Hello,
I am having issues with cold starts. Previously I have spent a great deal of time messing with the carb increasing jet size, and messing with the pilot screw mostly. The previous owner installed an after market exhaust and air filter, and the carb is jetted in accordance to the manufacture. This has not improved the starting behavior of the motorcycle especially if it below 45ish degrees and is nearly impossible to start, even with a large hill, if it is below freezing. I usually just bump start the motorcycle now, but it does not start enthusiastically. I have changed the battery, and the sparkplugs. So I'm not entirely sure now what could be causing this issue, and wanted to hear what people have as common issues. Two things which have been suggested previously by friends are a leaky petcock and bad valve spacing. If you guys have any other possible ideas I would love to hear it. Also the wiring was left as a rats nest by the previous owner, so maybe there are some electrical gremlins but I don't want to redo the entire wiring harness on a hunch.
Thanks for any input,
Edward

 

Use the jetting in D Pippin's KLX page. I've started my bike in single digit cold, 8°F and frequently started without choke on hot summer days. Both my brother and I have that jetting and even the 2.5 turns out on the idle mix screw, a "plug and play" worked immediately with no change. That jetting was worked out back around 2008 from what I found. It ain't dyno perfect, but then again it didn't have the dyno time cost.

Here's the link click here

 

Hello,
Thanks for the recommendation. I will look at how the carburetor is currently setup since I know it has been modified for the exhaust.
Thanks,
Edward Shea

 

@edwardshea Yeah, you never know, someone may have tried jetting and it could be totally wrong. In looking about, I found everyone that did the jetting like Doug has listed didn't have any problems. It was all through Kawasaki making it relatively easy to get the right stuff. Some here have the information if it was Dynojet. Their jetting may be more accurate for peak horsepower, but when one doesn't have dyno access it's not quite as cut and dry. Plus for most of us absolute max just isn't as important as just plain clean running.