When my 86 ZN1300 worms up to operating temperature, the idle and sometimes, but not always, pulse a little bit. The RPM will drop and go back up by approximately 100 RPM about once a second.
The other thing I notice when the motor gets hot, there's an ever so slight miss just off idle (may be related to above pulsing issue). It can be a bit unnerving with such a heavy bike to be making a left or right hand turn from a stop and there a slight miss just when starting to move.
Anyone else have any experiences like this? I tried running a couple of cans of SeaFoam through but that, not unexpectedly, didn't do anything (I must come clean that I'm absolutely not a believer in SeaFoam's 'Mechanic in a Can' claims but I tried it anyway)
ZN1300 idle pulsing
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Van Voyager
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Me Again
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Re: ZN1300 idle pulsing
There are a ton of things that could cause this .
when you first start the bike check the pipes and see if one or more is heating up slower than the rest .
This should help to localize the problem .In my case it's the 2 and 5 .
It could be as simple as a bad plug all the way back to a bad pulsar or valve .
In my case I do not have the equipment to run all the proper checks and I have parts bikes so it is easier to just swap a part and then move on .
Since both my cylinders run off the same coil I started there and work my way backwards .
In my case I have swapped out the plugs wires coil and igniter and DFI .I even changed a regulator that showed obvious signs of decay.
Each change seems to help but I still have not located the root cause .
I do not have the experience to set the valves ,the tools to change the pulsar or the courage to mess with the throttle position sensor .
You need to get a copy of the KZ base manual and the Voyager supplement to track it all down .
You can find these at https://www.kz1300.com
when you first start the bike check the pipes and see if one or more is heating up slower than the rest .
This should help to localize the problem .In my case it's the 2 and 5 .
It could be as simple as a bad plug all the way back to a bad pulsar or valve .
In my case I do not have the equipment to run all the proper checks and I have parts bikes so it is easier to just swap a part and then move on .
Since both my cylinders run off the same coil I started there and work my way backwards .
In my case I have swapped out the plugs wires coil and igniter and DFI .I even changed a regulator that showed obvious signs of decay.
Each change seems to help but I still have not located the root cause .
I do not have the experience to set the valves ,the tools to change the pulsar or the courage to mess with the throttle position sensor .
You need to get a copy of the KZ base manual and the Voyager supplement to track it all down .
You can find these at https://www.kz1300.com
-
Van Voyager
- Grand Tourer
- Posts: 435
- Joined: Wed Aug 30, 2017 8:01 am
- 7
- Current bike(s): 1986 Kawasaki ZN1300 Voyager
- Has liked: 46 times
- Been liked: 40 times
Re: ZN1300 idle pulsing
Good idea about checking the pipes, although I don't see the problem until the bike is hot and even then doesn't always occur but checking the pipes is an easy test. I've also known guys that have used an infrared temp gun to measure the difference in temp between hot pipes.
My bike has very low mileage: I'm guessing it has original plugs and pretty sure everything else in the ignition circuit is original. I'll start with taking a look at the plugs (because it's easy) but anything deeper can wait for the winter - it's not running bad enough right now to go nuts looking for the problem (I went for a 200 Km ride yesterday on the hottest day of the year - in these parts - and there was no 'pulsing' at all - go figure).
Setting the valves is relatively trivial and shims are still widely available (often you can swap shims within the same head to achieve the desired clearance). You can make your own shim - I still have the 40 year old tools I made to change the shims on my 77 KZ1000 (which use the same shims at the 1300). I suspect the official Kawi or Motion Pro shim tools are readily available on eBay as well.
My bike has very low mileage: I'm guessing it has original plugs and pretty sure everything else in the ignition circuit is original. I'll start with taking a look at the plugs (because it's easy) but anything deeper can wait for the winter - it's not running bad enough right now to go nuts looking for the problem (I went for a 200 Km ride yesterday on the hottest day of the year - in these parts - and there was no 'pulsing' at all - go figure).
Setting the valves is relatively trivial and shims are still widely available (often you can swap shims within the same head to achieve the desired clearance). You can make your own shim - I still have the 40 year old tools I made to change the shims on my 77 KZ1000 (which use the same shims at the 1300). I suspect the official Kawi or Motion Pro shim tools are readily available on eBay as well.