crash_matt
Registered
Well, having finally gone for it an bought a Busa you can imagine I was made up when I got it and suitably blown away when riding for the first time. I've owned the ZX12R (02) twice as I loved that so much, but couldn't not try the competition. It's bloody great, different, but great. Anyway...
So, I took it for a run and it was low on fuel, like light came on three miles in, so off to the petrol station for a full tank of the good stuff. I notice when I'm looking into the lid that there's a bit of the brown stuff on the plate and it rubs off onto my finger. In the back of my mind I'm thinking I ought to probably clean it out soon, but postpone the thought in order to get back to the fun. NOW - from what I read (yes I've scoured the forums and watched the videos) a full tank of gas on an old Busa is pretty much its Achilles heel. You will set off from the forecourt eager to burn it all in a nice long blast, only for the whole thing to start going tits up. Well, that's exactly what happened to me.
A quick run up a twisty hill climb in Cumbria and all is going well, coming back down I've got to the bottom and fancy seeing what she can do in terms of pace. So, I change down one (nothing too drastic) and roll on the throttle. Starts well then suddenly we get a hiccup and the power just doesn't want to keep coming. I'm getting to about 6,000, 7,000 and the surge just stops. No chance of a red line here at all - but clutch and it seems more responsive. Baffled I keep going and soon find that there is now stuttering each time I change gear and ease the clutch back out. She doesn't want to take the load and she won't lay on the good stuff for love nor money. Well, not consistently. As usual with these kind of niggles she comes and goes - but like other things more going than coming! I'll get a bit of a surge and think that whatever it was has cleared only to find it back the minute I begin to think positively - perhaps I shouldn't have my ass on top of the ECU?
So now it's feeling like it's running on three or even just two, there's flat spots all over and I'm starting to panic about the idea of pushing the thing home as I know she's a bit of a fat bird at heart. Luckily we make it home and I roll into the garage (I tried switching off on the way home and managed that alright but it made no improvement) nothing obvious.
When I go back out after a brew and a head scratch it's a bit worse, not wanting to idle evenly with the tacho dancing like a drunkard and a real die off if you twist the throttle too suddenly, twist it too hard too soon and the whole thing conks. Time for another brew and some more research..
At this point I've been through the forums and realised that the problem is really common, but very few people see it through to a complete conclusion, leaving the followers guessing what happened in the end. Well hopefully this thread will make it through to the end...
My options for fault:
FI - poop from the tank and old fuel stirred up by the good stuff and causing a block
Crap on the fuel filters, crap in the pump, blocked injectors etc.
Coil/Plug
Stator and Crank sensor
TPS
Tasks done so far:
So, onto the manual and I start with the fault codes using dealer mode - nothing just the usual C000 so that's positive. Unplugging things generates fault codes and they all match so that's also good news.
Run the bike and listen to the injectors through a screwdriver - all knocking happily so I unplug them - no bloody difference to knocking sounds- stupid bloody idea!
Run the bike and unplug injectors to listen to engine tone, need to unplug more than one to get it really out of shape, unplugging one barely any difference, no matter which one I unplug.
Do a resistance test on the injectors, all return the same reading so conclude they are probably working just fine - although they may be a bit mucky inside.
Tank off - bloody thing is full! I've got the best part of 20 litres of the stuff left as I only did 40 miles! Pull the hose and point it into a filtered funnel and jerry can - forget that the other pipe will flow out via the pump! Notice the puddle on the floor and finally work it out - now stuck there with my arms playing a game of mechanical twister to bung the hole while I wait for it to slowly run out of the tank.
Remove pump, fuel rail and injectors in one so I can break them down on the work bench - leaving the injectors for now but will give them a blow through once the gadget arrives to do so (I'll review that too when I get a chance).
Split the pump in half and start to get some crap falling out onto the rag - flakes of rust and some nasty gunge so I'm starting to feel positive about it. Try to keep going to get all of the filters out and end up having to break things to shift them! Finally get it down to it's component parts and there's more flakes and crap to tackle in the main pump, but the regulator seems alright. Filter looks a really dirty colour and feels gritty to the touch, but a new one will be going in to tackle that. A clean out and some new rubbers etc will be next but most of the parts are backorder (well it is a 1999 X!)
Next Steps:
Once the parts come I will be rebuilding and cleaning. I've got an endoscope coming to check the tank for more rust to decide on the best course of action there. I've got four new plugs so I will pop those in as well, then rebuild and see if the problem persists. If so, it will be on to the electrical gadgets to see where the signal has gone wrong.
Question:
Would you re-use the petrol? It's going to be mainly new and fresh, no evidence on the funnel filter of crap...
So, I took it for a run and it was low on fuel, like light came on three miles in, so off to the petrol station for a full tank of the good stuff. I notice when I'm looking into the lid that there's a bit of the brown stuff on the plate and it rubs off onto my finger. In the back of my mind I'm thinking I ought to probably clean it out soon, but postpone the thought in order to get back to the fun. NOW - from what I read (yes I've scoured the forums and watched the videos) a full tank of gas on an old Busa is pretty much its Achilles heel. You will set off from the forecourt eager to burn it all in a nice long blast, only for the whole thing to start going tits up. Well, that's exactly what happened to me.
A quick run up a twisty hill climb in Cumbria and all is going well, coming back down I've got to the bottom and fancy seeing what she can do in terms of pace. So, I change down one (nothing too drastic) and roll on the throttle. Starts well then suddenly we get a hiccup and the power just doesn't want to keep coming. I'm getting to about 6,000, 7,000 and the surge just stops. No chance of a red line here at all - but clutch and it seems more responsive. Baffled I keep going and soon find that there is now stuttering each time I change gear and ease the clutch back out. She doesn't want to take the load and she won't lay on the good stuff for love nor money. Well, not consistently. As usual with these kind of niggles she comes and goes - but like other things more going than coming! I'll get a bit of a surge and think that whatever it was has cleared only to find it back the minute I begin to think positively - perhaps I shouldn't have my ass on top of the ECU?
So now it's feeling like it's running on three or even just two, there's flat spots all over and I'm starting to panic about the idea of pushing the thing home as I know she's a bit of a fat bird at heart. Luckily we make it home and I roll into the garage (I tried switching off on the way home and managed that alright but it made no improvement) nothing obvious.
When I go back out after a brew and a head scratch it's a bit worse, not wanting to idle evenly with the tacho dancing like a drunkard and a real die off if you twist the throttle too suddenly, twist it too hard too soon and the whole thing conks. Time for another brew and some more research..
At this point I've been through the forums and realised that the problem is really common, but very few people see it through to a complete conclusion, leaving the followers guessing what happened in the end. Well hopefully this thread will make it through to the end...
My options for fault:
FI - poop from the tank and old fuel stirred up by the good stuff and causing a block
Crap on the fuel filters, crap in the pump, blocked injectors etc.
Coil/Plug
Stator and Crank sensor
TPS
Tasks done so far:
So, onto the manual and I start with the fault codes using dealer mode - nothing just the usual C000 so that's positive. Unplugging things generates fault codes and they all match so that's also good news.
Run the bike and listen to the injectors through a screwdriver - all knocking happily so I unplug them - no bloody difference to knocking sounds- stupid bloody idea!
Run the bike and unplug injectors to listen to engine tone, need to unplug more than one to get it really out of shape, unplugging one barely any difference, no matter which one I unplug.
Do a resistance test on the injectors, all return the same reading so conclude they are probably working just fine - although they may be a bit mucky inside.
Tank off - bloody thing is full! I've got the best part of 20 litres of the stuff left as I only did 40 miles! Pull the hose and point it into a filtered funnel and jerry can - forget that the other pipe will flow out via the pump! Notice the puddle on the floor and finally work it out - now stuck there with my arms playing a game of mechanical twister to bung the hole while I wait for it to slowly run out of the tank.
Remove pump, fuel rail and injectors in one so I can break them down on the work bench - leaving the injectors for now but will give them a blow through once the gadget arrives to do so (I'll review that too when I get a chance).
Split the pump in half and start to get some crap falling out onto the rag - flakes of rust and some nasty gunge so I'm starting to feel positive about it. Try to keep going to get all of the filters out and end up having to break things to shift them! Finally get it down to it's component parts and there's more flakes and crap to tackle in the main pump, but the regulator seems alright. Filter looks a really dirty colour and feels gritty to the touch, but a new one will be going in to tackle that. A clean out and some new rubbers etc will be next but most of the parts are backorder (well it is a 1999 X!)
Next Steps:
Once the parts come I will be rebuilding and cleaning. I've got an endoscope coming to check the tank for more rust to decide on the best course of action there. I've got four new plugs so I will pop those in as well, then rebuild and see if the problem persists. If so, it will be on to the electrical gadgets to see where the signal has gone wrong.
Question:
Would you re-use the petrol? It's going to be mainly new and fresh, no evidence on the funnel filter of crap...
