Hard to start?

[Guest]

Hi guys, i brought myself a zxr afew months back but haven’t been able to ride it until today due to not having a license. Boy does this bike move, i love it. Just afew questions tho

Are all zxr's hard to start when warm and if not any ideas why mine is? its just had new plugs in it.

The gearbox is very clunky between 1st & 2nd and 2nd & 3rd is this normal? If not any ideas why?

Just like to say what a great site this is.

Cheers
Josh

[RedexRobB]

Hiya Josh, welcome to the site!

It seems a few people have that hot starting problem also, no idea why it does it but your not the only one.

As for the clunky box, its just where you pass through neutral on the way to 2nd gear, nothing to worry about

[Guest]

Cheers for the advice robB, i got rid of the clunky gearchange buy fitting new chain and sprokets after finding out mine were badly worn.

As usual for me i now have another problem, after going to my local garage to give the bike a once over he notified me i had air bubbles in my coolant tank and said this could be caused buy a faulty radiator cap, so i've had a new one fitted but it still bubbles and now he says it could well be the head gasket. Is this possable after the bike has only covered 10000m? Or could it be something else?

Any advice would be much appreciated

Thanks
Josh

[flymo]

Air bubbles seems like a strange symptom to put against a head gasket.

Usual things you will notice with a bad head gasket would be oil in the coolant, coolant in the oil, bike overheats very quickly if you stop and leave the engine running (after approx 10 mins hard riding).

Poor starting is when warm could be the wrong plugs or faulty plugs, valve clearances or worn valves. Also check that the float bowl is working properly on each carb, if the level is too high then it will be difficult to start after the engines is hot.

Poor starting generally (hot or cold) is almost always valves, either poor clearance or just worn. A rebuild of the head is about the best way to sort this. Done it a few times on my race bikes and it isnt as difficult as it looks. Just make sure you have plenty of clean space and a good workshop manual (or of course drop it into a good garage for them to do). If the head is coming off for a check-up then you will of course need to replace the head and base gasket also so either way you should sort it.

probably wouldnt do any harm to connect a compression tester to each cylinder before you do any major stripping and this will show you if there is a problem on one or more cylinders. Expect 100psi upwards on a good condition cylinder.

Good luck.