Throttle cutting out

[smitty]

Okay. This is just weird to me. I just got done doing a repair on my fuel tank and put it back on the bike. I turn on the bike let it warm up. Ride out of my driveway and down the street and the throttle cuts out, I let go of the gas and it idles fine, give it gas and it cuts out. Take her back home and change the spark plugs (black and moist) as well as the fuel filter (rusty colored), Still this doesn't fix the problem. So, I undo everything that I had done before-take off the tank and check for pinched fuel hose and plugged vaccume lines but nothing that I see. So, at this point I'm thinking that it's a stuck jet or some carb problem and I use Seafoam to clean them out and this does nothing to solve my problem.

The bike is a 1988 Kawasaki Ninja ZX10 with 14,000 miles, K/N air filter, dynajet-ed carbs, and Muzzy exhuast.

1) The engine has fuel-they were moist and black
2) The engine has air-I took off the air filter
3) The engine has spark-it idles fine and starts
4) The fuel pump works-shot fuel at me
5) No vaccume in fuel tank-ran it with the gas cap opened and closed

Is it possible that there isn't enough spark? Bad coils or wires? I pulled three plugs and checked them by putting them back into the plug wire and grounding them to metal and turning on the igntion, but I didn't see a spark.
Do you think that it's a breather tube/vaccume line that I overlooked?

Any help would be great and sorry for the long post.:blah-blah:help2:


-smitty

[dansrc51]

if your getting too much fuel ( your plugs were black and wet) you might want to check your air / fuel settings on your carb. since you just changed the fuel filter you may be getting too much gas. you or a previous owner might have richened up the mixture years ago and now that you have a better flow it could be too much. I would check the manual, and return you setting screws to factory spec and work from there....:2cents:

[Xusia]

Too much fuel was my first thought as well. Not that I'm a mechanic!!

[smitty]

Thanks for the reply, but the bike was acting up before I had changed the spark plugs and the fuel filter. So the rate of flow was the same before I changed them. Could it be that the engine is not get enough (weak)spark? It has spark other wise it wouldn't start and idle but what about not enough spark to set off the more fuel in the piston chamber?


-smitty

[dansrc51]

possibly not enough spark. although you don't really need much, if the engine is running you shouldn't be cutting out. if the bike was doing this before, when was the last time you synced you carbs? If you have enough spark to see it grounding out when you test it, that sounds like a healthy spark. you could get a volt meter and check it, although I'm not 100% sure on how to do this.

[ZRX_PAUL]

Dan is spot on about synching the carbs. When you get a Mercury Guage on the carbs, you will quickly see if all carbs are pulling the same inches of vacuum. If they are not, this could very well be at least a great deal of your problem. Have the carbs ever been rejetted?

[smitty]

I bought the bike around three months and 3,000 miles ago. It has a Muzzy exhuast and a Dynajet sticker on the swing arm so I assume it has been rejetted. When I checked the spark I didn't see a spark, but I just quickly hit the start button (like one revolution of the engine) and not hold it for a second or so. I also don't know when the carbs were syc'ed. Again thanks for the replys I hope to fix this soon. I got the next few days off to look after it.


-smitty

[ZRX_PAUL]

When I rejetted my carbs with alot of help from Jeff, there were 3 or 4 different
places to set the clips on my needles. I chose the lowest setting that gave the least amount of fuel, and my bike is plenty rich in most conditions. Point being, many people when rejetting feel that the more fuel the better. Usually not the
best case scenario. The Ivan's Jet Kit I bought was researched alot by Ivan on his own dyno.

[smitty]

Well I took it in to Clint (Cycle Parts) today so we'll see in about a week. I'm thinking it's the carbs as well at this point. Hopefully it won't be expensive.



-smitty

[ZRX_PAUL]

Clint is an absolute Ace mechanic! He is one of the best I have encountered.I am sure he can figure out what the issue is.

[smitty]

That seems to be the general consensus. I have had him look over my CBR 600-change the fluids and new fork seals all in a short amount of time. Great honest guy. Always there to answer a question. That means alot to me. Plus I don't know much about carbs, just what I have read on the web and it told me to take it to someone that knows.



-smitty

[Rex Raider]

could be timing advance, but a lot of the time it will be something simple and small. easy to over look.
hope your riden soon. :thumbup:

[ZRX_PAUL]

Carbs can be extremely difficult to diagnose and fix, even for the most savvy people, so I think that you are wise to take the bike to Clint. There are so many variables such as float levels, jet sizes, needle clip placement, etc. that it can be a real steep learning curve.For example, my bike has a different jet size for the 2 outer carbs than the 2 inners, and this is correct. It was jetted that way from the factory.

[Ninja Girl]

That seems to be the general consensus. I have had him look over my CBR 600-change the fluids and new fork seals all in a short amount of time. Great honest guy. Always there to answer a question. That means alot to me. Plus I don't know much about carbs, just what I have read on the web and it told me to take it to someone that knows.



-smittyI've heard just the opposite about cycle parts, matter of fact the guy I bought my bike from had the same prob, engine was cutting out, turned out they put in the wrong spark plugs.just my:2cents:

[ZRX_PAUL]

I really doubt that Clint had anything to do with it.

[Ninja Girl]

yeah prob been done right if the good man was on the job (Clint) it was about 7 years ago though before I even dreamed about bikes:tongue:

[YOMAMAR6]

chicken nugget, weren't u like 10 still dreaming about barbies pink vette.

[YOMAMAR6]

hey i hear good and bad about every shop out there. point 1 for edwin

[Ninja Girl]

chicken nugget, weren't u like 10 still dreaming about barbies pink vette.you a bad stinky chicken tender:frown: No actually I hated and still hate pink, my barbies had gone to good will long time before that:twofinger I was almost graduated and was into horses and competeing so ha, ha what I don't know.:thinking:

[Xusia]

[blonde] Sounds like you at least had your license 7 years ago - that's good! :lol: :bounce: :p

[YOMAMAR6]

ur so funny chicken nugget lol

[ZRX_PAUL]

I think that every shop has put out some real good work and some not so good work. It just depends on which indivdual you have work on your bike. Clint for example is a very skilled mechanic that does extremely good mechanically. On the other hand, I once had Mike, ( the counter guy at Cycle Parts) putting a chain on my bike, and after he cut the heads off of the pins on my master link, he was trying to pound the link out against the rear sprocket.
I have had good and bad experiences at CycleSports. Doug Leroux was the best mechanic they ever had, and did flawless work on my bike many times. Some newbie tech that worked on my bike last July put the spacers in wrong in the rear hub, and caused the rear drive side bearing to break. So in conclusion, know the specific mechanic that you want to work on your bike. Ask around for recommendations.Schedule it so that specific person is the one that does the work on your baby. It is worth all the extra work to have things done by a skilled, professional mechanic the first time.

[smitty]

Well I got my bike back today. It turns out that it was indeed the carb, however it was a bunch of water and rust in the float bowls. *Note to self, when diagnosing carb problems make sure to check float bowls" * It did cost me 2 hours of labor and he found a hose clamp that wasn't tight. So, it was a good thing that someone looked at it-leaking hose on the road = hot radiator fluid shower.


-smitty

[dansrc51]

glad to hear you have her back and running Smitty. now go out and wring her neck in the twisties properly! :D

[roadrunner]

Well I got my bike back today.
:ride:

[ZRX_PAUL]

Glad to hear that your problem seems to be fixed.:clapping:

[smitty]

Yeap it was a good day today, with my bike back and new leather jacket on order. Maybe it's just me but it does seem a little faster now.


-smitty

[Rex Raider]

:thumbup: seeya in the twissty soon.

[YOMAMAR6]

congrats chris