Help needed - ZL900 runs rough

RedRocket

RedRocket

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Hey people, first of all, I am new to the site and must say that it does seem like a great reference place for the eliminator. Also, it is my first ZL.

I got a pretty good deal on the bike but knew it needed work. Drove it home about an hour away and ran great. Right away I knew it needed carb work because one of the bowls were wet and it had a gas smell even when it wasn't running. It also smokes when first started but does go away.
The clown I bought it from claimed to have had carb work previously done.....but I highly doubt that. Like I said he was a clown.

So I took the bike to a local shop I was refered to by a friend. He had the bike almost a month and claimed he fixed the carbs (said one had the jets in the bottom of the bowl) did a valve adjustment because it started hard, and changed the plugs.

So I pick the bike up and now it runs like total s**t. Doesn't idle, sputters and I tried to ride it but it starts to backfire and looses power. However, it doesn't seem to leak from the carb anymore. lol. The mechanic told me that he did a compression test and it was good, so he thinks that the smoke is from bad valve guide seals. He also said that he thinks that the smoking is directly related to it running badly.

Being frustrated already that my bike sat at this guys shop for a month and now runs worse, I am wondering if this guy even knows what he is talking about. Would bad valve guide seals make the engine run that rough? Where should I start in trying to diagnose the problem?

Any help would be great. Thanks in advance.
 
Valve guide seals would't make it run rough, it would smoke some. I would bring the bike back to the shop, period. Ask him what he set the valves at (if that was even done) and what setting proceedure did he use. (Check out Marks tech article on this) The carbs may also have been incorrectly adjusted. How did you pay this guy? I would put a hold on my credit card if thats what you used. Bottom line, its his responsibility. Good luck.
 
Prostreet said:
Valve guide seals would't make it run rough, it would smoke some. I would bring the bike back to the shop, period. Ask him what he set the valves at (if that was even done) and what setting proceedure did he use. (Check out Marks tech article on this) The carbs may also have been incorrectly adjusted. How did you pay this guy? I would put a hold on my credit card if thats what you used. Bottom line, its his responsibility. Good luck.
Click to expand...
Thats what I figured about the valves, it would create smoke from the burning oil and thats it. We planed to do barter work because I work for a sign company and also make t-shirts on the side. When I picked it up he wasn't really concerned with me paying him and he said to use my judgement on some decals that he can hand out to people. Needless to say he wont be getting those.

I really don't think he did any valve adjustments. His story changed everytime I went to check in on my bike. The valve cover doesn't look like it was taken off, assuming that the valves would be adjusted in there. Basically I am just done with this guy and don't want to go back to him. I figured I would try to fix it myself and maybe learn a thing or two along the way.
 
First off, WELCOME to the site!
Congrats on your purchase!
We hear way too many stories about owners taking their bikes to shops, the shops taking forever to work on them, charging you up the arse and getting them back in worse shape than when they started!
I would NEVER trust a shop with my ZL's. Those of you who have someone good to work on your bikes should consider yourselves very lucky! Most shops dont even know what an Eliminator is!
There are lots of tips here for you. If I were you, I would start with the electrical by pulling your plug wires (they screw into the plug cap) cut off 1/4 to 1/2" from both ends. This is a VERY common problem! Take your gas tank off for this. Buy a tube of dielectric grease and pull every connection, squirt some grease in, work the connection to clean the mating surfaces. Be careful when pulling these connections apart, remember, they have been together for a long time. I use two pliers to pry some of them apart, specially the temp sensors on the thermostat housing.

If you have compressed air available, blow through the tank vent tubes, it, or they come down on the right hand side under the tank. If the vent tubes are plugged, getting consistant fuel to carbs will be a problem
Hopefully when they set your valves, they did that right!

After doing that see what you have! Keep us posted!
 
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Yea, I wouldn't let him touch the bike now. just mark it up as experience. if you can turn a wrench, you could adjust the valves your elf. As far as the carbs are concerned, they could also be dissasembled , cleaned & adjusted. Willy D is a good guy to talk to about this, cause he's done it at least 4 times! Its really not that hard. get yourself a shop manual & go fir it.After your done you'll agree it wasn't as bad as you thought.
 
wuputt said:
First off, WELCOME to the site!
Congrats on your purchase!
We hear way too many stories about owners taking their bikes to shops, the shops taking forever to work on them, charging you up the arse and getting them back in worse shape than when they started!
I would NEVER trust a shop with my ZL's. Those of you who have someone good to work on your bikes should consider yourselves very lucky! Most shops dont even know what an Eliminator is!
There are lots of tips here for you. If I were you, I would start with the electrical by pulling your plug wires (they screw into the plug cap) cut off 1/4 to 1/2" from both ends. This is a VERY common problem! Take your gas tank off for this. Buy a tube of dielectric grease and pull every connection, squirt some grease in, work the connection to clean the mating surfaces. Be careful when pulling these connections apart, remember, they have been together for a long time. I use two pliers to pry some of them apart, specially the temp sensors on the thermostat housing.

If you have compressed air available, blow through the tank vent tubes, it, or they come down on the right hand side under the tank. If the vent tubes are plugged, getting consistant fuel to carbs will be a problem
Hopefully when they set your valves, they did that right!

After doing that see what you have! Keep us posted!
Click to expand...

Good starting advice right there!
 
Ditto on the previous advice!!
He probably adjusted your valves too tight and screwd up the carbs as you say it ran for an hour drive to get it home and it wouldnt do that with jets sitting in the bottom of the float bowls.
First step is to get the base manual and the zl suppliment which can both be downloaded and printed off from this web site.
Working on your own bike and taking your time to ensure the job is done right is rewarding in so many ways but the best part is you know its done right. Just take your time and be patient it may seem like forever tto get threw some of the little things, but in the end its well worth it.

Welcome to the sight
 
My advice would be to check (start) it after one change, so don't do the carbs and wires and all then try to run it. Just to narrow down the cause. So if you start by adjusting the valves, then see how it runs afterwards before you do something else. This way if its better or worse you know exactly what you just did.
 
Hey Willy, I'm in the northeast part of CT. Just about a 10 minute ride to MA or RI.
 
Thanks for all the replys and advice, This weekend I will try to do some work on it - I'll post updates.
Brian
 
Okay, so heres the update. I first checked all the plug wires and did find a couple pretty bad looking ones so I snipped off about a 1/4'' and re connected them. The bike fired right up and seemed to run good but I took a test ride down the road and it had some hesitation like it was being starved for fuel, and did stall out a couple times. Seemed to die after it warmed up. Today I removed the tank and checked the petcock - it seemed to work as it should. The only thing I found is that one of the tank vent valves is clogged. Could this be the cause of my problem? I'm also thinking maybe coils?
 
Tank vent, Tank Vent, Tank vent

I have my ZL-900 down working on the exhaust. While the tank was off, I went through the venting system. I do not know if the problem is resolved, but I feel good about the process.

I have been having taking venting problems for awhile. The problems occur at a magic point of 40 miles after fill-up. This must be the point of vacuum lock.

First I followed ZLMark’s helpful hints on the gas cap. You can remove the cap for ease of access to the springs. Be careful not to mess up or loose the rubber bush.

A couple of Phillips and the bottom of the cap will come off. Be careful that you do not loose or mess up the spring. You can blow through the nipple and check for air flow through the one-way valve. Put the cap back together.

Next I tried to spray carb cleaner down the air pipe on top of the tank. This blew cleaner back out. Mmmm.. Next I tied the carb cleaner in the inlet under the tank. Again no joy. I hooked the air compressor and blew air from the top. I felt a little at the bottom. I reversed the process and tried again. The last step was to fill the tube with carb cleaner and apply the air pressure. The carb cleaner burped out of the other end. I repeated this process a few times going from one end and then the other.

The last step is to clean the outside of the tank. I do not know what carb cleaner does for paint. I used car wash soap to remove any of the excess carb cleaner. A good clean, rinse, and polish should do the trick.

I hope to get the bike back together in a week or so.
 
So I used an air compressor to blow out the tank vent line that was clogged, and it really was clogged good - bits of rust and junk shot out from the opposite end. Now I have to clean the tank and reassemble for a test run.

Anybody familiar with how/what the vaccume lock works on these bikes?
 
"I have been having taking venting problems for awhile. The problems occur at a magic point of 40 miles after fill-up. This must be the point of vacuum lock." - From above reply post


There is also a decal on the inside of the gas cap about filling up the tank too full causing "vaccume lock".
 
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