gpz 500 wont start

[largeinnit]

Hi,

During the last few weeks my kawasaki gpz 500 stood in the garage, unfortunately it no longer starts, I've charged battery and replaced sparks. I get a good spark as I've checked the spark by holding it to the frame of bike and starting engine.

At the moment, I can get the bike to start by removing the tank, holding a 500ml bottle of petrol to the reserve feed and starting the engine. But when I try the same thing with the main fuel feed it doesn't work. I've tried inline fuel cleaner to clean carbs and remove dirt deposits. When I fill the main fuel feed I can't see any petrol coming out of the jets leading to the engine, however when I try this with the reserve line, the fuel comes no problem.

I think there's still a blockage in the carb somewhere. If I just buy another carb off ebay and fit it, would it work or would I need to take the bike to a mechanic for synchronization and tuning as well?

any info much appreciated

Dan

[Clint]

Welcome, Dan. I'm confused. You write as though there are two points for fuel to enter the carb. That's the first I've ever heard of that. On most motorcycles, both the main and reserve tanks supply the carb through the same tube. Are you sure you aren't referring to a vacuum line?

[largeinnit]

Hi,

Have a look at:

http://www.geocities.com/largeinnit/Bike/carb1.jpg

The smaller pipe on left I've labelled as reserve, but this may be vacuum. It's just that it's attached to the reserve setting on the petcock and thus I made my deduction. It's a 98 Kawasaki gpz 500s. I don't think there is a problem with the petrol as when I fill the reserve/vacuum pipe with petrol using a small 500ml bottle as a feed the bike starts, but when I try this with main feed it doesn't. I've tried using the main feed with tank on and off - but no luck in either case.

The fuel pipes look ok, I've taken them off blown air thru and ran petrol cleaner thru as well. At the moment, I'm testing with tank off so don't think the tank is the problem, I've taken each carb apart and cleaned jets and checked fuel chambers - the only thing I haven't done is seperated the carbs from each other, but I'm not sure how to do this.

At a last resort will either buy another carb off ebay for £25-£35 or give bike to mechanic for £160 clean and fix (quoted if carb problem).

any help much appreciated

[omegajim]

If I had to guess, it sounds possibly like
1) check/replace fuel hoses and vacuum hoses, cheap.
2) remove the petcock from the tank, it may just need a good cleaning. The fuel petcock has a screen on it, so some dirt will plug it.

Before doing step 2, pull the fuel line off of the tank and switch the fuel to "reserve." On most bikes, reserve allows to fuel to flow regardless of engine vacuum (such as on Yamahas). If this is the case, there is a bad vacuum hose. Remember to get fuel line (tougher to work with) than a line made of plain old black rubber which looks like it should work. You will regret it if you do.

[Aussie Steve]

Dan

I reckon the line you have marked as a reseve pipe is actually the vacuum pipe. Pull that pipe off and open your fuel tap to reserve to see what comes out.

Most bikes no longer have an off position on the fuel tap and operate the fuel tap/valve by vacuum. Another point may be that you are not getting any vacuum at all so work back from the point that the vacuum? pipe enters the carb.

I would try this first before paying anyone a cent but then I am a tight a..e!

Hope this helps.

Steve