Electrical Problem?

[Omahastylin16]

Ok guys, so i pulled the zx9 out of the garage last week. I didnt put any stabil in it this year(i know i know) so it was running a little crappy, wanted to stall when getting rolling from a stop. So i'm thinking to myself "ok i knew i was gonna have to go through the carbs this year, no problem". Until I leave one stop light and all of a sudden i have no power, the bike doesnt wanna go anywhere and i have to putt putt over to the shoulder.

At this point im thinking "fuck, probably fouled the plugs" except it would start and idle just fine, but sounded like it wanted to stall and had no power under a load. So i get the pickup and bring the bike home drain the tank and get to work on the carbs, theyre dirty but not awful, so i go through them and clean them all out no problem. Air filter looks fine. I pull the coil packs and plugs and the plugs dont look fantastic but they dont look bad either, so I clean them up with some sandpaper and put them back in. Reassemble everything, fill the tank with fresh gas and a lil bit of injector/carb cleaner mix fire it up and its running just fine, idles fine, real smooth from a stop, I'm thinking its all better.

Today I take it for about a 20 min ride, fairly spirited, getting the rpms up there. Stopped and shut it down for about 10-15 mins while i got a haircut. Came back out after, tried to start it and all it did was crank, wouldnt turn over, but could smell the gas in the exhaust so i know its getting fuel. I let it sit for a few more mins so i wouldnt flood it, then tried cranking again, and on the third try it turned over like nothing ever happened, idled and rode home just fine.

I'm assuming this must be something electrical and I dont know anything about anything electronic. I went and picked up new plugs today just to try the cheapest solution first but that doesnt seem like it will be the solution. A friend suggested some kind of relay issue?

im just not really sure where to look

[Jim]

is your bike EFI or carb?

[Omahastylin16]

is your bike EFI or carb?

.....

[Jim]

sorry, you put too many words in post #1 for me to read

[Omahastylin16]

why ya gotta be like that

[stoinkythepig]

I suspect you have a bad battery. Mine was intermittently bad like that, late last year. It would crank, but not fire. The cranking sounded a little sluggish, but not as bad as I expected. The voltage was just low enough that the electronic ignition would have no output. After a few minutes, it would fire right up like nothing was wrong.

[Woodsy]

Wirelessly posted (Opera/9.80 (J2ME/MIDP; Opera Mini/4.2.14912/742; U; en) Presto/2.4.15)

i would have to disagree. if it were the battery the cranking would have just drained it more and it would never have started. plus the power loss does not fit. i really do not think this is electrical. sounds like a clogged fuel pickup or petcock. at idle it is no problem but once you really start sucking fuel through there it starves the engine. once you let off the clog releases. that would also explain why the drain and fill helped. you may have got some of it but not all of it

[Murph]

Its the carbs...same thing happened to me last year.I needed to have them soaked and rebuilt.I'm running marine Stabil year round now...The passages in the carbs are clogged with ethanol goop and when you try to open the throttle it starves for fuel.Don't start pulling the electrics apart....

[Omahastylin16]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/4.1 (U; BREW 3.1.5; en-US; Teleca/Q05A/INT))

well the battery is as old as the bike is, but it doesnt seem to have any trouble cranking, fuel pickup seems to make sense, is this little hockey puck shaped thing next to the fuel pump the filter? if so where can i order one? and whats the best way to clean the pickup?

btw thank you all for the help

[Murph]

What year is your ZX9R..? Ive got a 02 and my filter is inbetween the petcock and the carb banks.I think its gonna take more cleaning that just the pickup.....you could try dumping a can of Seafoam in the tank and running its through, but it might not do it.It cost me 500 bucks last year to have mine rebuilt.

[Omahastylin16]

its an 01, and youd be hard pressed to get me to dump 500 bucks lol

[Murph]

We'll good luck...I tried cleaning the carbs myself and I couldn't sort em out.I brought it to Pilgrim Powersports in Plymouth and they took care of it.Between the rebuild and the Carb synch I was pretty happy to pay the 500 clams...took em 3 days for the whole job.

[hammadown]

I have a similar problem as your first described on my 02 zx6. It has been sitting for God knows how long (I just bought it) and it starts, idles and revs fine sitting in neutral, but under load it has a hard time getting past 5k without sputtering and losing power. Carbs are out now just need to clean them and the rest of the system and go from there. Ill be curious what you figure out. Ill update if/when I solve my issues as well.

[Stromper]

Batterys do go bad the 1st ride....

I am suspicious of water in your old gas if the tank wasn't full to the brim when stored

Last year on my mower I pulled a pint of water from a 3 gallon 1/2 empty tank.

Get a bucket , funnel, old white t shirt

Pour all the gas out of your tank through the shirt into the bucket, the water will be the last to come out. YOu should see a seperated layer the water will hit the bottom of the bucket. You can pour off all the good gas, though I use it in a near filled car not the bike,,,While your at it remove and clean your petcock

Don't be smoking