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My zxrs been sounding a bit 3 cylinder like for a few weeks now, has new plugs and all fire, i had the plugs out last week and noticed the 2nd plug was wet and black as opposed to the rest being as they should, so i adjusted the carb mixture on no2 carb, now it picks up loads better but still sounds like crap.I am going to balance the carbs in the week when i get chance but thinking about it last night it seems to feel like its getting water into the fuel if you know what i mean?!

There are no signs of head gasket going which i'm pretty sure of, and thinking about it its been like it since the end of june when we had the torrential rain storms and the bike would have been sat in the car park at work uncovered so guess this may have something to do with it?

Had one of the carbs apart a few weeks back and it was mint inside so didn't bother checking the rest, think i will do before i balance the carbs tho'

anyone any ideas what else it may be?

float valve holder o-ring ?

HT lead shorting to the head ?

if its water in one of the carbs, just drain the float bowls, should clear it, and it a damn site easier than stripping them all.

i thought i had drained all the float bowls previously but now can't remember (had a drink since then) so think i'll do that again anywayz rather than strip em then balance and see what happens then.If they were out of balance would they make the bike sound rough like its running on 3?

nah, it'd just be a bit vibey in the midrange.

is it actually down on 1 cylinder ? or just sounds weird ?

start her up from cold and see which header pipe takes longest to heat up.

it fires on all 4 have checked all plugs just sounds crap, its a bit hesitant but runs fine.

bloody ell what a different carb balancing makes, the carbs were miles out, god knows how that happened but they went from 8 - 15 cm Hg between cylinders, all sync'd up now and running soo much better, still not 100% so will look at mixtures later.

yeh, i spent years doing 'em on the bench with an allen key.. it's ok, but nowt compared to getting 'em set for the bike with proper kit.

i used the carbtune mk2 bloody cracking bit of kit.

mmmmm a morning out in the monsoon and its running like toad again! think i'll try new HT leads next.

sounds like its shorting to the cam cover mate, bit of silicon sealant should sort it.. or whip the cover off and repaint it to provide some insulation.

is there a "clicky" noise when its playing up ? if so this is it arcing to the cover.

My XJR used to do that, always thought the ticking was one of the valves but its where it was shorting to the frame. Used to do it mainly when it was cold or wet, never when the weather was warm. Bit of insulation tape and its a good'un.

zimm wrote: is there a "clicky" noise when its playing up ? if so this is it arcing to the cover.

nah its too lumpy to here any clicks.

masterofinsanity wrote:i used the carbtune mk2 bloody cracking bit of kit.

want to earn a few quid?

come to me and i'll do it for nowt.