IDLE PROBLEMS

[BAZ]

Many kettle owners including me have experienced unreliable tick over, as i have the luxury of being able to try different sets of Carbs this does not appear to be the root cause
IT looks like it may be low voltage at the coils, I have a genuine original NOS wiring loom here and noticed the the live feed wire is thicker on the front loom.

With the engine not running but with the headlight on most Kettles will read about 12 volts at the battery, with the old loom we get 11 volts at the coils, but with the looms they are
making now you get 10.5 volts. This may seem small but can equate to a big effect at the spark plug! I have fitted a relay to mine giving a direct feed to the coils from
the battery giving the full 12 volts and have a much more stable idle!

[Bluehazebrakes]

Similar thing on later Suzuki bikes ie my old TL1000r, a common modification called the plus mod, the switched live to the coils was fed from the ECU and even when the bike was running the supply could drop as low as 6v, the mod made a noticeable difference to tick over and on load performance.

[yeadon_m]

Barry, interesting info! Thanks. Did you happen to measure voltage at open points before and after?
Cheers, Mike
Ps: can you please describe exactly how you wired in the relay?

[BAZ]

I will show with pictures and text how to do it, it would be interesting to see what results other riders get. When i had my bike new i don't remember a problem so i think we may have progress, it would also explain why idle is good with new plugs.

[Roger Ackery]

Interesting post Baz,it seems any sort of voltage drop in the harness/system can cause a drop off in general performance/or create a problem. I had a mysterious misfire which I traced back to the kill switch connection inside the headlight,it had a slightly burnt appearance,replaced the connectors,& the misfire was no longer..

[Rhencullen]

I will show with pictures and text how to do it

It would be great if you could do that Baz.

it would also explain why idle is good with new plugs.

I've just put new plugs in mine, as it wasn't ticking over and getting awkward to start. Spot on now - but it sounds as though it might not just be the plugs........

[Oldbeancanopener]

This is a popular modification for the z900 kawasaki.

Exactly the same principle and prevents voltage drop across old connector blocks and an ageing killswitch. gives a good 12V at the coils

The diagram shows the z900 mod but can be adapted as you see fit for the kettle.

Bill

[BAZ]

Thanks pal you just save me a load of work! here are some pictures of it fitted to a kettle. I have soldered the wires not crimped them i am used to soldering so that's just my way

[yeadon_m]

Barry,
Did you push out the 3 original orange coil wires from its 6 block, retaining the connectors, and install them in the new 3 block? neat job!
Cheers,
Mike

[BAZ]

Yes i have new coils on my bike and did not want to cut wires unnecessarily