| Author | Message | ||
     Xl1200r |
1994 Ninja 500, been sitting for at least a couple years, possibly last used as far back as 2007. Fuel petcock was left on. Oil level looks good and clean. Charged battery and after a bit of playing with the throttle, the bike started but was only running on one cylinder. The cylinder that wasn't running was leaking gas from the exhaust port/header pipe. I'm think I need to change the oil, remove the spark plugs and get the extra gas out, and maybe pull the bowls off the carbs and clean them out. I'm thinking the one float might be stuck, causing all the extra gas. I've never met a carb'd bike I got along with. Does this sound like the right course of action? | ||
| Tpoppa |
Stuck float and dirty carb would be my guess. | ||
| Ezblast |
Concur | ||
| Pwnzor |
I think you will find the petcock literally encrusted with crystallized solids. Likewise the carbs. Likewise the inside of the gas tank. This picture was after I spent an hour soaking it in carb cleaner and scraping it. The carbs were much worse. Have fun!  | ||
| Rwven |
Disassemble the carbs and soak them in engine cleaner....for about a month. Take a piece of stranded wire, unwind a strand and push it through all the little ports and passages in the carbs. Flush/blow everything out as best you can. Reassemble and cross your fingers, it might actually run. Use a double dose of Techron or SeaFoam for several tanks to dissolve the residue you couldn't get to. Good Luck! | ||
| Xl1200r |
The gas in the tank looked clean and the petcock moves freely. With it being left on, I'd assume that all the little passages would still be full of fuel and not crystalize? I'll take a closer look at it all next time I'm there. He got the bike for free so I'm hoping this doesn't turn into a nightmare. He's really been looking forward to riding. | ||
| Rwven |
Mark, That depends on when that gas was dumped in the tank. If the fuel is four years old and still looks good perhaps someone dumped a bunch of StaBil in it...or it's newer gas that was dumped in recently to try to get it running? The Ninja 500 is a great "little" bike. Hope it works out well for you. | ||
| Xl1200r |
I'm guessing they treated it before it was put away. The bike ran great on the cylinder that was firing, even with the choke off (though it wouldn't idle like that). | ||
| Xl1200r |
Went back and did an oil change, checked the plugs and gave it another shot. It ran better, and I think the second cylinder was firing most of the time, but it's still getting WAY too much fuel. It still won't idle without the choke and when we first started it, gas was literally pouring from the little vent hole in the muffler. It got better the more we ran it, but was never right. Needless to say, the carbs are now in a box in my garage waiting for cleaning. We also took the petcock off the tank. There was a lot of rust and crud that was coming out with the gas, but there are screens on the petcock so I don't think there's anything that got through to the rest of the fuel system. We'll hopefully have this thing running this weekend. | ||
| Slaughter |
Fuel treatment is really only good for like 6 months or so - not 17 years. You got fuel issues. (this said as I head out to the shop today to pull the carb off our XT225 to clean the jets after letting it sit "a little too long" without treating the fuel!) | ||
| Xl1200r |
Also, after it was running for a while, it looked like gas was running out of a vent tube that I *think* rant to the airbox, so it's just getting way too much gas on the right cylinder. My buddy, who the bike belongs to, is not a mechanical person, so I'm going to put him on cleaning the gas tank when we go back to reinstall the carbs. I'm fixing his friggin' boat on Sunday, too. | ||
| 86129squids |
Dayum XL, you're a good buddy to have, no doubt! Been to any Ninja owner's sites? | ||
| Xl1200r |
Based on the roof estimates I'm getting, I may be asking him to help me do it myself, so I'm just putting the time in now, lol. I've poked around ex500.net - lots of good how to's and such, though this stuff is pretty general/typical issues. | ||
| Swampy |
One word of advice, do not under any circumstances let him know what you are doing to his bike/boat, just take as much time as possible, spend great amounts of money, because once he starts on your roof he is going to crap out on you..... | ||
| Xl1200r |
Nah, he's a good guy, and his roof needs done as well so I'll be there for that. He hooks me up a lot with stuff. | ||
| Rwven |
Sounds like a stuck float in the right carb or a float valve that's so crudded up it won't seal. | ||
| Xl1200r |
Took the carbs apart last night - there was some rust sediment in both bowls and the carb for the bad cylinder had a dead bug in it, but nothing major. Nothing was clogged up or crystalized, so we'll see. The petcock looked totally fine as well. Gave it a once over and cleaned out the screens. Heading down in a little bit to try and button it back up. I'll have him work on cleaning the inside of the gas tank up while I fiddle squeezing these carbs back in. | ||
| Two_seasons |
You won't believe how much crud will continue to plug the petcock over time. Seems like it never ends. I wound up buying another tank after a couple of months. | ||
| Xl1200r |
Well, carbs all back on and the bike runs exactly the same as before. Pulled the spark plug from the offending cylinder and grounded it to the engine and thumbed the starter - it's got spark, but I'm seeing a rather weak yellow spark, I feel like I should be seeing a bright blue arc instead. The wires and plug boots on these bikes are a bit hokey and seems to be a common point of contention, so we're on the hunt for replacements. A little annoying as it seems the carb work was for naught at this point. It's definitely getting fuel as it was pumping it out of the spark plug bore when checking for spark. The petcock wasn't too crudded up, but we'll probably clean things up again this winter and see where they stand. | ||
| 86129squids |
Don't be too annoyed at doing carb work for no immediate gains- surely given how long the bike had been sitting, you'd run a higher risk for problems there anyway... Definitely replace the plug wires, boots, maybe even check/replace the ignition coil- after that, sounds like mechanical gremlins- hopefully you won't have to "go there"... Good luck! | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
I suggest "lapping" the float seats with a round wooden toothpick. That little approach has worked for me a few times. | ||
| Xl1200r |
Well, we're starting to bump into that time where we have to start pulling things apart. Carbs have been taken apart and cleaned, and everything downstream of the coils have been replaced. Both cylinders have good spark. Both are getting fuel. Only one is running. It's no better than when we started. The bad cylinder has spark and gas, so I'm starting to wonder if there's a valve stuck open. The bike got trailered to his place (next door to me) so it will be easier to work on. I think the next step here is to pull off the valve cover and make sure everything is moving like it should. Will also do a valve adujstment while I'm in there, but I can't imagine that keeping it from running, especially since it ran fine and idled on it's own when it was parked. Oh yeah, they figured it's been sitting for 6 years. | ||
| Crackhead |
Do a compression test. before you start tearing everything appart. | ||
| Lemonchili_x1 |
A couple of thoughts which may or may not be related - The float needles are pretty likely to be the rubber type. They can go hard and not seal, or they can get a groove compressed into them and not seal. (2) KAWASAKI EX250,EN450,EN500,EX500 NINJA CARB KITS Check the sealing of the inlet manifolds where they meet the head, I find this is a pretty common cause of idling issues with bikes that have been sitting. Before you replace coils, leads etc, see if you can trim the plug leads and re-attach the plug caps and/or re-attach to the coil. Does it have one coil or two? I can't remember if the 500 has a 180 or 360 crank, but if it's a 360 crank with one coil you can swap the plug leads to the other cylinder and see if it makes any difference. I'm going through the same thing with V's Zephyr at the moment, issues with flooding and trying to get it to idle "just right". I've just received a little ultrasonic bath which I'm going to use to try and give all the jets a small parts a really good clean. I wouldn't jump into a major tear down until you are certain you have to. I bought a Yam FZ750 (the first 5-valve model) that had been sitting for several years and had really low compression on one cylinder. I took a chance, bought it for a great price. After 1,000km the compression was back up to almost the same as the other cylinders and it went like a cut snake  | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
You check for a stuck valve pretty easily. put the plugs in it and push it in gear. Feel if one jug is resisting more than the other. The things you have to do when there's no kick starter..... My 1989 KLR250 would stick a valve if left alone for a month or more. I didn't know it at the time. I just thought "this thing is hard to start!" kicking it 50+ times seemed "normal" to my 17 year old punk-ass. I got into the habit of starting it once a week in the winter. The clutch would also lock up if left alone for a while I used to tie something around the clutch lever if I planned to park it for a while. Later, I found that clicking it in second instead of first would pop it loose and not throw me into the back of the shed in fast idle. Oops! I must be getting old. Listen to me ramble on and on about .... What were we talking about again? | ||
| Xl1200r |
Chili - The float needles are the rubber type. They seemed to feel soft still to me, though they did have a slight ridge in them where they made contact. They seemed like they should seal fine - how can I check for this? Take the bowl off, push the float up and see if the gas stops flowing? Inlets are fine - simple rubber type, slide on and hose clamp tight. We've replaced the plugs, plug caps and wires, both cylinders have good spark, so it's not ignition-related at this point. I'm recalling now that the air filter seemed to smell of gas... I'm wondering if it is an intake valve that's stuck open. That should be easy enough to feel by putting my hand over the carb inlet and see if it pushes any air back out. Pulling the valve cover isn't a huge deal - probably easier than the carbs, to be honest. | ||
| Xl1200r |
Substantial progress. Replaced the float valve and lowered the float a little (it was a tad high but in spec) and the bike now starts, runs, rides, idles, etc. We took it out for about 20 miles tonight and he had no complaints. I ran it up and the street and it felt fine. Only complaint is it still doesn't seem to be running right. It's making a kind of pop-corn-y sound from the offending cylinder, like an intermittent miss. The exhaust from that side is just a little cooler than the other side, and just has that unevenness about it. It seems to do it at all rpms. Not sure where to go with this now... |
