FZRSupport: the FZROnline Archive

First off, many thanks to forums like these that have a wealth of knowledge contributing to a great site!

I am a 36 year old guy who has been out of the street bike world for 10 years. I was really looking forward to getting back on the street, but my hopes look like they will be shattered for now...

I am trying to resurrect an old bike that was taken apart, packed into boxes, and was long forgotten by it's last owner... And things were going great until it was time to fire up the old girl. After a few months of putting my puzzle back together, it was time to pour some gas in and bring my project to life! It started almost instantly, ran nice for maybe 10 seconds, then seemed to run on 3 cylinders, then 2...then barely keep going. Lots of smoke, seemed to be blueish. I checked for spark, and seemed to be good. Felt the pipes, and cyl 1 and 3 were cold. Thinking it was a fuel problem, I pulled off the carbs again and noticed that down the intake stacks was coolant pooling on top of the valves. Wow.

My question is... Do these bikes have a common head gasket problem? Do they notoriously crack heads? Is it something else that I can check?

If anyone can supply any advice it would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks for now!!!

Sorry guys, it's a '91, not a '99......

Yzboy99 wrote: My question is... Do these bikes have a common head gasket problem? Do they notoriously crack heads? Is it something else that I can check?

If anyone can supply any advice it would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks for now!!!

Nice to have you here.

No, not a .."common head gasket problem", or "notoriusly crack heads".

Stored bikes in general have ."common head gasket problem", or "notoriusly crack heads".

a) the bike was in crates for a reason-the last owner has some reason for parking it then tearing it down....maybe the head gasket popped on him....maybe he seriuosly overheated it and cracked/warped the head. Your description of seeing coolant in the intake runners leads me to believe that the head IS cracked...head gasket leakage is not likely to show there.

b)storage itself is hard on engines..corrosion happens...especially between dis-similar metals..coolant gets dilute and freezes, or becomes a rust puddle


Head are fairly cheap and fairly plentiful, hell, so are engines.

Keep on with the project!

+1 on perseverance. Don't throw in the towel, brudda!

NDB

Don't give up on it, these are great running bikes! I've been going through something similar, but only because the PO abused the hell out of it. I bartered for a semi-running FZR600 that ended up having a blown head gasket. Whole inside of the motor was coated in white goo, was surprised that it ran at all honestly.
if you are willing to do the work you can find an intact cylinder head for pretty cheap and do a top end build. If you would rather just bolt up and go you can also find complete engines typically for less than $500 depending on where you live and who you ask. I just picked up a nice motor for mine for $450, and the guy has 3 more sitting in his garage (this was the nicest one, was off of a wrecked bike). He races WERA with a modded FZR 400 and stockpiles 600 parts too for some reason... Get the seller to do a compression test on each cylinder to see if they are close in spec with each other.
Good luck with your project, and keep with it. It will be worth it.

I have also heard that our bikes eat intake valves, so perhaps one cupped and got eaten