exhaust gasket

[kyle]

im not to clever on the mechanical side of things and have been told by some1 that has seen my bike that my exhaust gasket has broken, it makes a wierd raspy rattly sounds and lacks in power ??? any ideas?

[RedexRobB]

Hello mate, the exhaust gasket makes the seal between the engine and where the exhaust meets. If there isnt a gasket or its knackered it will blow, it can cause the engine to run badly too.

If you need them you can get them here

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/zx6r-zx7r-zx10r-z ... dZViewItem

[kyle]

just went out to bike and it wont even start now, i just about got it running but didnt sound healthy atall, was revving on and off on its own and when i treid to rev it just cut out and wudnt cum bk at all!!! i have no idea wots up with it cos its happened so suddenly. would it have n e thin to do with exhasut gaskets or somthing much more sinister! im hoping not, i think im gna hv to tak it t the kawasaki dealer on the Isle of man to get it sorted because im cluless...

[RedexRobB]

Has it been cold in IOM recently? Might needed to have given it some choke? Also you may have flooded the plugs a bit.

[kyle]

nah it wasnt particularily cold last night and choke was fully on so must b sumit up with it. i have my test tmora (first test may i ad) so if i pass gna try and get it started and off to the garage cos want it sorted asap but if i fail then hu nos how ill get it there!! i went to the test centre tday for a bit of cheatin and took a photo of the number plates on the wall for the eye test cos dno how gd ill b at it !! ill probly fail nwo cos they switch plates and i read tdays ones haha

[RedexRobB]

Yeah a garange might be the best idea if your not too clued up on what to look at. Only thing is you never know with garages what they get upto with ya bike, weather it was a simple 5 minute fix and they charge yo for something rediculous or weather its genuinely something gone wrong. Either way youll get your bike sorted!

Is you eyesight that bad you need to resort to cheating?

[kyle]

just an update, passed my test tday and took ZXR out for a spin on the famous IOM TT roads. I think it just needed a run out cos everything seems ok, im just gna keep it clean and running and itll b gd. cheers for the help n e way

[RedexRobB]

Thats good news on both fronts! Congratulations

I did wonder if it just needed taking out for a good run and the cobwebs blowing out!

[kyle]

youll never guess what, just as i thought my troubles were over. i had it out for a spin, got up to 80 and everything was fine. got home few hours later went out again and within half an hour of easy riding about 40mph broke dwn, suddenly cut out and wouldnt start up, friend took it all apart had a look and wouldt do a thing. had to leave it by side of road and hoe garage can collect tmora! not gd

[Random]

Had a problem a bit like this with a bike before and is quite common with the zxr 400's take off the seat's and left rear side panel and either redo all the connection to the starter relay or just check all the connections. The starter relay is a the first thing connected from the live(red wire) on the battery, a connector block goes from there to the ignition unit if theres a bad connection on there then the bike like die straight away.

The rattling well how many miles have you done since the cam chain was replaced on these little high revving machines the cam chain needs doing ever 10,000 miles most of the time. the check this remove the right side fairing and coolant tank you will see a engine cover behind it now what you want to so is take this off you should really have some gasket sealer for when you put it back on really or a new gasket would be best, but anyways take it off i think its got 6 Allen screws 6mm if i remeber correctly remove them and you will be able to see the cam chain tensioner and if thats at its full stretch then you will need the cm chain replaceing.
If it does just turn out to be the exhaust gaskets then remove the down pipes and there will be 1 gasket in each port replace them and put the pipes back on, but the take the downpipes off you may have to drop the radiator just to keep it out of the way.

[kyle]

ok so just got it back from garage, turns out that it was a mixture of havin shitty old fuel in it and a dodgy battery. there was loadsa much in the fuel and no juice in the battery at all so when it cut out no chance of getin it bk again, £170 quid, now i now how they make money!! Lap of the TT course here i come

[RedexRobB]

excellent mate! Glad to hear its sorted! Hope you enjoy yourself on the local track