[Synd]

Well... maybe not totally fucked up...

I'll start from the begining.

Last weekend I started by taking off the driver's seat, then the rear plastics, and finally the tank, with the aid of a friend. I was going to fit a Scottoiler. As some of you may know, the Scottoiler must be connected to the vacuum pipes from the carburetors, so that the oil valve opens only when the engine is running.

Well, I looked at the carburetors and there where 3 small rubber tubes in U-shape connecting no. 1 to 2, 2 to 3 and 3 to 4 carburetors. I though: this must be it! Cutted it, and installed a T connection, going to the Scottoiler. Reasembled the bike, and started it. DANG, complete shit!! Obviously that wasn't the vacuum tubes.

I disassembled everything and went to the Kawasaki dealer and mechanic. The mechanic guy wasn't there, but the salesman helped me checking what was the problem.

I learned that Kawasaki makes the refrigeration liquid (coolant) run around the carburetors to help heating the gasoline so it vaporises better before entering the cylinder. I cutted that tube, and now the bike was loosing coolant, at a very low flow.

As the Kawasaki mechanic wasn't there and the U-shaped tube was out-of-stock, I went to the Honda dealer near my job and they helped me out, fitting some tube they have. This was on monday.

Everything was fine 'till tonight. As I left my job at 20h, and started the bike, it started smelling like burned coolant, as it went heating up. I thought: shit, it's leaking again! Well, I'll go home and check this out. But as I was riding at 80 km/h (50 mph - i'm breaking in the bike) the temperature started rising. I checked the coolant level and it was at the minimum!! Shit...

Went drifting 'till home. On a chilling night, and raining, the engine was running at 4000 rpm, at 77-78 ºC (170-171 ºF). Much hotter than usual.

I got home and phoned to the salesman of Kawasaki. The shop will be closed tomorrow, so I went to the garage to disassemble the bike again, with my father.

Checking things out... the tube that the Honda guy put is fine! No leaks, the engine was not dirty from the burned coolant. Strange... I filled the reservoir again with coolant and started the bike. The smell had gone and the coolant level kept steady. Also, there was nothing driping from the bike. The temperature rised as normal...

I have no idea what might be. I'm going mad because the bike is new, and I need it everyday! I know I was the one fucking it up, but the Kawasaki guys should be able to fix it pronto!!

I located another dealer in the city, that is opened tomorrow (saturday). I'll go there and check it all out.

So... any ideas what might be wrong?

Synd - Wilder than the wildest dreams!
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Kawasaki ZX-636R Ninja, 2002, GREEN!!
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Edited by - Synd on 12/27/2002 18:49:54

 

[teamgreenbikr]

I don't understand what exactly is your problem....
You say the coolant tubes you cut were raplaced and the coolant is no longer leaking so that part of the problem is fixed....

I would really like to know what a scottoiler is and what's the pupose of it?????

I have done quite a bit of work on mine and the vacuum tubes are easy to find, they are capped off with plastic caps. The vacuum tubes are dowstream to the carbs.Tough I believe your is fuel injected right?

Also, you MUST have a look at how to break the engine in, see:
www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm


go green or go home!

 

[GreenEnvy]

Teemgreenbkr:
I believe he is refering to an automatic chain oiler?? it drips oil on the chain so you'll never have to oil it yourself.
And the 2002 636 is still Carbs, not injected, the 2003 will be the first fuel injected ZX6R.

-=Welcome To Canada=-
2002 Green 6R
1986 Gixxer 7/11

 

[swjohnsey]

Your bike has something the U.S. and maybe the Canadian bikes don't have and that is the coolant running to the carbs to prevent carburator icing. The vacuum line come from the rubber boots that connect the carbs to the back of the head. On mine the right cylinder (#4) has a line that is capped off so if you use that one you don't have to cut anything.

 

[Synd]

Thanks for the replies!!

My problem was if it would continue droping the coolant level and over-heating. As I said, the replacement tube is not leaking, so it could be somenthing worse, not related to my mess-up.

Well, today (saturday) I went to the dealer, and as the mechanic checked things up, he said nothing was wrong. His answer for the overheating was that some air might got into the cooling circuit thus causing it to fail cooling as well as it should, but that should be no problem. He said I should only worry if the temperature rised above 100 ºC and kept rising...

About the Scottoiler (www.scottoiler.com)... It's an automatic chain lubbing system that works with the vacuum from the carburetors. I've had it on all of my bikes and just love it. There are a few posts here about it.

The problem finding the vacuum plugs was that the air box was covering them. I never had a bike with the airbox on the top, neither one with that icing-preventive system. So, the only tubes coming out of the carburetors on all my previous bikes were the vacuum tubes. Given that... I thought that was the right tube to cut.

So, the good news are that the bike is running fine, now, and the cutted tube is fixed. The bad news are that I'm going to have to drain the cooling circuit and fill it up so that no air gets in (there is a valve at the bottom of the engine... I'll leave that to the mechanic) and I still don't have the Scottoiler working... but at least now I know how to properly fit it.

Once again, thanks for the replies, and as I said... maybe it wasn't so fucked up <img src=icon_smile_cool.gif border=0 align=middle>

You know... my baby was leaking... and one can get worried... <img src=icon_smile_shy.gif border=0 align=middle>

Synd - Wilder than the wildest dreams!
-----------------------
Kawasaki ZX-636R Ninja, 2002, GREEN!!
------------------------

 

[Synd]

quote: Also, you MUST have a look at how to break the engine in, see:
www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

About breaking in... I don't always runs at the max recommended rpms (4000 rpm). But what that guys says isn't thrustworthy, to me. How does he knows so much more than the thousand of engineers that develop bikes from years now? They spend fortunes trying to get the max out of the engines; would they spoil it all by saying for you to run it bad (slow)?? I don't buy it.

Besides, the 636 engine (I don't know about the others...) has an inner coating of aluminium-something (I don't recall the correct name) and running it hard while new will trash that coating... and that should not happen.

Synd - Wilder than the wildest dreams!
-----------------------
Kawasaki ZX-636R Ninja, 2002, GREEN!!
------------------------

 

[teamgreenbikr]

Interesting....maybe we should have the anti-ice system here in Canada!! Concerning the break-in, my owner's manual was telling me not to exceed 4000 RPM for the first ~600km or so....I find this crazy... our bikes aren't even breathing properly at that speed...I didn't redline it when I first got it, I went gradually, enventually bringing it throughout the rev range. I cannot tell anyone what to do with their bikes, but you're never too well informed, and beeing a mechanic, I found a lot of it made a lot of sense.

Thanks for telling me what a Scottoiler is!!!

go green or go home!

 

[teamgreenbikr]

By the way,
Doesn't the Scottoiler create a big mess on the rear of the bike??
Doesn't the rear wheel get covered in oil after time??

go green or go home!

 

[dj dunzie]

Bah, my bike's rear end gets pretty much filthy after every time I lube my chain, that's what the 2 hours AFTER a hard ride is for... lol...

"Keep yer feet on the pegs and your right hand cranked."

 

[Synd]

About the Scottoiler... the mess is no bigger than the one made by a recently lubbed chain. The thing is that the oil is much thinner and liquid (as the chain is always lubbed, that is no problem) and jumps out of the chain pretty easily, and gets replaced right away. But the chain protector catches most of the oil... the mess isn't very big. And being that oil, removing it from the bike (and the rear wheel) is very easy. Also, I've never seen it spilling to the tire...

About the break-in period... I did not said that guy in the site is wrong. I just don't buy it, period. That's my choice... but as I said, I don't break-in the bike by the book. I've broken-in a few bikes before and I think I'm doing a good job on it. But running it hard in the first 20 miles just doesn't sound wise at all to me.

Synd - Wilder than the wildest dreams!
-----------------------
Kawasaki ZX-636R Ninja, 2002, GREEN!!
------------------------

 

[ninja jim]

Synd you might want to check the coolant level in the radiator, not the reservoir