Redex causing issues ??? Or just a coincidence ???

[stug]

Surely the exhaust must be rattling around with some of the springs not attached properly.
That would cause a fair bit of rattling if they are loose.

[zimm]

sounds like a lot of little things catching up with one another ..

if you like i could come round and have a look over it ?

im back and forth to stourbridge fairly regularly so it wouldnt be far out of my way.

[reds]

thanks for all the input guys.

first thing i will get done is plug clean, see if that makes any difference to it

the springs have been like that since I first had the bike (for some reason they have all been cut), and havent caused a rattle before + its only at between 4 and 5K revs, so dont think they are the issue.

zimm thanks very much for the kind offer. I am in stourport though not stourbridge, still not that far away - gonig to have a look over plugs / clean, maybe even replace, check all the seals in and out of carbs, check the coolant level, and i think whip off the fuel pump / pipe and see if their is any crud in it, caused by the redex (figured this might be another reason for dodgy fueling???)

anything else worth checking over / looking at whilst the bikes in bits !!!

[zimm]

lol, i know you're in stourport ! which when im going from hereford to stourbridge is .. on my way

things to check ?

everything, your bike has so many symptoms its probably lots of little niggles sitting on top of each other.. doesnt sound terminal though.

spark plugs
spark plug leads
fuel lines
fuel filter
carb settings
carbs blocked (water?)
head gasket... camchain ... etc etc ..

[reds]

ah right - see what you mean, will see how i get on with replacing sparks, see if that helps, and will work through your checklist, then post results !

cheers

[reds]

hi guys - right had a good old strip tonight, have a few picks to show.

carbs seem fine / clean, not sticking at all, sliding freely




theses are the sparks, they look to be in pretty good nick to me ? will replace anyway, cables going into them look good too, no sign of corrosion





fuel tap may be an issue, was set to off, but seemed to keep on leaking petrol

header tank for coolant was empty - was full to max fill line less than a month ago, have topped it up now

fuel pump / lines seem ok, took the pump off, blew through it and it pushed the petrol left in their out without any hassle, then could feel the air coming through too. am a bit concerned about the length of the tube from the fuel pump to the carbs - seems quite long - should i shorten it ???


the silicon from before seems to all be intact still, so dont think this is why the hunting has come back.



any suggestions what to look at next ??? if i do the head gasket does it mean dropping the engine out ??? also is there anyway i can double check the cam tensioner - is it safe to run the engine / throttle with the cover off ?

sorry for yet more questions, but i am slowly learning

[RedexRobB]

You'll need to strip the carbs to get a proper assesment of thier condition, but your doing that anyway. Any crap in the float bowls needs to be cleaned out, check the float needles, they should be nice n pointy, the float needle seat o'rings should also be checked. Soak the jets in carb cleaner overnight in a jam jar or similar with the lid on. That should give them a good clean. Also check the rubbers which can be got too by taking the top of the carbs off, check for splits and make sure they are seated properly during assembly. Having a tray for all the screws will come in handy too.

Plugs look a little bit sooty to me, should be a nice lightly toasted colour with the ceramic insulator white in colour.

Quite common for the taps to not work properly, a new tap iirc is around 12 quid, alternatively i think you can buy a new rubber seal kit from wemoto.

Header tank - obviously shouldnt be emptyso it could be consuming it but i know it spewed some out at some point didnt it?

Best way to test the fuel pump is to wire it directly upto the battery and it should start chugging fuel out. The length of the pipe shouldnt matter too much, so long as no kinks appear when all assembled it should be ok.

Head gasket is an engine out job, you can test it with a compression tester which will tell you if it has blown. iirc starting the engine with the rocker cover off will splatter oil everywhere. You can turn the motor over using a 19mm socket on the pickup where the cam chain tensioner is, do not use a hex key. I think the only other way to check the tensioner is to take it out, which is a cams out job i think.

[reds]

thanks rob for the detailed post

had a chat with baz about it all last night when i picked up the spark plugs. going to dissassemble carbs / clean this weekend, got a new set of plugs to go in too - hopefully doing that, along with clearing out the fuel pump should get rid of the idle / hunting / overheating issue. would it be worth draining the coolant again (i did do this about 300 miles ago though!)

baz reckons it has to be the cam chain or something associated that is causing the weird rattlnig noise between 4 and 5K revs, so once engine is running ok again, will have a look at that / replace and see if that sorts the issues out - I have forwarned him that i may be swinging by for a bit of help with that !!!

[Ballsout Racing]

Plugs look black to me ie faarked they should be a light biscuity colour when you look down in the centre

Red ex, Why ??? Fuel companies and engine designers spent milliions, err, perhaps billions on development, I suppose perhaps maybe Red ex have found something that no one else has

EDIT: oopps sorryy, sipped page 2, seems problems are a little more serious

[reds]

right, Update !!!

New sparks in, carbs / pipes cleaned = first time fire, no more hunting, idling comfortably at 1200rpm -

BAD NEWS:

Still has rattling between 4-5K (doesnt seem to be as loud now though ) - pretty sure its a cam chain job

Overheating still (i think) - ever since I have had the bike the needle has never gone above the first two white lines, i took it just around my estate (under a mile) and the fuel guage was already coming onto halfway - so seems to be overheating. what should i now investigate to remedy this ?

Checked fuse for fan = OK, should i try draining the system next?

[extonyg]

fuel guage haha......
the bike will warm up quicker just on slow spends,and idling i would take it for a ride and see if the TEMP guage still goes up with air getting to the radiator.if it does you could have a blocked radiator possibly i think there was a thread recently about someone having this problem.

[RedexRobB]

Id go for the kill and buy a compression tester (£20 from halfords) and check that head gasket. The problem i had on my first ZXR was it was very getting warm very quickly and a tapping appeared, that was because the headgasket had blown and cooked the cam and ruined a couple of the cam lobes. If thats ok then id say you can safely assume for it to be the cam chain tensioner or cam chain needing renewing and maybe needing the coolant system flushed.

Its good news for the rest of it tho, sounds like your on your way to fixing it

[reds]

thanks rob - any idea what diameter adapter i need for the 400 ??? as seems to be a choice of two

how big a job is headgasket ? assume its dropping the engine out - any idea of rough costs - would I be better getting a newer engine off of ebay (mines at about 42,000 - but i dont know how much of that is km, and how much is miles !)

[masterofinsanity]

they usually come with the adaptors mate?

[RedexRobB]

There is one for cars and one for bikes, one larger and one smaller respectively, i think. Try and find the specs for the spark plugs you use, the thread size and pitch is bound to be there, that should guide you as to which you need to buy