To begin, the bike is a 2003 ZX-6R w/ 25k on the odometer. Its not a pretty bike (racing plastics w/ drilled holes for crappy headlights so its street legal, etc.) but its fast as **** and runs beautifully (or it did). It has a Hindle titanium high mount, +3 -2 sprockets, and PC III.

My troubles began about 4 days after I washed the bike. It started hesitating when it was idling or cruising. When slowing down, it started backfiring a bunch (more than normal), and at WOT it ran fine. Well I thought water had just gotten in the tank so I drained it, put in some HEET, and filled the tank back up, nothing. Replaced the spark plugs and check the injectors to make sure they were working properly. The bike ran better for about 20 min. and started messing up again. This was around a month ago.
Fast forward to now.......
The bike has been at my mechanics shop for 3 weeks now and they can't find the problem and have never seen a problem like this. They reprogrammed the PC III, changed everything I did, etc. The bike runs GREAT for 20 min. and then starts messing up. They ordered a fuel pressure gauge to make sure the fuel pump and filter are fine, and they are. They called the Kawasaki dealer (has a mechanic friend there) and he said the only thing he could think of was the throttle body, but if the throttle body is bad, the bike shouldn't even be turning over.

So basically no one has any idea what is wrong with the thing. They are now wondering if its an ignition problem, and are going to go that route. Supposedly, there is a computer associated with the throttle body. Could that be messing up, but still allowing the bike to turn over and run for a lil while?

I need this problem fixed and is creating a big problem for me. If anyone has any ideas what could be wrong, or if this sounds similar to something someone else has experienced, please let me know what happened and what I can do as I need this bike to run.....

Thanks.

 

It's possible that when you washed it, water had gotten in the sparkplug/ coilcavity and shorted to ground when you tried starting/ running it. It may have built up a carbon track and is still causing the spark toshort to ground. It could also be the Throttle position sensor; maybe it has water inside it and when it heats up, it shorts internally. The 05-06's had that problem. Best bet is to take the plug caps/coils & plugsoff and spray/ wipe them down with electrical parts cleaner. Make sure all the water is dry around and insidethe plug caps/ coil tubes. Next would be the throttle bodies. Look for any water that may have gotten inside. Maybe it is cracked from a crash or ?

 

wow, I was thinking about the moisture getting into the molex connectors ie the electrical connectors also, but disconnecting them and cleaning them with contact cleaner would be my first move. Do a good visual as you go through it.

 

heat and water are two things that both will cause problems with bad spark plug wires... I haven't looked at the diagrams for your year but assume it uses spark plug wires from the coils to the plugs. (not a coil on plug) when plug wires start to wear out water can encourage them to short through the insulation to the nearest ground. once they start doing this they will degrade very quickly and will do it anytime they start to get hot (heat increases resistance inthe wire and makes it want to jump to ground)

it may not be your problem at all, but its extremely common in cars.

 

His bike had the coil on plug but it can do the same thing as the plug wires. I've seen this common problem with cars too. A lost of my customers cars misfire problems occur after they wash the engine, especially if it's high pressure wash. It is also possible the connectors got water in them too like Dragone said. Check the connectors on the coils.

 

and always reassembly electrical stuff with dielectric grease ont he contacts. it prevents corrosion and water intrusion.

 

That's what I was going to say