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Kawasaki Zephyr 550; loss of power
Topic Started: Feb 25 2011, 02:11 PM (7,073 Views)
skydiverjace
Member
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Can anyone help me please. I've got a K reg Zephyr 550 which has a couple of issues and not being overly mechanically minded, they are driving me crazy.

The bike suffers from loss of power when driving - for example in 4th gear full throttle I can't get beyond 6000 rpm unless going down a steep hill. In any gear it struggles for top end power and feels as if it's being held back and a bit jerky at times. Also when revving I have had the odd backfire.

Also when starting from cold on choke, bike will start no problem, but if i put choke in a twist throttle it conks out. If I leave choke on and twist throttle it conks out. After considerable messing with the choke and throttle it then decides to run without choke.

I have removed tank & carbs to clean plus fitted new plugs but problem still persists.

Could it be coil and leads to plugs?? I don't know.

Are these issues related?

Many thanks
Edited by skydiverjace, Feb 25 2011, 02:15 PM.
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yanto
100 MPH
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sounds like carbs to me i know you cleaned them but was it done right
did you remove the emulsion tubes and balance them when back on the bike
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hugojose
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Humble Motorcyclist
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The emulsion tubes are the ones where the main jets screw in. You don't say how many miles (kilometers) on the bike or what condition bike was in. If bike had not been running for a while, likely carbs get gummed up, specially if left with gas. Cleaning means taking the jets out and spraying thoroughly with cleaner, checking and adjusting floats, then balancing the carbs with vacuum meter. Was this all done?
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nashaan
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very common on zep strip down carbs clean with a carb cleaner and make sure all jets are clean by removing them and clean any gum/tarnishing off the emuls tubes like stated by the other lads get a manual and make sure that all the floats are adjusted correctly pop them back in balance them and then chuck some octane booster in your tank that should clear theem out completly and sort your problem
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yanto
100 MPH
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or go to maplins and get a sonic cleaner i done about 40 sets of carbs before mine went bang lol
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skydiverjace
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thanks everyone for replies.

For info the bike is a 92 model with 7k miles on it and has stood about for a bit.

I cleaned carbs with carb cleaner and checked floats as I had a flooding problem before but I don't know how you would go about balancing them or the carbs for that matter

I've got it all stripped down again with the carbs in the shed & a new can of cleaner. I've also removed the jets & tubes as suggested - they don't look gummed up but there must be something.
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yanto
100 MPH
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where are you?
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skydiverjace
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I'm in Oban, Scotland
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skydiverjace
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Update on bike. Got carbs cleaned again right down to jets & emulsion tubes. Put new fuel in and it started first time (good i thought). Took it for a run and after 4 miles it suffered from a total loss of power and died. It did reluctantly start a couple of times and was very sluggish under throttle, then it decided not to start again and I abandonded it at side of road.

I am at a loss to what the problem is other than the bike is mince.

Any help out there?

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hugojose
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Hopefully levels in the bowls are OK. You measure the floats hanging down without the bowls. It should be about 17mm. But you also can measure true fuel level by connecting a clear u-tube to the carb drainages, level should be about .5 mm above the seam. You sinchronize the carbs with vacuum gauges, although I doubt lack of synch would cause this severe problems.

If carbs are truly not the problem, and is getting fuel and air, it would have to be electric as in coils or igniter. But these items are expensive new
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