idle out of control

[ftrain]

The idle on my 2001 ZX-11 is messed up. It is a carb bike and the details are as follows.

The bike will no longer idle at low rpms. It either stalls or the idle shoots up to 6 grand. I re-adjust the idle and it is set. Then I go for a ride around the city and at each light it will either stall or stay at a very high idle (5-8k). I keep playing with the idle adjust knob on the side but can not get it to idle at the same level. Sometimes if I play with the choke and keep it on slightly the idle will stay at a low rpm without stalling.

This happened after I killed the battery on my zx-11. I lifted up the tank and recharged the battery. During this process I broke the fuel line right were it attaches to the fuel cutoff knob. I cut the line flush and re attached the hose. I though I might have pinched a breather line but I lifted the tank up again and they were no pinched lines.

Maybe bad gas??? I am still on the same tank.
Think I have a throttle cable that is sticking?

[Stoneman]

First thing I'd do is drain the carbs & tank and see if maybe there's some shit in there. Motorcycle gas tanks aren't engineered or manufactured very well. I've had a coupla instances of flakes of rust clogging up fuel lines on a coupla different bikes. I'd start there as it's pretty easy to do...

Next up, I'd pull the plugs and see what they look like. I've also encountered idling/running problems after burning out a plug wire...

I'm also wondering since draining your battery, if it's not charging enough to keep the bike running smoothly...

[Degsy]

First I was going to say you have a pinched vacuum line, but since you killed the battery I would take a stab at a bad regulator/rectifier.

[stoinkythepig]

Perhaps the choke is not "releasing " all the way when you move the lever forward to shut it off. The cable pulls the linkage in one direction ("on") and a spring to brings it back to "off" when you shut off the choke. Too much choke can cause the bike to either die or rev way up. Pull the tank (if needed) and look at the choke linkage while you move the choke lever. Note which way the linkage should move when in the off position and with the lever in the off position, push it further that way and see if the problem goes away.

A stuck throttle cable would not make the bike die so I'd rule that out. I doubt it's electrical because of the reving which can't be caused solely by an electrical glitch.

[legalspeed]

Originally posted by stoinkythepig
Perhaps the choke is not "releasing " all the way when you move the lever forward to shut it off. The cable pulls the linkage in one direction ("on") and a spring to brings it back to "off" when you shut off the choke. Too much choke can cause the bike to either die or rev way up. Pull the tank (if needed) and look at the choke linkage while you move the choke lever. Note which way the linkage should move when in the off position and with the lever in the off position, push it further that way and see if the problem goes away.

I had this happen to my '94 Can-O-tuna, one 12$ choke cable and a few hours (I'm a dummy) later she was fine.