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Discussion Starter · #1 ·
Hello fella's,
I will get straight to the point. I have gas in the oil. I ran the bike and it poured out of the intake. My first thought is floats stuck? I have both carbs cleaning as I type. They needed to be cleaned anyways. Anyone have any ideas what else can cause that problem? Head gasket? I didn't find any coolant in oil just gas. but There could have been antifreeze in the carb? It looked like antifreeze when I pulled the carbs apart. And it gets worse fella's, the neutral light stays on and the bike wont go into gear. I wench so I went through the easy stuff first. cable and pawl and the springs. everything seems to check out fine. So the rod with the pedal slides side to side. The tie rod seems find because on the other side it moves with the pedal. pawl moves but gears wont turn. Im looking for a miracle here and hoping someone can help me to victory! I have the motor out of the frame to make things easier.

I cant thank you guys enough!~ With out the pro's, us little guys cant do it.
 

· Registered
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6 Posts
Discussion Starter · #2 ·
Hello fella's,
I will get straight to the point. I have gas in the oil. I ran the bike and it poured out of the intake. My first thought is floats stuck? I have both carbs cleaning as I type. They needed to be cleaned anyways. Anyone have any ideas what else can cause that problem? Head gasket? I didn't find any coolant in oil just gas. but There could have been antifreeze in the carb? It looked like antifreeze when I pulled the carbs apart. And it gets worse fella's, the neutral light stays on and the bike wont go into gear. I wench so I went through the easy stuff first. cable and pawl and the springs. everything seems to check out fine. So the rod with the pedal slides side to side. The tie rod seems find because on the other side it moves with the pedal. pawl moves but gears wont turn. Im looking for a miracle here and hoping someone can help me to victory! I have the motor out of the frame to make things easier.

I cant thank you guys enough!~ With out the pro's, us little guys cant do it.[/
 

· Super Moderator
2003 VN750
Joined
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11,405 Posts
What year?

Stuck float can get you fuel in the oil, as will a clogged air bleed.

Will it go into 1st gear at all? Kawi has the positive neutral finder that only gets you 1st and neutral when the bike isn't moving. If you have an earlier model, those have a smaller diameter shift rod inside that's prone to breaking. But it does sound like the spring clip has slipped off it's perch.

Antifreeze in the carb, highly unlikely. Could it have been old yellow gas?
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· ..have a vulcan good day!
Joined
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4,630 Posts
Hello fella's,
I will get straight to the point. I have gas in the oil. I ran the bike and it poured out of the intake. My first thought is floats stuck? I have both carbs cleaning as I type. They needed to be cleaned anyways. Anyone have any ideas what else can cause that problem? Head gasket? I didn't find any coolant in oil just gas. but There could have been antifreeze in the carb? It looked like antifreeze when I pulled the carbs apart. And it gets worse fella's, the neutral light stays on and the bike wont go into gear. I wench so I went through the easy stuff first. cable and pawl and the springs. everything seems to check out fine. So the rod with the pedal slides side to side. The tie rod seems find because on the other side it moves with the pedal. pawl moves but gears wont turn. Im looking for a miracle here and hoping someone can help me to victory! I have the motor out of the frame to make things easier.

I cant thank you guys enough!~ With out the pro's, us little guys cant do it.
I am not an expert, but sounds like you nailed it..."Stuck Float".

The shift shaft side-side movement is caused by a missing "Cir-Clip" on shift shaft. I placed a 1" piece of hose, slit down the side onto the shaft holding the shaft out. Worked fine 5 K miles / 3+ years, upon tear down, replaced "Cir_Clip".

There is a "Shift-Rod" inside the left casing which has been known to break, often thought to break when stomping on the gear shifter too hard. The old "rod" size is 5mm, new replacements are 8mm. As a precautionary, I replaced mine while the cases were split.

hope this helps
:smiley_th
 

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Discussion Starter · #6 ·
sorry guys I have been living in the garage..

The bike is a 94. I put every thing back together today and fired it up. the float bowls are great now and I was able to get it shifting. Nothing major was wrong. Just stuck.

But as you all must know there are still some bugs to figure out. I can get it to run but dies right away. It will not idle. I have spark and compression and I have gas. But it runs like its only using one cylinder. Both pipes get warm.

Im about to pull out the hair I have left. Any Ideas? What should the air mixture screws start out at?

I want to thank every one of you for the help and advice! Very much appreciated!
 

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Discussion Starter · #9 ·
thanks I had them out 2 1/2. I noticed that the rear 2 cylinders were not firing and gas was flowing in. I took the carbs back off which is not going to be easy putting back in. so if there is any trick or special order please inform me.

I did find out that the float needle was stuck up again. I took a closer look at it and it has grooves on two sides of the slides. what a bummer.

Once again you guys are awesome and if you were some cute girls I would kiss you all. But I think a round of beers would be best for all of us.
 

· ..have a vulcan good day!
Joined
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4,630 Posts
sorry guys I have been living in the garage..

But as you all must know there are still some bugs to figure out. I can get it to run but dies right away. It will not idle. I have spark and compression and I have gas. But it runs like its only using one cylinder. Both pipes get warm.

Im about to pull out the hair I have left. Any Ideas? What should the air mixture screws start out at?
I had intermittent idle problems...finally made time to check it out (awaiting a stator have not ridden for weeks !) .....discovered rear cylinder carb boot not fully on and a loose clamp.

:smiley_th
 

· 1986 VN750
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3,257 Posts
thanks I had them out 2 1/2. I noticed that the rear 2 cylinders were not firing and gas was flowing in. I took the carbs back off which is not going to be easy putting back in. so if there is any trick or special order please inform me.

I did find out that the float needle was stuck up again. I took a closer look at it and it has grooves on two sides of the slides. what a bummer.

Once again you guys are awesome and if you were some cute girls I would kiss you all. But I think a round of beers would be best for all of us.
The only trick I know in regards to installation of the carbs is the more colorful vocabulary you have the better.

Sent from Motorcycle.com Free App
 

· ..have a vulcan good day!
Joined
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4,630 Posts
I had intermittent idle problems...finally made time to check it out (awaiting a stator have not ridden for weeks !) .....discovered rear cylinder carb boot not fully on and a loose clamp.

:smiley_th
Yesterday, after 1 1/2 hours, 3 beers and two palm screwdriver stabs ....I called it a nite.

This evening, after three attempts I became successful to include the clamp (only one beer LOL). Guess what ? No change in symptoms.
Rpm's vary +/- 100 when holding @ 3K, 4K & 5K. Occasional exhaust popping on accel, much popping on decel. As the engine warms up, RPM's rise...up to 3K. Re-adjust idle to 1K...rpm's will fall off ...stalling. With idle set @ 1K, blip the throttle momentarily up to 3K-4K...sometimes idle will hang @ 2K.

Any help for this situation would be greatly appreciated.
:smiley_th
 

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2,189 Posts
William, most of your symptoms could be caused by an overly lean condition. Are you sure you have the intake problems fixed?

You say you have not ridden but apparently are running the bike. Can you ride it? Or if you have ridden it short distance lately, any other symptoms?

If you pull the choke on some does the symptoms improve?
 

· ..have a vulcan good day!
Joined
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4,630 Posts
Loose/leaky rear carb boot/clamp....
Yesterday, after 1 1/2 hours, 3 beers and two palm screwdriver stabs ....I called it a nite.

This evening, after three attempts I became successful to include the clamp (only one beer LOL). Guess what ? No change in symptoms.
Rpm's vary +/- 100 when holding @ 3K, 4K & 5K. Occasional exhaust popping on accel, much popping on decel. As the engine warms up, RPM's rise...up to 3K. Re-adjust idle to 1K...rpm's will fall off ...stalling. With idle set @ 1K, blip the throttle momentarily up to 3K-4K...sometimes idle will hang @ 2K.

Any help for this situation would be greatly appreciated.
:smiley_th
EDIT: Exhaust popping suspected from upon engine installment, missing exhaust pipe gaskets. I had New_Rider9984 install w/o gaskets due to lack of funds. Yes, new header (doughnut) gaskets and original left
exhaust pipe gaskets. All others (goat's belly) absent.
Bike starts w/little or no choke @ 60+ *




William, most of your symptoms could be caused by an overly lean condition. Are you sure you have the intake problems fixed?

You say you have not ridden but apparently are running the bike. Can you ride it? Or if you have ridden it short distance lately, any other symptoms?

If you pull the choke on some does the symptoms improve?
Stator failing...awaiting on New_Rider9984 for my TPE Stator.
Minimal charging....but will not trust it down the road, my battery Tender is keeping the battery up for tests.
Could be lean...(because of my travels) New_Rider was not given enough time to tweak carbs out totally.
Re-checked rear carb vacuum intake...plugged, all good. I am thinking....maybe coasters are not completely re-sealed.

Once warmed up (when major problems appear - requiring adjustment) choke will kill the engine.
Yes, I ride for testing......No other symptoms.
Bottom Line: 3K difference between cold / hot idle setting & variable rpm (+/- 100-150 rpm) @ 3K - 5K rpm.

:smiley_th
 

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Discussion Starter · #19 ·
wmsonta

Yes it is a 750. This clearly is not a smart question but I will be dumb and ask. Why are there 4 spark plugs with 2 cylinders?

I got the bike together tonight and everything seems to work good. First time I got to ride since my accident on my xj550 seca.

I fell in love with this bike and now I don't know which bike to sell. Seca or Vulcan?
 

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422 Posts
Each cylinder has two spark plugs because Kawasaki designed it that way, it may be because the flame path inside the combustion chamber would be too long with only one plug located in the side. It looks as though the engine layout and space meant the designers were compromised when it came to ignition and hence could not locate the plug centrally in the top of the head. Mind you they know a lot more about this sort of stuff than I ever will ! Planes often have twin plugs to give redundancy and one of the checks is to kill one of the magnetos and note that the engine revs drop, so it looks like two are better than one! Your unstable tickover does sound like a manifold air leak of some sort, maybe a crack in the rubber carb mount ?
 
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