Possible vacuum leak Kawasaki ER-5

[john24ssj]

Hello guys,

I am sorry about another thread regarding my ER-5 but I just want to fix the bugger.

Brief history:
- Fuel tap + carburettor float needle failed flooded air box
- Rebuilt the carbs, replaced float needle, air filter, oil filter and oil.
- Poor idle, feels rough so balanced the carbs
- Few times refused to start

Now I looked at a website and it mentioned a few things
https://www.howtomotorcyclerepair.com/how-to-diagnose-motorcycle-vaccum-leaks/

[Nobby the Bastard]

[stickybackbob]

Brake cleaner will do the job but not too much or your rubbers can suffer.

[Suntan Sid]

[john24ssj]

[john24ssj]

Leak testing didn't do anything but I found two tiny tears in the right carburettor diaphragm.
https://i.imgur.com/m8yO7zT.jpg


How big of an impact would a tear in diaphragm make?
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Bikes: Honda CBR600Fi, Kawasaki ER5

[331X2]

Is that screwdriver rash?

I'd want to be replacing that even if it's not causing the exact issue you're having at the minute although it's pretty likely that it is.

[john24ssj]

[Suntan Sid]

[john24ssj]

[Suntan Sid]

I don't know if these carbs have their own, unique, peculiarities but my mate rebuilt his numerous times, he could never get them right though, (he's no fool and quite used to doing this sort of thing).
In the end he gave up and sent them off to someone for a rebuild, on an exchange basis.

The symptoms on his bike were:-

Very difficult starting.
Impossible to set the idling speed.
Sump filling with petrol, via the breather into the air box.

He had every part of the fuel sytem apart, tap, pipes, carbs, filter, etc.
Once he got the carbs back from the rebuild all the problems disappeared!
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"Everybody needs money, that's why they call it money!"

[john24ssj]

[john24ssj]

Close to giving up on the bike now.

Got the new diaphragm installed it and checked the carbs all is good Put everything back and started the bike with choke on and was revving at around 2.5K, after a second turned the choke off and bike stalled so I adjusted the idle and started the bike again with choke the revs shot to 5k and with choke off runs at about 1.2K.

I balanced the carbs but something just isn't right when you rev the engine and let go on the throttle the engine is very slow to go back to 1.2K stays at 2.1K for few seconds which makes gear changing odd as the engine feels like it wants to rev.

Also with choke on it revs at above 5K

Very close to just selling the bike now spending way too much time fixing it compared to riding it.
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Bikes: Honda CBR600Fi, Kawasaki ER5

[Suntan Sid]

Revs slow to drop to idle, normally means your mixture is weak, which could mean an air leak or the air screw is not set correctly!
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"Everybody needs money, that's why they call it money!"

[john24ssj]

Thanks for the reply I will take a look into it.

I had few issues with the return cable as the throttle works with 2 cables sort of push/pull system. I might check that out as well
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Bikes: Honda CBR600Fi, Kawasaki ER5

[john24ssj]

Ok I did remove the return cable and it's better now the throttle comes back right away but revs still climb down slowly here is a video of the bike running and revving.
Sorry about the bad sound https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bAWUCzMi6A
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Bikes: Honda CBR600Fi, Kawasaki ER5

[john24ssj]

Took the bike in to work and it was interesting had to adjust the idle speed down twice, before moving off it was at 1.2K after two miles ride it was idling at 1.9K so I adjusted it to 1.2K again, and when I got to work it was idling at 1.6K so I once again adjusted it to 1.2K.

Once moving it seems to be find, but is slow to drop revs and tbh it almost no longer engine brakes like it used to before. I never used to use brakes that much because engine braking was really strong.

I am not sure what to do any-more most likely will just ride it until it dies or summer comes when I have more time to mess about it with and this all started after that stupid petrol leak, I think I bugged something up with the carbs
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Bikes: Honda CBR600Fi, Kawasaki ER5

[Suntan Sid]

[john24ssj]

Thank for the reply.

Yeah I replaced the fuel tap gasket and the o-ring so the tap seems to good now

Before the leak everything was fine so clearly when I took the carbs apart I did mess something up. I did not adjust anything the first time, all I need is removed the diaphragms and replaced the float needles. And that's most likely when I cut the diaphragms and possibly done something else to the carbs.

I will do another full strip down of the carbs this week and try to inspect things if I see nothing I will just give up.

[edit] I had some suggestions to have a look at choke slides:
https://i.imgur.com/FUrgtof.png
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Bikes: Honda CBR600Fi, Kawasaki ER5

[Suntan Sid]

[john24ssj]

Yeah I did have that issue and I needed to adjust the left float which I did and their both even with bowl edge as per manual.

Another thing I might do is let it run idle for a bit and remove the spark plugs see if things are running lean or rich.

I wouldn't give up if I had time but it's taking way too much to do all this and it gets dark too quick

I have a day off on Wednesday I will once again take of the carbs and see what's what
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Bikes: Honda CBR600Fi, Kawasaki ER5

[john24ssj]

Oh bollocks I just realised what I did. When I was cleaning the carbs I had them submerged under water and I am now wondering if water has blocked something off somewhere
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Bikes: Honda CBR600Fi, Kawasaki ER5

[john24ssj]

So I started the bike up and let it idle for 5 minutes and took everything off. Upon inspecting the spark plugs I saw nothing special, they seemed pretty ok.

https://i.imgur.com/KDOn71A.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/Zf7nwRi.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/KRLYox2.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/se0jRJY.jpg


So I continued with the carbs and found something very odd, the air pilot adjustment caps were off :S The actual screws were at different positions.

https://i.imgur.com/Fhejs1w.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/0IHJmdE.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/TQGHMHq.jpg


The left one was closed off more as you can actually see the tip of the pin on the left carb but not on the right.

https://i.imgur.com/q7hgQHH.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/WnqxgY9.jpg

BUT I have never adjusted them before and the bike ran fine until the leak, so I assume my issue is still somewhere else.
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Bikes: Honda CBR600Fi, Kawasaki ER5

[john24ssj]

After a complete carburettor rebuild and full on cleaning and idle screw adjustment , the bike works like it has never worked before. I mean it sounds so nice and has almost no vibrations, super smooth at idle.
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Bikes: Honda CBR600Fi, Kawasaki ER5

[Suntan Sid]