Engine trouble - Broke down

[Miles]

I have to agree with Cargo there, I sent mine into a river last year, and after many a cold winter night it is still with me. (Obv not as bad as a bent valve but you get my point)

[Fastforward]

Fair enough but from my experience with it ive had my fair share of problems. I bought it needing work done on it though. I guess new or well looked after should be solid, but my instinct is saying get a spare engine...been playing on my mind for awhile now

[U_h0rnet5]

Hey Cargo, Put that other engine in a while ago and I am really surprised that it had even started up after soon long sitting. Was reading up on a few of the 'Not Running' topics and most of them were just - Clean plugs, new fuel, battery fully charged. After the first few goes it sounded like it wanted to turn over which was a good sign so I kinda guessed it was something to do with the sparks or battery. So put the battery on charge so it was full and read about maybe heating the sparks up but just left it for a while came back to it and boom it started up with the touch of the button

It sounds better then the other two engines, no cam chain rattle as of yet, however I think it might be slightly missing but sounds better when it warms up. Also noticed a lot of fumes/smoke coming out of the exhaust - now maybe this is just the rest of the oil/coolant that was in one of the down pipe or as it was pretty cold the effects of winter! One thing that looked weird is that when I had it sitting at about 4000rpm the exhaust didn't seem like it was pushing the fumes out more like dribbling out! Was wondering if this was any problem as never noticed it before just my dad was really enquiring lol????

I'm used to the engines running really rich normally so I might check the carbs and pilot jets as they are different ones.

[cargo]

I've always had starting problems with my ZXRs when they have been laid up for a while.............

The very first one was a crash damaged L3 that had been laid up for about a year maybe more...............took ages to get it going even then and it only ran on 3....................carbs was the problem but it went eventually................

There is bound to be some oil/condensation to burn off from an engine thats been laid up...............glad it's going for you

[U_h0rnet5]

I do actually recall some crystallisation around the cylinders where the coolant is, the time I stripped it down to do the head gasket.