Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

Hi folks

I have a story i'd like to relate...you SEQlders will know the road

It was a cold winter morning (yesterday morning actually ), about 8am and i was heading up Mt Glorious from the T junction on the way to the Cafe on my ZX9RC1. For the first 10 min of mostly high second gear/ third gear running it was great, but once i got to withing 5 min of the village my bike started to flatspot if i tried to go over 4000rpm

I've only recently had the carbies cleaned and the plugs done so the only thing i can think it could be was carbies icing up.

Can anyone shed some light on this mystery?

The prob went away once i let the bike sit for 10 min, and it was fine for the rest of the ride.

Carbies icing up in Qld??....nah couldn't be...

Thoughts?

Almost sounds like some junk got caught in the main jet, then settled when you stopped. This use to happen to me a lot when I was working on my old car...you upset some piece of junk floating around, it causes grief, then you find it, clear it, and it is good. Just a guess.

I am going to go with Felix here...
re the crud in the fuel system

why?
its unusual for 9Rs to get icing and you need a combination of
very cold air and some humidity
although it faintly posssible HIGH humidity and cool air
could cause it

if you were on a 6R or 7R the issue of icing would be one to check

lets see what some of the 9R gurus on here think
(Scotty Dave and Phil spring to mind as ones who have ridden
in very cold temps)


cheers

Yup on my recent trip to Canberra I had pretty impressive carb icing on my ZZR1200- flat spots, and fuel economy suffered badly.....someone removed my carby heating plumbing because you don't need it in QLD, and it weighs too much.....unlike me....
Be surprised if icing was your prob....has to be really cold to experience it- removed the plumbing from my ZZR1100, and it never suffered from the icing. Australian 1100s don't have the plumbing- the 1200s do- my 1100 was an import.

varden wrote:Hi folks

I have a story i'd like to relate...you SEQlders will know the road

It was a cold winter morning (yesterday morning actually ), about 8am and i was heading up Mt Glorious from the T junction on the way to the Cafe on my ZX9RC1. For the first 10 min of mostly high second gear/ third gear running it was great, but once i got to withing 5 min of the village my bike started to flatspot if i tried to go over 4000rpm

I've only recently had the carbies cleaned and the plugs done so the only thing i can think it could be was carbies icing up.

Can anyone shed some light on this mystery?

The prob went away once i let the bike sit for 10 min, and it was fine for the rest of the ride.

Carbies icing up in Qld??....nah couldn't be...

Thoughts?

i'd say thats what it is, i had the same thing happen to me this morning as did my bro in law on his 98 zx6. i turned mine off and let it sit for a minute or too whereas he didnt. mine was ok from then on and his played up all the way.

i'm pretty sure thats what it is although i've found it doesnt always have to be cold, damp and misty seem to be the prime candidates

krikey some swift responses!

Thanks guys.

I did have some issues with plug fowling soon after i brought it, it had been sitting for so long before i brought it the chain was completely rust brown. likely the fuel had dried in the float bowls. i discovered this after I gave the bike an oil and fliter change and took it out for a hard ride in the country. In the four days after the purchase the bike was fine but after a run at sustained high revs it started to hunt on idle and miss up to 4000rpm. I figured some gunge had dislodged from the heat/vibration.

Off to the bike shop it went to have the plugs replaced and the carbies cleaned, copped a lecture from the mechanic for using premium in a non EFI bike. But its run sweet as since...until that cold cold morning.

varden wrote:Off to the bike shop it went to have the plugs replaced and the carbies cleaned, copped a lecture from the mechanic for using premium in a non EFI bike. But its run sweet as since...until that cold cold morning.

So what the problem with premium in a non-EFI bike?

I run BP Ultimate in the ZZR all the time, runs like a dream...

mechanic reckons prem fouls plugs in bikes that aren't designed for it.

tho no one else i know who rides use regular unleaded!

My ZX9R manual says use no less than 91 octane regular unleaded 11.5/1 comp, where the ZX636R manual says to use no less than 95 octane to avoid severe engine damage, injected AND 12.8/1 comp!

I've run the ZX9R on reg unleaded, it seems fine. I just prefer to hedge my bets with a higher octane rating!

Carb icing was a fault with the original c model ZX9's and was fixed under warranty if you asked. Kawasaki put out a de icing kit of some sort which I think replaced the bowls on the original carbs. Mine did it when it was new up the OPH early morning a few times, I had the kit fitted and it never recurred. I don't know what you can do about it now though.

My C1 9 used to ice up whenever the temp dropped below 0C in the dry, or just about any time it was wet and cool, especially on a sustained high speed run (only about 120km/h) with a small throttle opening for a long time.

...the poms got a special carb heating system on their bikes to stop it from happening, but we don't get cold weather in Australia so we didn't get the plumbing for it on our bikes.

hey varden,
yes mine does exactly the same (carbs iceing up)on the trips to melbourne from ballarat (smitty is right have done this alot) mine is a 2001 model so they dont get any better...not sure about 2001 onwards?rossi????
scotty

varden wrote:mechanic reckons prem fouls plugs in bikes that aren't designed for it.

tho no one else i know who rides use regular unleaded!

I read somewhere that this could be caused by the motor running rich on premium and the carbs should be rejetted for it. I think it would be more a problem with 98 fuels than with 95.

varden wrote: My ZX9R manual says use no less than 91 octane regular unleaded 11.5/1 comp, where the ZX636R manual says to use no less than 95 octane to avoid severe engine damage, injected AND 12.8/1 comp!

My mate's ZX9R says to use 98 on the tank sticker.

Ok, here's the scenerio. The bikes a ZX9R C2, runnung on 98 RON, its 7:00am, about 5 degrees and dampish. There's 3 bars of temp on the guage. I'm doing 110 0n the Southern expressway, just cruising really, suddenly there's a loss of power as I wind the throttle open. On the overrun down the hill to the end of the expressway there is a some popping and backfiring. At the bottom, at the lights, the 9 stalls.

Sound like icing ???

However, I have also noticed that the anti-icing mod has been fitted. That is, a line from the top of the water pump going to each of the float bowls.

Regards to all, Brett.

When you flushed the carbs (or had them done) did you have the tank drained and cleaned? If the bike has sat for that long the petrol turns to a gum in all sorts of places.

As for premium fuels, which are you using? I run BP and Mobil 98 Octane on my non EFI 6 and it's fine, put in Shell 98 (Optimax?) and it soil plugs and runs like shite.

Now I'm not sure about carb icing, but had some nice icing on a chocolate cake earlier...

I use Mobil 98 ron, cos I used to make the stuff when we actually had a refinery in Adelaide.

I didn't do the mod, it was done before I bought it 3 weeks ago, apparently the bike was sitting in the dealers since August last year, but I have put 3 fills of fresh fuel since.

Brett.