Hi everyone,
I am new here on your forum, and new to Kawasaki Concours. I wanted to say hello, introduce myself, my bike and ask a few questions. I have been searching for answers and two forums repeatedly came up on google. They were COG and zggtr. So I joined both!
A few weeks ago I bought my 2001 Concours on a whim from an older gentleman who was getting out of riding bikes. He (the second owner) and the other owner surprising didn't ride the bike much. I bought the bike with 5700 miles!! Truly a garage queen.
Now for the bad...one of the fork seals are slightly leaky and the idle is erratic. The previous owner didn't even see the fork leak but he did notice that the idle wasn't right this season. He said he let the bike sit with gas since end of last season. He said he had started the bike a few times during the winter but obviously that wasn't enough.
I would like to take care of the idle issue first. Maybe a partially clogged jet or the carbs are out of sync. I don't quite know and would appreciate your feedback.
I have linked a few videos from earlier today for analysis (bottom of this post). Ambient temp was 74 degs. The bike always needs some choke to initially start it no matter how warm it is outside. Subsequent starts if the engine is warm does not require choke.
The main issue is when idling and first starting to go from a stop (even when the engine is hot). Once I am over 10-15 mph the bike runs perfectly. No power band dead spots, hesitation or backfires. She just wants to go. Idling and first taking off from a stop is when I have to finesse the clutch much more than usual or I easily stall. If the engine is still cool the idle is erratic and I almost always stall when trying to go.
The first video is of a cold start and see how the idle is erratic even after 4 mins of warm up (jump to time 4:05). The second video is how the bike idles after a 30 minute ride around town and engine is warm. The third video is of me blipping the throttle just after start & warm-up and the engine stalled...common problem at idle.
If I try to increase the idle rpm with the black knob any more than it currently is, then I notice that when shifting gears the rpms don't come down when I disengage (pull) the clutch. The rpms stay or increase when I pull the clutch. So currently I think the high speed idle is at optimum here.
I have run 3 full fresh tanks of gas with snake oil (soafoam once and berryman twice) with minimum-to-no change. No visible rust or gunk in the tank. I had taken the tank off to inspect the vacuum line and they look good.
Do my carbs need a teardown, cleaning and rebuild or just a sync? Or is there another issue? Does my engine sound right?
Any advice is appreciated.
Thank you for reading my long post!
Link to pics and videos:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/44jhzeytyta2m1f/AACTyp_v0eeI4cNVGVLu_fLRa