never realised they had a hose like that, spose it makes sense tho now when i think about the way the fuel tap works

[photomike666]

Should you or anyone else have similar issues, to find out if it is running on 3, spit on a finger and touch it on the header. If the cylinder is working the header will be really hot and evaporate the spit off your finger before you touch the pipe and burn yourself. If that pot is not working, the pipe will be warm but not hot and won't boil the spit. Don't just grab the pipe, they're damn hot!

This may not give you a difinitive answer to your problem but aids in problem solving. If you have a warn (not hot) header, that is where the problem is and you can narrow further research to that carb, that plug/lead etc. If they are all about the same temp, it's pre carb - ie most 4 cyl bikes have 4 carbies or 4 EFI device things (That's Haynes Manual lingo right there), so you can look at fuel pump, fuel tap, electrics prior to the HT leads.

[mike-s]

A water pistol and a saef firing distance would do the same job.

[Saki]

A water pistol and a saef firing distance would do the same job.

remeber also to wear a flak jacket and helmet

yeah good point mr mike raised! i didn't try that but i knew it was only running on 3 cylinders!

[Gosling1]

I used to lick the fingers and touch them to the headers.......but its easier just to spit on the bastards ! Any pipe where the spit doen't *sizzle*, is your problem cylinder !

If I am working on a Honda, then I just spit everywhere anyway ....

[Saki]

I used to lick the fingers and touch them to the headers.......but its easier just to spit on the bastards ! Any pipe where the spit doen't *sizzle*, is your problem cylinder !

If I am working on a Honda, then I just spit everywhere anyway ....

haha did it still sizzle ?

[Gosling1]

not on the seat vinyl or the paintwork !!