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Severe power loss with extended highway riding
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Hey all, bike is a 1984 Kawasaki KZ700, with 9600 miles. Bike runs well
most of the time, including a fairly hard ride up a mountain.
However, after about 10 miles of high-speed interstate riding above
probably 60 mph, the bike just loses its gusto and has trouble keeping
up with traffic. I think I heard some knocking when trying to
accelerate. Pulling off the highway and letting the bike sit for a
moment allows it to regain its strength. It almost feels like one
cylinder stops firing, and its true that the rightmost exhaust pipe is a
lot cooler than the the other three. The plug was not fouled, though.
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You ought to try opening the gas cap slightly. Could be lots of
other stuff, but occasionally a tank may not vent welll and form
a vacuum which can interfere with fuel flow. Not sure why one
carb would be more starved than the others unless it was at
the tail end of the fuel plumbing. You could also check the
plug for a healthy spark.
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I will try that, thanks for the suggestion!
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I was guessing either fuel starvation or overheating although I really
don't have a good idea. I suspect the bike runs slightly lean because it
has trouble starting on really cold mornings. Any ideas? The bike has
never had valve clearance checked (which I am going to do this week).
Oh, and the fuel petcock is new, and the strainer was clear.
On another note, what would cause my rear brake pedal to not return
after being pressed? the brake works, but the pedal is difficult to
press and it sticks down.
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check/replace the fuel filter, and check the fuel petcock. does sound
like starvation to me...
As far as the brake, take the linkage apart, clean it up, lube it and
make sure the retuen spring is on there correctly...
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As for the loss of power problem, check the wire going from the coil to
that particular cylinder. I know on my old honda 750, I had a similar
problem where all but one of the pipes would get hot and it turned out to be
the wire needing to be reseated at the coil.
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will do. Thanks so much for your help.
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Let us know how you make out with this.... if you find the problem goes
to the cylinder you change your wires with, then you have a wire problem...
if not, then it could be coil. Another thing that dawned on me is it could
be the main jet in the carb for that cylinder. Main jets will kick in
around 4500 rpms or so and if that one is clogged, it may not be getting
fuel to the cylinder.... you can also switch main jets to see if the problem
follows, although i would suspect electrical first....
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You might want to start by lubing the pedal pivot and if it's
a mechanical linkage, checking the springs. Is there
any component fouling another ? Anything bent ? Is it
assembled correctly ?
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