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Hard to start once warmed up

3K views 5 replies 6 participants last post by  LoneVulcan750 
#1 ·
Put bike in local Kawasaki shop to have splines lubed ( they were dry, but not damaged) only 9000 miles on a 05. The shop said they rode it several times and it ran well. It started right up, but it was low on gas so after about 5 miles i was going to stop for fuel. About 100 yards from gas station I felt the bike sputter so I just pulled the clutch in and let the bike coast. I coasted right up to pump, but noticed the bike had died. Filled up, but only held 2.7 gals. Nowhere in the manual could I find tank capacity...I got ready to leave and the bike would not start. It would crank, try to hit, then backfire. I called the shop and they brought a trailer. The tech tried several times to get it going and finally held the throttle wide open and it started. I rode it back to the shop. It ran fine. We started it several more times just fine. I decided to ride it home, then it didn't want to start again. I told him to keep it and get to the bottom of it. He thought it might me a fuel delivery issue. Talked to the shop for a progress update and they are still looking at it. They mentioned the starter might be dragging. Said the battery and charging system was fine..Any thoughts on what might be the hot start problem? Hate to spend the bucks for a starter if it's not needed. Sorry to be so long winded..
 
#3 · (Edited)
Copied from "Starting..." thread
kcdq5: It could be a lot of things, but the Pickup Coil mod usually helps with hard starts when bike is HOT. If you are having cold start issues, it might be something else.

It is possible that you have bad fuel or moisture in the fuel....could be dirty carbs or bad choke.

Try adding Seafoam to the fuel and see if it gets any better with a tankfull or two of treated fuel.

Check you spark plugs to see if the engine is running hot or lean or rich.

Check to make sure you have a good spark on EACH plug. Also check that the coils are getting good voltage to them. It should be as close to your battery voltage as possible. If not, you are dropping voltage somewhere in the wire harness and your coils will not provide a good spark. If that is the case you might consider doing the Ignition Coil wiring Mod.

If all the above are OK and the Seafoam doesn't help, then I would go ahead and do the Pickup Coil Mod shownHERE
:smiley_th
 
#4 · (Edited)
+1 for the hard start issue... usually when mine does this, I just wait about 5 or 10 mins (sometimes even less) and it fires like normal.

Also I want to say the tank holds 3.5 gals when dry... around 1/2 gal left it would need to have the petcock on reserve to pick up fuel.. Possible problem with rotted petcock screen(s).

Also you may have a battery problem.. these bikes are VERY picky on battery condition... they also tend to HATE normal wet lead acid batteries, and prefer the AGM type lead acids.. also, AGM batteries are less suspect to sudden failure due to vibrations and such that kill normal wet cells.

Starter dragging... well, on MY bike, it seems to drag if I try to start it in gear with clutch fully pulled.. in neutral its cranks it heart out. I am certain mine is a combination of the oil on the clutch (our clutches are wet), and a warped clutch disk or 2, not allowing complete and total disconnection... I just make sure I am in neutral before I try to start it.
 
#5 · (Edited)
Hope they don't start charging you $$$$$ to replace part's that aren't needed. Irridium plugs and an AGM battery ususally take care of a lot of the "hot" start issures. The pick up coil mod is a big help if that doen't work and put Seafoam in your gas regularly to keep the carbs clean.
My bike usually starts sputtering when it gets down to about 3 gallons used, then I switch to reserve and have 1/2 gallon left to get to the nearest station. My guess is you didn't try to switch over to your reserve when it sputtered?
 
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