MY ZX6R has its own mind!! HELP!!!

[96zixxer]

hey guys and gals. im new to this site and am in need of some HELP!!! I just bought my neighbors 1996 ZX6R. he layed it down about 4 years ago and it has been sitting since. I got the tank flushed, new plugs gapped at .32 like ngk wants, cleaned the carbs, new o rings for the carb boots and a new battery. At first it would not start it would only act like it and then back fire crazy. So i pulled the carbs off again. pulled the bowls, jets, floats. there was more junk in there so i got it back nice and shiny and clean. It still wouldnt start. so i left it alone till the next day. the next day i went out there turned the key, hit the starter button and she purred. I let it warm up. made sure the fan and thermostat was good and worked. killed it. started it again and thought i solved the problem. I would go out and start it evry day when i got home from work and she did with no problem. yesterday i started it let her warm up ,killed it. cleaned the garage, and about 3 hours later went to start her and puller her in and nothing. turning over then backfiring. it would not start. So i pulled the carbs. they were spotless. check to make sure the gas was good. it was good. pulled the plugs, cleaned them. checked for fire, it has fire.... so i am in a stressed out stuck situation. i know its something real stupid and simple but what? If you guys can help me out i would so much appreciate it. thanks again TONY

[Insanity88763]

I dont know too much about troubleshooting, but from what I read in your post, the only thing you havent cleaned\looked at is the fuel pump, or checked the wiring for the starter.

[96zixxer]

the starters good but i am assuming the pumps is also good because if i unplug the main line that goes to the carbs and turn it over it dumps gas. its wierd. it will start up one minute and run perfect but the next it will just crank and backfire. but if i leave it for like a day or 2 then go back out she'll fire right up.

[ballsout1]

make sure the battery is 100%...i know this is going to sound wacked but on alot of bikes the ignition cuircut takes so much juice the bike will crank fine but there will be weak spark. this leads to real touch and go starting. i remember years back i had a couple of zx 11`s that would aways do this when the batterys got a few years old.

[natedowning]

Your pump still could be bad, it may be dumpin to much gas in there.

[MFolks]

Check the fuel pressure regulator and if the tank has one, the fuel return valve screwed into the tank. On my 82 GPZ1100 if the return valve(actually a check valve) sticks, the fuel pressure will increase will make my bike run rich.

Go to either Wal Mart or any good auto parts store and buy a can of "Seafoam". It is a gasoline additive that works to clean out crud from fuel systems. At my local Wal Mart it's under $7 a can. Follow the directions on the can

[Tweek]

Seems odd that leaving it sit for a day or two corrects the problem. Could the engine be flooding? Have you actually ridden the bike or put a load on the engine?

[96zixxer]

hey guys i got it fixed(just knocked on some wood) I tore it all apart again today and went through everything and everything look good so i said what the hell.... i put new plugs in it like 3 weeks ago but decided to check them anyways. i pulled them all out and checked the fire on all of them. the spark was arcing to the side of the plug like where the insulator is on all 4. i even crushed the prong real close to see if that helped but it didnt. I went up to the dealer and bought 4 new ones and checked the spark on them and they were arcing perfect. so i popped them in and put everything back together. and vwalla!! it fired right up even with out a choke. so ,my guess is that from all the cleaning and seafoam junk i put in the tank and all the old oil and carbon build up in the motor had fried those plugs. so if any of you guys go throught the same stuff dont stress your self and start throwing stuff around the garage. take $30 and go get some new plugs even if they are new. or at least yank them out and check out how there sparking. I drove it around the block and it seems like its all there. and thanks to all who shot some ideas out there to try to help.

[96zixxer]

and as far as it being that it would fire up if it sat a day or 2 my guess is that everything dried up enought to where even tho the spark was incorrect it was enough spark to get the engine started. but now that i think of it, it makes sense that it would run or start first thing in the morning but after running for a bit and turning it off, all the gas and oil would get on them plugs and the crazy *** spark that it was doing was no longer enough fire to crank the motor.

[Tweek]

Glad you got it sorted. It's a great feeling when you're able to fix your own stuff.