NGPZ - More t'shootin' ...bike dies after highway run

[Dave Spaulding]

Lord knows I'm not a mechanic, but whenever I hear these symptoms, I think 
of carb icing or fuel starvation caused by a clogged vent in the gas cap. 
In San Francisco I wonder if the cold damp air would make you more likely to 
have icing problems.



----- Original Message -----
From: "Steven Bixby" <steven at bixbys.net>
To: "Kawasaki GPZ1100 discussion" <gpzlist at micapeak.com>
Sent: Friday, August 17, 2007 1:37 PM
Subject: NGPZ - More t'shootin' ...bike dies after highway run

> Well, another odd thing going on.  My wife's Ninja 250 quits when she
> comes off a freeway (after typical 70-80 mph run for at least several
> minutes).  When she exits and comes to a light or whatever, clutches
> in and poof, bike quits.
>
> It started happening just a couple days ago and usually started right
> up, but today she messaged me and said it took a bit longer to
> restart, only she was in a toll lane for the (San Francisco) Bay
> Bridge - a horrible place to stall out.
>
> Any suggestions for what could cause this?
>
> I don't think it's over-cooling; it's liquid cooled and I think it
> runs warm enough that the t'stat is wide open after it warms up
> anyway, but I could be wrong.   I'm thinking it's some other issue.
>
> Things I know that are potential existing problems:
>
> Battery is on it's last legs; it starts and charges OK I believe, but
> the battery capacity is getting pretty low.  I have a new battery
> waiting at the shop now.
>
> Head-cover leaking - there's a bit of oil in the spark-plug holes and
> around the cylinder head cover - I have gaskets on the way for the
> next valve-adjustment opportunity, but could oil in the wells cause
> something like this?  (I'm thinking "probably not".)
>
>
> By the way, regarding the slow-to-idle issue - I didn't work on range
> bikes this week, so i wasn't able to try the vacuum check tricks.
> Next week probably.
>
>