ZXR250 problem..help!! battery?! electrics?!

[rookie]

It probably wont be electrics bescause it does start up.

Thats what makes it tough is that the bike is starting.
I thought that if there was water in the carbs then it would cause the bike to run rough but not cut out.

Im not sure exactly how to get the water out of the carbs...it evaporates off over long rides. But to my understanding...some bikes have a plug that allows water to drain from the carbs...ive just been looking through the manual and i cant find anything like that on the zxr's.

perhaps brett or satch or aff-man know better?? or Sallo??

[rookie]

On a similar note, I have a ZXr250a sitting in the garage, had not been run for 2 years, even had shit 2 year old fuel in the tank...took it for a ride and it would not run over 10k RPM, and sounded like it was constipated when it hit the mid torque range.
Guessing it must be crapped up carbs clogging the motor. If yours continues to do this, you *may* have a similar problem.

Obviously the fuel could be a problem.
I think trouble at higher revs can be due to the air filter being clogged...im sure you've checked that already though.

Rammy's bike isnt revving but it is also cutting out...bizzare!!

[Panther]

?! abit more info would be very much appreciated

well in my experience the carbs on the zxr's need to be cleaned and balanced etc at seemingly short intervals (6months or so) for them to be runnning tip top. i know people who clean them themselves but it seems to be best to let a good mechanic balance them, like Ricki up at haldanes in aucks, dunno if he has gone to as yet, but he is the man for working on zxr's.
if you can spare a few hundred, get it done and then you'll be problem free!
basically since all the carb stuff is so delicate and tuned to a fine adjustment for a 250cc motor, the carbs seem to cause lots of probs.
my zxr was bogging down a lot and the carb tickling fixed up that.
if you are having trouble revving up past certain revs, check that your air hoses are all connected up, this normally only stops it revving past 10,000 rpms thou, so might not be your prob, but check t out anyway.
if you want to check for water yourself i'd guess that you would take off the tank, drain it, put new gas in (ovbiously from a container unless you want to push your bike to a gas station -hey whatever does it for ya!), also have you checked your fuel filter thingy? if you wanted to be rough you could just replace the whole piping and cut out the filter cos that filter isnt the only place that the fuel gets filtered.
so yer not recomended but you can if you want to be rough.
hope this helps, at the end of the day spend the money and ave your bike all good and reliable. all the times my bike died in gillies ave was not cool!

[Panther]

Rammy's bike isnt revving but it is also cutting out...bizzare!!

also the problem of my bike cutting out dissapeared once the carbs were all good again.
id have to push start it at home and then push start it again at the servo!

[Phenoix]

I cant help you with the manual, i lost them all when my PC died.
Because the bike was running fine BEFORE TWO DAYS of rain the balancing of carbs should be fine. But water will have gotten somewhere.

Most likly the carbs. Water in the fuel tank seperates (If left) and causes differnt troblems, ie no starting more then cant get past 8k.
Try just letting it run with the idle up abit higher and see if it makes much difference (after it gets hot enough to kick in the fan) cos getting to the carbs is 1/2 a B*t*h.
But if you pull your tank and air filter all apart you should be able to see the top, just check there's no obvios shit/grit in there.

[Ramyy]

Go down to Repco or super cheap and get a can of electraclean,I think it comes in a green crc can, if you read the bach it should tell you that it displaces moisture and leaves a film on the connecting surfaces to stop them corroading.

I went to Supercheap and Repco and can't find that electraclean stuff.. any help where to find it?!

I checked filters they all good.. i'll try drain the carburetor to check for water..

I think it i might have to bowe down and take it to a professional to take a good look.. but i don't have a trailer does anyone know where i can rent a trailer?! i live on shore

[Ramyy]

Ditto, couldnt have said better myself electraclean is wonderful stuff to carry on your travels..

Where do you get it from?! and do you possibly know how much?!

[Brett]

I went to Supercheap and Repco and can't find that electraclean stuff.. any help where to find it?!

I checked filters they all good.. i'll try drain the carburetor to check for water..

I think it i might have to bowe down and take it to a professional to take a good look.. but i don't have a trailer does anyone know where i can rent a trailer?! i live on shore

I can give you a copy of the manual if you want...I am out east auckland.
My guess would be to drain and clean the carbs first, failing that look at electrical gear for damage, water accumulation. check that your choke slider on the carbs isn't jammed open, this along with carbs that need a tune would be enough to flood the engine at low rpm and cuase it to die. slider should be fully back when choke lever is all the way back.
Are all of the cylinders firing? What condition are the plugs? The plugs may be shot and unable to produce enought spark at higher RPM to allow combustion ( just a total thumb suck).

[Brett]

If it is.. how do i find out?! or better yet.. how do i get rid of that?!

To remove carbs, pull the tank off, pull the side fiarings off ( to prevent damage and allow easier access) take the airbox off and top of carbs will be exposed.Underneath carbs between the head of the engine and the leading onto the intake are 4 black hoses with clamps on them, undo these clamps, the 4th one will be a bastard...they always are. Once this is done, disconnect throttle and choke cables and you will be able to lift the carbs out. Be careful, fuel will piss out once you tilt the carbs.

Once carbs are out, take the bowls off the bottom of the carbs and clear out any muck. Check that the diaphrams are all working ok and that all of the slides move up and back down freely.
Once all checked and happy, put back in reverse order as above. HOWEVER do not adjust any of the carb settings, these bikes are very very fussy about small alterations in carb mixing etc.

[johnnyflash]

Where do you get it from?! and do you possibly know how much?!

Hi ramyy, last time I bought a can of Lectraclean I think I got it from Dick Smiths or Cory's (the electrical people) its called CRC Lectra Clean
CRC Lectra Clean is an unique, scientifically formulated cleaner and degreaser that effectively removes moisture, grease, oil, wax, dirt and other contaminants from motors, parts and other electrical/mechanical equipment. No flash point. No fire point....just checked...DickSmith have it in stock around $5 a can

[Ramyy]

I drained my carbs and found water with the petrol!! I think (and hope) that is the problem.. just waiting for the air filter to arrive (i ordered one because the state of my old one is real bad) and i'll put the bike all back together and HOPE it works.. any advice before putting it all back together?!

thanks to all who helped

[avgas]

empty the carbs, clean the plugs, and empty the tanks.
Then refill the tank with high octane (98+ocatane booster)
I had the same prob with 2 250's and my 150. They have breather fuel caps. And were all low on gas when it rained.

[imdying]

kick started it because it wouldn't start using the start button

oh yea.. its a ZXR250 89model

Now that's a good trick

[skidMark]

first try drain your bowls, do this by ,

on the bottom of each carb there is a bowl , on the very bottom is a screw , if it doesn't have a hose on it, put one on (you don't want fuel going all over the bike) and drain each carby, (they each have thier own bowl) shut the fuel off (on the fuel tap) undo the screw on each carb one at a time drain it until no more fuel comes out, close up the screw then do the same with all of the other carbs.... then turn fuel back on and fire her up. (if there some fuel on the ground roll bike away from the puddle of fuel last thing you want is a fire (speaking from experiance, **wasn't pretty**)

hope that helps.

cheers: mark

[skidMark]

Now that's a good trick

thats what i thought,

i assume he means roll start it lol