I've got to do some troubleshooting on the daughters 01 ZX7 - she says its only getting about 85 miles out of a tank of gas as opposed to about 125 miles before. She says its a little rough too. So I'm going for the obvious first - I will replace the air filter and throw in a set of plugs but other than that is there anything else thats REAL obvious on that year bike?

The carbs dont have accelerator pumps, no one has fiddled with carbs or timing or anything else so I dont think its going to be in the carbs.

 

vlaves? edit: valves???

 

how long has she had the bike,isshe riding like shes trying to get pole a laguna?

 

how lond has the bike sat between rides when was the last fill befor the problem are you running the e 10 blend??

 

hmm, after the obvious stuff along with the tensioner. How many miles on the valves is of a good question.

 

i get exactly 160 miles to the tank on 93 (R+M) gas....

[sm=yeahsmile.gif]

is the bike real noisy at idle? if not, is there a mechanical bind somewhere? brakes dragging...axle nut too tight...junky chain...something of that nature..

has her riding style maybe changed to cause her to inadvertantly drag the rear brake?

the coils tend togo kinda weak on these bikes, so when they start to deteriorate, they just don't help create that "power" ....weak flamefront from a poorly ignited fuel/air mix.

ignition's a very tricky animal. not enoughspark powerand things suck. too much spark power and it'll actually blow the fuel away and not even ignite it.

those carbs are very simple to service. as long as you don't separate the carb bodies from their place, and don't get the parts mixed up, the synchronization will stay "in".

i take all of em apart the entire way when i service them (on any bike)
vacuum piston to jets and anything else that'll come out... its out and getting cleaned!

have you ever taken them apart? i don't wanna post a longass thingy here if you know what you're doing, but if you'd like a little intel, then i'll post back up with a step-by step and all if you so desire..

if you do take em apart, make sure to remove the float needle's seat from the carb body. (panhead, philips style screw holing it in, and it's o-ring sealed)
there's a tiny lil screen behind each seat, and they often accumulate tank rust and debris, thus throwing the A/F off and robbing power and economy.

since those babies are o-ringed, you can plop em straight back in with a lil twist, and they seat without leaking..

good luck bro..

have fun and be safe!

 

I know my daughter, she loves to talk big on this forum but she rides it pretty tame actually. She paid for the bike with her own money and she actually kinda babies it. Its been cool and slick in the mornings here for a while which is when she rides it - to college and back. She gets the good parking spots on campus by not driving her can for her morning classes. Theres really no physical change to the bike that I can see. But I'm out of town right now and wont be able to look at it till tomorrow. I'm going to go for real obvious stuff first.
'

 

that is the reason i started to ride every day, i go to school after work so i get to park next to the building i have class in, otherwise i would have to park far away and take a bus to class..

on the gas thing, the valves would be my guess

 

just pulled the tank and airbox cover. The airbox was all wet with fuel, and the K&N was really blocked with crud. Just from past experience I'm almost positive that this is going to be the cause. That blocked air filter is acting like a choke and making it suck more fuel. Looks like the daughter needs to drop 50 bucks for a new K&N.

 

what is wrong in cleaning the K&N and re-oiling?