Yamaha Zeal 250 - help with some problems...

[haimsadia]

First i would like to say that if this is in the wrong sub-forum please forgive me as i'm a n00b here.... I would also like to say that i'm fairly mechanically minded so working on the bike is not an issue although i have only had experience with cars engines and gearboxes such things... i thnk you get the picture....


Okay, since i got my bike ( a Yamaha Zeal 250 92') I have had a few small priblems i would like to get to know how to fix.
Okay, the day i got the bike i did a change of oil and filter which was roughly around 1,000Km ago i also changed the plugs..... any ways.... the problems..

1) My friend which owns a zzr kawasaki ( right? ) told me he gets around 250Km~290Km from a tank before the reserve ( yes i know it's a parallel twin motor thingy.... and mine in an inline 4 but it should be simillar!).... Where i get around 140Km to 150Km BEFORE my reserve kicks in..... a Full tank of gas ( always 98 octane....) is around 13 L without the reserve so i would imagine a full tank is somewhere like a 15L... any how... that's the first problem.

2) Power, it's shit. I DO know that 250's have 'flat spots' etc.... But these flat spots seem to be real bad in my bike.... i seem to notice them on 3rd or 4th gear going uop a hill.... The proper description on the problem would probably be that as i go up the hill i down shift to 4th or 3rd and twist the throttle to accelerate up the hill... but the bike doesnt.... it just sits there at constant revv's..... but eventually it sorts it's shit out and then the power kinda comes in these pushes just like the same power delivery as though you would get when you sit on a swing and you would have someone push the swing for you....

3) At times the idle bocomes REAL shit it almost idles like a rotor.... ( this happans mostly when the bike is hot) If i rev it a little i notice a sound as though it would be 'missing'... so yeah... that's strange.... It sounds as though it's missing when its cold too... but not too often.

I'm not a native Engilish speaker / writer so did my best to describe the problems on hand... also if you know of a shop around auckland that is good with stuff like this that you would recommend to go and see so that they can tell me about the problems i got then it would be cool too...

Any way, thanks for reading and with any help given.

[wbks]

First off: If you're new to bikes, esp IL4's it would be best if you get someone trustworthy that has experience on a yamaha zeal to judge if the flat spots are normal. Because sometimes my 250 will be as high as 9grand and just picks its time to take off. But if you're convinced it's happening abnormally, it sounds like your carbs need balancing. This can also cause the idling problem. But really, idling low like a rotor is not a problem so long as it doesn't splutter. My zxr sounds like a rotor sitting at 700 revs and will sit there no problem but any lower and it's laboring it.

My zxr will go from sitting at 1800 revs on startup to 2500 after a ride but you can adjust that and it's natural. But inconsistent idling like you sound like you have is most likely carbs as well. I had the same probs as you before I balanced the carbs and it had the same symptims as you only not so extreme.

So if you're sure it's messed up, find a near place to you in the yellow pages or just find pretty much any bike shop and I'll bet the mechanic taking a look at it will say it needs the carbs balanced. Isn't expensive because it's easy for a mechanic and you will get more gas mileage, more consistent idle and smoother power without so many flat spots.

Cars usually have one or two carbs right? Most inline 4 sportsbikes have one carb per cylinder so you will get little things like this that you wouldn't with a car. Like balancing, which you would need once in a while if you ride often. No big deal.

[erik]

Try 91 octane, that's what I used in my Zeal. You'll never get the fuel economy of the zzr though. I used to get about 15km/L or down to 13km/L when really pushing it, Zeals aren't fuel efficient.

I think I dropped the needles one notch which helped reduce a flat spot in mine, but it still wasn't great. I don't know too much about carbs though.