Bouncy tach needle on hiway - anyone else??

[Elimigto]

Just replaced my '85 ZL900 a couple of weeks ago, I sold my last one when I went to college 14 years back. Love havin' another one! My question - when I'm on the hiway at around 4,000 RPM for a few miles the tach needle starts to bounce around. When I'm maintaining speed, it jumps around from like 3,500 RPM to 4,500 RPM. Blipping the throttle or shifting really causes it to jump. When I get back to town and lower rev's, the thing straightens out. Anyone else had this happen? Think I might have a bad tach?

[wuputt]

My ZL1000 does the exact same thing, I think I kinda like it???

[Ferret]

Hiya ... others have had this issue with their tachos too.

Rocket ... one of the guys over on KERA .. wrote up a bit about how he fixed his when it was doing this .. it's to do with a "hair-spring" in the tacho itself.

Read his posts, in particular the 2nd & 3rd posts by "Rocket" on this page .. http://www.eliminator-us.org/kforums/viewtopic.php?t=752

Bloody hard to find info over on KERA these days ... a) because the search function doesn't work anymore .. and b) because after the big site crash over there the site was moved to a different server which then meant any prior links in posts, referring to info in other posts didn't work anymore.

Dunno what's going on over there ... things have been getting worse over a period of time now .. which is why we're starting to migrate here. Seems there's no info about what's going on with the site from Ethan the guy who runs it either. Also it's now being bombarded with spam too ... sigh!!

Basically ... anything in the way of info/tech advice you DO find over there .. save a copy of it so we can begin to get some sort of info-base going here as the site builds.

Cheers,
Ross

[Elimigto]

Thanks for the help! I went to that page and copied the relevant text to this post.

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For the benefit of all in case someone experiences similar problems, here’s what happened. Turns out the hair spring was broken however it was rubbing on itself just enough to provide some tension for reduced readings. The intermittency (sometimes sits on Zero but usually fluctuates between 4000-5000rpm while cruising at =/>100km) was caused by the current which normally runs through said spring only now an open circuit (hence the speedo man and I believed it was an electrical fault). I assumed a broken spring would be just that and I’d get nothing at all, I didn’t even consider checking it.
One to remember hey

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It's great that this site is up and going - I'm heading to the local Kawasaki shop this morning to ask the same question, in hopes that maybe he'll have some more insight. If I learn anything else, I'll pass it along to help build our base here.

[Kris900zl]

Hey , hows it goin. My 900 dose it sometimes as well and it is usually at highway speeds, I just class it as part of her charm :)

kriszl900 :twisted: :)

[Rocket]

Rossco/Elimigto,
I resemble that post. That would be me and it was about 14 months ago when I got the tacho fixed. Well over the last few months it’s doin’ it again, at 4500-5500 revs only (perhaps higher but then I get a little busy so watching needles is not a priority) and with ~1000rpm oscillations. However this time I noticed my indicators weren’t flashing consistently so me thinks it may be ergotrons leaking from the copper plumbing (I’m a black hander, can you tell?).

[Elimigto]

Hi Rocket! My concern was that the ignition system might cut out, leaving me stranded. It seems that it's a pretty common thing, so I'm not so worried about it now. Still, I'd like to get it fixed. Next time I'm out I'll check flashers, indicators, etc. to make sure the copper plumbing (I'm an engineer) isn't leaking. I'm pretty sure my headlight's not flickering or anything, since it was at night when it happened.

No word from the local Kawasaki shop - he was closed on Saturday. I'll try again this weekend.

Thanks!