QuestionHi i know your expertise is 70's to 80's japanise motorcycles but my model hasnt been changed since the 80's when it first came out. I have a 2004 Kawasaki EX500, 10K miles. I bought the bike and it had been sittin up about 4 months with gas in the system and tank. I drove it home that night and the next day, its my first bike so i had to run it the next day. I noticed that taking off in first gear that it would stall, then BOOM would take off like it got a jolt of gas, this i can understand-gas been sittin up. So i get a recommened mechanic to look at the carbs. He drained the bowls and it was pretty dirty. He noticed that the left cylinder might not be getting good compresion, the exaust on that side was not piping hot like the other, i drove it 20 miles there- it should smoke your fingers at touch. He adjust the carbs gas flow and says go get a spark plug it might be bad. By the time i got a spark plug he had closed shop. On the way home it died 4 times, suffocating for fuel, but the tank was low- the first time low since i got the bike 3 days eariler. OK so maybe bad gas. At home i get it cranked but it wont stay runnin, ans low and be hold the left exaust is now piping hot---BUT the right is now just warm! WTF. So, i drain the gas and insert i ounce of Sta-bil to a new 2 1/2 gallons of gas, drain the carbs 2 or 3 times. Check spark plugs - one bad- replaced. The other not perfert but evcerybody is out i have to order. The one exaust-the right that is not HOT has the better spark plug!?? Now the sucker wont crank, it turnover, it got enough compresion to start but wont, also i killed the battery trying to start it. Now that the gas might be ok i not sure with a low battery if the plugs are getting enough spark. Hmmm what do u think? What would be your first step.
AnswerMy first step would be to get a healthy battery. Either charge it up or replace it. You can't get a bike to run right without a good battery.
Next I would get a service manual and read up on the scheduled maintenance items. In particular you probably need the valves checked and the carbs balanced.
You may not be able to balance the carbs if they are still clogged up or way out of sync.
To clean the carbs you need to separate out the parts and shoot carb cleaner (careful not on rubber or plastic). Then look for the balance screw and adjust so that you see a sliver of light shine past the throttles. Try to get them about the same. (This is called a "bench-sync".)
Also pay close attention to the idle mixture screw. Jot down how many turns in it takes so that when you remove it (to clean the passage) you can replace it to the correct setting.
You still need to do a proper carb sync (using mercury sticks) but this should be enough to get the bike running.
You might get more detailed info on this bike here:
http://www.ex-500.com/
