www.zxrworld.co.uk

Hi there,
The Mrs has had the sense to buy a mint 91 zxr 400 in candy blue, a beautiful bike, which starts on the button since i replaced the faulty reg/rectifier, but i also have a friend with an H-reg zxr 400 which just refuses to start.
She bought the bike a while ago and it ran fine, but due to an injury she hasn't used it for about 10 months and even with lots of advice about starting it weekly, she hasn't! Now it won't start!

When i looked at it all the idiot lights were working and the positional lights and indicators were getting power and the battery seemed to be holding enough charge, but when i tried to start the bike all i got was a mechanhical buzzing ( much like one of those comedy hand buzzers) which was accompanied by the rev counter flicking up and down. The engine wouldn't turn over, even when i tried jumping it using jump cables and then the tried and tested running it down the road and flicking it into gear.

I'm pretty new to bike maintenance so i was hoping somone here may know or be able to suggest what the problem is, or where to start looking.

Any advice gratefully accepted.

You have a flat battery...........combine that with a bike that has been laid up for 10 months and the ZXR400 trait of not wanting to start after long periods of no use.
If your still retrying to start it using the fuel that was in it 10 months ago that won't be helping either.
Unleaded fuel is crap and it degrades also it can form gum like deposits in the carbs once again causing starting problems.
It could be that the battery is shot after siting for so long they do not like to be cycled they are designed to stay charged and will sulfate if stored incorrectly

The cure.......................

Recharge you battery properly using a proper bike battery charger like an Optimate.Or buy a new battery
While your waiting empty the tank and get the carbs off and cleaned out drain the fuel pump and fuel lines...............put them back together properly.

Once you have the carbs back on remove and clean the spark plugs. While the plugs are out check for a good spark on each one and on each lead.


Now the clever bit...............get you self a small funnel that will fit the fuel pipe and use it as a little mini fuel tank ........now warm he plugs a hot air gun is good for this before they get cold stick em back in and with a little fresh fuel in the funnel turn the engine over on the starter with full choke............if it doesn't start then repeat same trick with plugs and try again..............try it with no choke a full throttle........... or no choke and no throttle. If the battery goes flst recharge it and try again. Or use some jump leads fom a bigger battery

All of that assumes that the bike was running fine before it was laid up any problems it had then will still be there.

angermanagement wrote:rev counter flicking up and down.

classic tell tale sign of tha dead battery, better off trying a new one.

Brilliant!!

Thanks for the quick replies, it's given me somewhere to start and hopefully I'll get her bike back on the road in time for the start of the good weather.

Hiya.

I had a buzzing sound coming from my bike near the riders seat, I changed the battery for a new the old one was drained, the regulator got changed because it was fried.

I still had the buzzing noise but not as bad I called an auto electrician out and he diagnosed the buzzing noise coming from the fuel pump (it was knackered) bought a secondhand one, not fitted yet due to myself working away it will get fitted sometime in the next two weeks.

Hope this helps.