FZRSupport: the FZROnline Archive

Ok, so like I said in my intro post I bought a clear title 95 fzr600 for $400 a few months ago and finally started troubleshooting it this past weekend. What I know thus far: PO apparently jumped the bike before I bought it (from a running vehicle, dont know) Could he have fried the regulator? I took it for a test drive, bike would not idle on its on had to give it slight revs to idle. Carb cleaning & sync in order?

What I have tested: I checked the battery with my multimeter: 12.42 volts (key off), 12.26 volts (key on), 9.65 volts (when trying to start, lowest voltage reached). I checked for spark on cylinders 1,2 & 4. Cylinders 1 & 4 no spark. Cylinder 2 faint spark. Would you then assume i need new ignition coils and spark plug wires? Also checked 3 white wires coming from stator to regulator got readings of .4 to.5 ohms..From what I read if battery is showing 12 plus volts regulator is good?

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated. Im a motorcycle repair newb but I want to learn..Thanks..

Well, congrats and welcome to the joyful world of project bikes! Sadly you may have entered one of the least enjoyable areas, the often dark and sometimes shocking Electric Jungle!

Firstly we know the bike has sat for at least 4 months without running; so first things first, clean the carbs and maybe some fresh gas. The idle jets are tiny and clogged easily. Clean and Sync (a bench sync will be good enough to start)

It sounds like you are no stranger to troubleshooting (the fact that you own/know how to use a multimeter); most of your readings seems fine actually.

I would clean (with a wire brush/sand paper) or replace the spark plugs before I'd think about the coils.

After Cleaning the Carbs and Spark Plugs try to start her up again and see if anything has changed.

Good Luck!

p.s. do you hear the Fuel Pump run when you first turn on the bike?

Yes, forgot to mention when I turn the key and enable the kill switch I hear the glorious click click of what i have found is the fuel pump. Also one can assume that the kill switch and side stand switch are functioning as intended as I am able hear the fuel pump and crank the motor with the sidestand down while in neutral. Also, I replaced the plugs with 4-new NGK cr8E's as pep boys was out of cr9e's iirc.. With all this being said though, considering the lack of spark from cyl 1 & 4 and the faint spark from cyl 2 would you assume one of the problems is ignition coils? I wish I could rule out the igniter but from what I have found there is not a test for that.. Thanks for the replies.

One other thing (surely not the last) when attempting to start the bike on a few occasions I get a considerable backfire out of the exhaust (D & D slip-on) which still scares the Shi+!! out of me. I realize the carbs need to be cleaned and synced but I would like to rectify the spark/ignition issue first..

Kenny two guns wrote:Yes, forgot to mention when I turn the key and enable the kill switch I hear the glorious click click of what i have found is the fuel pump. Also one can assume that the kill switch and side stand switch are functioning as intended as I am able hear the fuel pump and crank the motor with the sidestand down while in neutral. Also, I replaced the plugs with 4-new NGK cr8E's as pep boys was out of cr9e's iirc.. With all this being said though, considering the lack of spark from cyl 1 & 4 and the faint spark from cyl 2 would you assume one of the problems is ignition coils? I wish I could rule out the igniter but from what I have found there is not a test for that.. Thanks for the replies.

One other thing (surely not the last) when attempting to start the bike on a few occasions I get a considerable backfire out of the exhaust (D & D slip-on) which still scares the Shi+!! out of me. I realize the carbs need to be cleaned and synced but I would like to rectify the spark/ignition issue first..

You are in the low range for battery voltage..especially while cranking. Top off the battery and give it a loooong slow cook(.5 amp) . You may be able to recover it.

This is probably where your weak spark problem lies. That and poor connections.

Outright coil failure would be an extremely rare deal and would affect 2 cylinders at once (#1 & #4, 2# & #3) . Clean all contacts, get a battery with grunt in there, trim back the coil leads and try again.

I agree with Razor's comments; Also the Backfiring is from un-burnt fuel vaporizing and igniting in your exhaust... I had this happen with a CB350 a few months ago and my buddy RAN out of the garage!

*You might try push starting it a few times... Sounds weird, but recently my FZR sat for a few weeks and it would not start. The battery eventually sounded weak from cranking it; so i tried push starting the bike; (a decent jog and popped the clutch in 2nd gear) and it fired right up. ** If you've never done this it isn't hard, just be ready to pull the clutch back in so your bike doesn't drive away...

Battery voltage numbers slightly improved by .50 or so after sitting on the trickle charger all day. Also ordered a badly needed repair manual from amazon as well. Thanks for the replies..

Still on the low side. It good shape freshly charged you should see real close (or more than) 13Vdc.

The TCI ignition on these bikes is very very sensitive to low voltage

It's the voltage drop under cranking that really concerns me. That battery is fully capable of a surface charge but it has not grunt (CCA/grunt/torque). This is where getting the fluid topped up and a looong slow charge may get the battery back to healthy..I'm talking 18 hours of charge time. Mind you it does no good if the fluid is low.

The voltage drop is also indicative of resistance in the circuit. While you wait out the charge, clean everything that you can that conducts electricity. Get some spray "electrical contact cleaner" and a wire brush (tootbrush style) and get to scrubbing. Goop them all up with dielectric grease on re-assembly. A common point of corrosion/resistance is at the starter solenoid and the big main chassis harness plug. The stator plug is a bad spot too, but basically shouldn't have anything to do with ignition.

The spark leads often get crappy right where they join the spark plug boots..unscrew(or pull off) the boots and trim the leads back about a quarter inch and re-install teh boots-they should screw into the wire firmly. . Check the boots for resisitance..I believe they should be between 5 and 10k ohms..it usually says on the boot body. This is one place where you WANT resistance. As long as it's in spec, and not 'open' you should be fine there. Dielectric grease is a good idea in the plug boot socket as well.

I reluctantly threw in the towel on my old battery and picked up a new battery from cycle gear today (after wasting my time at pep boys) On the trickle charger while I removed the carbs, fuel filter, fuel pump, tank etc. Spent alot of time today cleaning carbs, fuel filter, dumping gas from tank etc. There was a nice amount of sediment in the carbs, filter and tank. Also, trimmed back spark plug wires, reseated boots, cleaned alot of electric with contact cleaner and applied dialectric grease as suggested. Quite the learning experience thus far but enjoyeable nonetheless. I will finish putting everything back together this week and hopefully it works.. If not I will be here once again asking you knowledgeable fellows for more suggestions.. Thanks for your assistance thus far..

Update: finally got back to working on the FZR reassembling all I removed. Upon completion I attempted to start her up today. No go once again with an added bonus, fuel spewing from the petcock. After a break I got back at it with my 10 yr old son at my side handing me tools. Minor tweaking of the "wavy washer" inside of the petcock was enough to stop the leak. Once again, gave her a shot and OMG!! she started up and caused my son to run for the hills. Thanks for all of the suggestions from everyone here, couldn't have done it without ya's. Now to remedy a new problem, leaky carb..

Lol, man I was too late for this one. I was thinking it was the battery. Reelrazor knows his stuff. I am bummed I'm too late to help

Thanks but its all good. It appears it was a combination of battery, alot of crud in the carbs & fuel filter (real gritty like sand), old gas and electrical maintenance. Just glad I was able to get it going, was starting to loose hope for a quick minute.. Man, what an exhilarating feeling finally hearing her start up! Saturday was a great day!!

I'm also sure the mouse nest I found in the air box didn't help matters when I first bought the bike either, ..

Okay I did in fact get the FZR to start and run albeit roughly however it will only start right after a pull the new battery off the trickle charger. Is the "igniter" that sensitive to a slight dip in voltage on these bikes or do you guys think it could be something else? Also, I noticed the rear tail light has a dancing/pulsating motion to it as soon as I turn the key on. Surely that could effect the battery but is that a desired effect from PO or could it be an electrical issue?.. Thoughts or suggestions are appreciated..

Thanks,
Ken