Kawasaki Z250SL occasional start problems

[damole]

I took my Z250SL to my old mechanic and he suggested the starting problems, turns over, red oil light comes on, doesn't take could/is dirty injector and suggested I buy some cleaner.

 

I am thinking of buying this STP injector cleaner.  Is this a reasonable first action?

[OneMoreFarang]

Do you have lots of experience with repairing bikes?

Otherwise I would look for a person who has experience with exactly that bike.

 

Many years ago, I had a Honda VFR400. I had some problems where I had no idea what it could be. I knew a specialist who worked all the time on those bikes. For him, it was a typical case of xyz. He just knew, because he did it so often.

 

Try to find such a guy.

[xtrnuno41]

You have enough oil in your engine? You tanked the right petrol? Maybe the petrol at tankstation isnt in right condition, water in petrol? Is there always a spark? Is your sparkplug still good, or has the right setting? Ceramic of sparkplug, no cracks? How it looks , grey-ish would be great, but if black (carbon) not good ignition for burning, setting electrodes. Wet also not good. 

Is your spark cap onto it still tight on the plug, cable (cracks?) right? Bobine, high voltage  for spark still ok?

When did it start, you tanked somewhere else then normally? Tankstations do have water catchers separating water from fuel, in case of. 

Story is not telling if problems started on fresh tanking or a longer period or maybe other tankstation. So what was time interval, still on same tank of petrol?

 

Is there a fuel filter which you checked, replaced? As that one should keep dirt out, but maybe blocked now?

Mechanic should have checked that first hand, but he says put STP in it. Makes no sense with a dirty filter then. 

I was checking on engine, but they say Keihin carb, so not really injector. But STP is cleaning whole system, you have to put it in your tank with the petrol, full tank. If problem is on same tank fil up, then before adding STP maybe drain tank and put new fuel in it. 

[AnotherOneHere]

I always take my Kawasaki Z300 to official dealer ship. I don't want some local Somchai trying his village wisdom hotfixes on it. I also want all parts to be original. So if I was you I would take it to official Kawasaki dealership. You are also guaranteed that when the motorcycle comes out of shop it will be fixed. Instead of trying to throw random Chinese parts at it as Somchai recommends.

 

Once my bike was completely dead. Wouldn;t even turn over. Toke it to the Kawasaki and paid like 1200 baht for oil change and filter and 500 Baht for new starting relay. Yeah, Somchai would do it cheaper, but it's not like Kawasaki gonna bankrupt you.

[OneMoreFarang]

4 hours ago, AnotherOneHere said:

I always take my Kawasaki Z300 to official dealer ship. I don't want some local Somchai trying his village wisdom hotfixes on it. I also want all parts to be original. So if I was you I would take it to official Kawasaki dealership. You are also guaranteed that when the motorcycle comes out of shop it will be fixed. Instead of trying to throw random Chinese parts at it as Somchai recommends.

 

Once my bike was completely dead. Wouldn;t even turn over. Toke it to the Kawasaki and paid like 1200 baht for oil change and filter and 500 Baht for new starting relay. Yeah, Somchai would do it cheaper, but it's not like Kawasaki gonna bankrupt you.

 

In principle I agree with you. At least that is the way it should be. Unfortunately, in Thailand you never know.

I have a bike from a small European brand, the bike in made in India, and as far as I see all Thai service centers from that brand are horrible.

I.e. They asked me what oil I want for service. I told them follow the recommendation in the manual, which recommends fully synthetic oil. But the dealer tell me: That is so expensive, why don't you use our cheap oil. Amazing!

So in my case now my bike is serviced by another shop - a Thai/Japanese guy who seems to know what he is doing.

Hopefully Kawasaki has well trained service technicians. 

[lemonjelly]

Turn it over a few times, take the plugs out. You can smell if there’s fuel getting into the cylinder. With pliers, hold plug to cylinder and turn engine over, spark and plugs ok? Could just be gunk in fuel lines, check air filter too.

[brianthainess]

15 hours ago, damole said:

I took my Z250SL to my old mechanic and he suggested the starting problems, turns over, red oil light comes on, doesn't take could/is dirty injector and suggested I buy some cleaner.

 

I am thinking of buying this STP injector cleaner.  Is this a reasonable first action?

Presuming you have enough oil in the engine * red oil light comes on * 

I can only give my experience on certain Honda stationary engines. They had a float in the sump, so when oil is low it won't start, these floats used to gunk up, even when oil was full. (remove and clean/replace.) I would imagine there must be a sensor or float not working correctly. 

[damole]

Sorry guys, I wasn't clear in my post. It starts 95% of the time and only occasionally takes half a dozen tries with a little pause in between attempts sometimes.

[rocketboy2]

5 hours ago, damole said:

Sorry guys, I wasn't clear in my post. It starts 95% of the time and only occasionally takes half a dozen tries with a little pause in between attempts sometimes.

Just ride it.

It works fine.

It ain't broke so don't fix it.

Wait until , it's broke proper,  to find fault.

Or pay dealership to fix, ( Somchai works at dealership as well )

they will be happy to run you up a bill.  

 

Ps make sure it has oil,  petrol and the brakes work, your good to go.

 

Edited May 13 by rocketboy2

[novacova]

On 5/12/2024 at 2:47 AM, damole said:

I am thinking of buying this STP injector cleaner.  Is this a reasonable first action

You can try it, personally I don’t think it would do much good for cleaning the injector system. If it is the injector and you want a temporary possible bandaid, then drain and clean the tank and burn non alcohol petrol, the yellow nozzle, preferably caltex. Could also be a sign that the starter is burning out, just because it turns doesn’t necessarily mean it has full output.

[papa al]

On 5/12/2024 at 4:47 PM, damole said:

I took my Z250SL to my old mechanic and he suggested the starting problems, turns over, red oil light comes on, doesn't take could/is dirty injector and suggested I buy some cleaner.

 

I am thinking of buying this STP injector cleaner.  Is this a reasonable first action?

Eminently reasonable.

All brands are similar.

 

[damole]

Nice menu.  Wish Chang and Singha has such an extensive range.

 

https://www.caltex.com/th/motorists/products-and-services/fuel-prices.html

[damole]

I added 40ml of STP cleaner to a full tank and over 9 days later only had it not start on the first attempt once and that was on day 4.

[papa al]

Fuel-Injected bikes won't start if throttle is applied.

Beware inadvertent opening.

This mechanism may be intermittently failing.

Prolly not.

 

Cleaners like STP contain a detergent PEA.

They work and papa recommends.

Dirty injectors means poor fuel atomization 

washing oil off cylinder wall and excess wear.

 

Shell premium gasohol contains a lot.

Caltex has some, Techron.

 

Please advise long term results.

 

 

[LS24]

On 5/26/2024 at 6:47 PM, damole said:

I added 40ml of STP cleaner to a full tank and over 9 days later only had it not start on the first attempt once and that was on day 4.

Go to the gas station. Empty half the bottle in and then fill the tank to get the injector cleaner mixed in. Get the bike started and bounce it off redline regularly in low gears. Continue to use the top half of the rev range more often. Should see a difference before half a tank if it is the inlet system.

 

Also check the air filter and all the plumbing to the filter.