Ok. I won't try to be brief, because that is what happens on every other forum/blog/site that I've visited on the 'net since March of this year. Every person that has had the same problem I am currently having, or something similar, always ends up stopping their thread before the solution is put up (sever mechanical blue *****, not cool) or the thread is deleted because too many years went by.

Please don't tell me about some other thread, unless you can provide a link to it, and it is working, current, and helpful.

I am currently living in South Korea, as an English teacher, and I purchased a 1990 (not really sure which year, because of the import market, paperwork gets messed up pretty easily) Kawasaki En 500. The paper work says 1994, the frame number puts it as a 1991, and the Engine is Stamped with Ex500###### and the numbers on that put it as a 1990. The bike was used as a delivery bike before I bought it, which is the only way I could afford to buy a big bike in Korea. The delivery bike was severly abused/neglected/mistreated...pick your own term.

First things that had to be replaced were brakes, fork seals and the time chain and timing chain tensioner and a new exhaust system. I couldn't get a Jardine or other brand name exhaust over here (prices are unbelievable) so the mechanic made a custom one, by putting some mufflers from a Korean bike on it, pulling some of the baffles out, and making new headers. Looks great, and sounds nice. Just a tad louder than stock. Luckily I have a depenedable (enough) mechanic over here, and after a few days the bike was on the road. If I had a garage (or anything similar) the work would have all been done by myself. I am not a mechanic, but I tend to be quite talented with my hands, and I've been putting together old bikes since I was about 10 years old, and helping my dad rebuild them since I could hold a spanner. Lack of space limits the amount of work that can be done, as does monsoon season and early night falls.

The entire time I've owned the bike, I've battled a leaky fuel petcock, leaky float bowls, and rough idling (about once a month) and backfiring (following the wonky idling). When it would idle rough, I would drain the float bowls, and it always ran better afterwards. I always assumed some water got into it, or some dirt. I didn't put much effort into fixing the bike up, as it was just something to get me around when I couldn't be bothered to take the subway or a bus.

In March of this year, I went out for a ride, and the belt disentegrated on me. I was bummed, because I knew the belt would cost more than what the bike was worth, and I got lucky on Ebay and found a NOS belt and with shipping it was less than 100$. The bike sat for about a month, waiting for the belt to arrive.

Once I got the belt installed, I took it for a ride and it was fine. The next day, I was going to drive it to work, and the bike wouldn't start. Dead battery. I bought a trickly charger instead of a new battery, and recharged mine. I decided it was time to tackle the battery issue, and find out why my battery kept dying. I started by eliminating the extra lights/sirens and other wires that the PO had put on the bike when it was in service for deliverys. I also discovered that the main fuse block/relay was bad, the starter solenoid was shot, and the clutch/neutral switch was disabled. I got that sorted out in no time, again thanks to quick service from excellent En500 ebayers, only to still have a battery that wouldn't stay charged, but it was holding a charge longer now. I decided it had to be a problem with the Stator, Regulator or Flywheel Magneto. Upon taking off the alternator cover, I saw the famous shattered Kawasaki magnets. This is sometime around the begining of May. The bike has been sitting for a couple of months now, and before the belt fix it had also sat for about 4 months waiting out a winter. No it wasn't winterized, because it doesn't snow much here in the winter, so I drive it on sunny days. (driving is fun even in the extreme cold). Waiting for the new Flywheel to come in the mail (another ebay prize for less than 100$) I found out the seller shipped it to my address in America. It wouldn't get to Korea (by the time my dad shipped it) until sometime in June. I was going home at the end of July, so I told my dad to just wait, and not waste the money shipping it to my address in Korea. (keeping prices as low as possible on my project)

I came back to Korea at the end of August, with a new Magneto Flywheel, Brake rotor (mine was like a set of train tracks) brake pads front and rear, new regulator, a new c.d.i, and pod air filters for the carbs. The P.O. had removed the air filter, and drilled out the airbox, and never put in another filter. The bike ran, so I left it alone. Not having another EN500 to compare it to, I thought the performance was fine. It wasn't. I thought that once I got back it would be as simple as putting on the flywheel and starting the bike up.

It's been 2 weeks since I've been back to Korea, and I still can't get the bike to start. I put the flywheel on, a new stator, pickups, spark plugs, wires, caps and the regulator. The spark was so much stronger than before I started the work, I was sure that it would fire right away. All it did was backfire. Loudly. One time. I tried again, with a bit of starting fluid, hoping that the bike would catch and run on its own accord again, and the same loud backfire was my reward.

I took the carbs off, hoping to see a bunch of gunk inside, but they were spotless. I cleaned them anyhow, with a tooth brush, carb cleaner, q tips, and compressed air. I made sure the floats were at 17 mms, and if the bike ever starts up again, I'll be doing the carb synch with the oil-in-a-tube taped to a yard stick tool. I did spill some antifreeze in the cylinder when I took the valve cover off to set the valve clearances (thinking this would help it start and eliminate the chatter I hear when driving) The valves were within their tolerances. I think it was something around .015" for the front and .018" for the rear (whatever the normal range is, mine were right smack in the middle on all of them) Valves out of the way, I changed the oil to get rid of the Anti-freeze that spilled in. I reinstalled the spark plugs, (checked for spark) and found that the bike wouldn't even give me the heart-stopping backfire now.

According to everythign I read, the bike takes around 3.4 liters of oil. I also read that the window the oil should be about halfway. The bike only had about 2 liters in it, and the window was halfway, I hit three litres and the window was covered, it is possible that I measured wrong, I was doing a lot of the work by flashlight (never recomended, my wife wants me to start using her fathers garage. I would but he lives too far away to convienently work on the bike).

I need some insight to what could be keeping me from starting this bike, and having one last riding season before leaving Korea for the warmth of Arizona.

There is gas in the carbs, and good spark. When I put the pod air filters on, I blocked the vaccuum port on the carb, and used a rubber hose (until the Coasters come in the mail) to block off the reed valve air induction ports on top of the valve cover. I am going to the store right now to get a paper filter to put on the crankcase breather. (would this keep it from starting, if the crankcase breather has no filter on it?) Cleaning the carbs I discovered that the main jets didn't have the rubber o-rings or spacers, and the bowls were put together with some silicon sealant. I'm sure the other jets are messed up. I'm not looking for instant good running, I'm looking for somethign that shows it will start. I ordered the carb rebuild kit today, and I am ordering new Jets from Keihin. (I'm not sure which kind yet, I'm waiting for them to respond to an email I sent them, I will update with whatever they recomend).

I have made a lot of changes recently, and before I started it, the bike ran, just it wasn't worth a crap.
Can you please help me see whatever it is that I'm missing. I want to be thorough, because I also help many of my friends with bike stuff, and this is leaving me feeling cruddy not knowing what I did wrong or missed.

To sum it up, new plugs, wires, caps, flywheel, stator, wiring harness, starter relay, fuse box, c.d.i. unit, pod air filters, exhaust, valve cover.
The bike is getting gas, and it has good spark.
I can't bump start it.
I can't get it to backfire anymore.
It won't acknowledge starting fluid.

Sorry for being so long winded, I tried to keep it short.... I appreciate you taking your time to read through it, and I hope you can add some insight.

Once again thank you in advance for your help and support!

Josh

 

You need a good 24 hr soak to clean such things.

The carb build does look good for the most part otherwise.

 

I only soaked the carbs for about 3 or 4 hours.

They are coming back off, to get a proper rebuild kit put on. I used some gasket maker (it was only temporary, to see if it would fire while I was testing stuff) but still no go. The rebuild kit should be here in a few days (unless customs likes it....)

I'm thinking of trying to ultrasonicaly clean them. If the diaphragms are out, I don't see the harm in it. I saw a video on youtube of a guy that made one out of a palm sander...

Think it would actually work?

 

hmm, I do not have an opinion to that. I just soak, keep clean and rebuild.

 

Well, I think all the ultrasonic does is vibrate a lot, while something is soaking in cleaner...If the carb is in a container of carb cleaner..and its vibrating a lot...i can see it loosening dirt that would be hard to reach or stubborn...

(I got some crud in the corners of my carbs that I couldnt get at without scratching at it with a screwdriver or something...)

 

That was one novel of an opener, and I won't guess why but you may want to see a doctor about that.

I'm in the same boat. Changed the starter relay, starter motor, battery, starter clutch, etc. My girl is FI, but when I'd work on my older bikes I'd agree that the carbs are probably the first thing you should inspect. Since you've already done that, I'd have to ask how much fuel was sitting in the tank while it was inactive for a long time? If 1/2 a tank, it could be rust that's clogging the fuel filter, or a kink in the fuel line somewhere.

Always be sure to either a) fill it up prior to a long hibernation period, or b) empty the entire tank (including the spare). Any gap b/w the gas and the top of the tank is a perfect breeding ground for rust. Check the entire fuel line from the tank to the fuel pump, fuel filter and return.

 

I recently learned this, but just b/c your battery shows 12.5 (minimum) or 13.2, it still may need to be replaced. Your voltometer only checks the voltage, not the amperage. You may have checked the posts on the only two cells that held a charge; the others may not be holding anything.

Have you tried jumping it with a car? People have mixed feelings on this, the the law of Ohm will only allow the bike to draw as much juice as it needs, and no more. If the car jump starts the bike, then it's your battery.

When you have the trickle charger on the battery for 24 hours, how many volts does it read? If it tops out at 12.5 or lower, buy a new battery. If you check it before trying to start it, and it reads 13.2, then you try to start it a few times, and the voltage drops to a 12 or 11.5, you either need a new battery or there's a short somewhere in the line.

Just go to Wally World and spend $50 on a battery. Let it charge for about 24-36 hours and see if that works. If not, return it and get your money back.

Remember the holy trinity of combustion engines: fuel, air, spark.

 

Any recent news loudjosh81?

 

Yeah, I'm an english teacher, and i'm surrounded by non-english speakers...so i don't get the opportunity to read/write/speak as much as I'd like to, and sometimes...

I got the bike running after a while, then got lost in my school again. The problem ended up being a combination of things...including a petcock that was too small, (aftermarket korean made one) a kinked fuel hose, didn't have the flywheel seated all the way on and a broken wire going to the CDI unit.

But if it weren't for all the help i've found online, none of it would have been possible!

 

bikes been running fine for the past couple of months, but now due to the cold is being a bear to start. since it's not an issue for me to walk to work everyday (a whopping 10 minutes) i've been keeping the battery up next to my computer. WHen i do want to go for a ride, i just throw it in and the bike usually fires up.

I did discover, that after having the bike run with a crap battery for so long, the battery that is the correct amp/volts for the bike is too strong? the bike won't start until the battery wears down a bit, and then it fires right up. it's almost as if the fully charged battery is overpowering the starter....

Anyhow, until i leave Korea in the spring, the bike will serve me spledidly. Now its time for some paint and fixing a tear in the seat cover