I recently bought a used 2003 Ninja EX205R and am new to this forum so hi to all you Kawa enthusiasts.

If you have the time to help a fellow rider out, please read my situation and see if you have the same problem or know how to troubleshoot it. thnxs

So the problem is when i first got the bike, it ran swell. no problems at all.........UNTIL i hit 145 miles after the previous owner filled up the tank. I was cruising on the freeway at 1,2000rpms on 6th gear and all off a sudden i felt the bike start slowing down. I gave it a little twist on the gass and it just lost all power. I pulled over and spent about 5 minutes cranking the engine, checking my fuel lever, playing with the choke, etc...until my bike started up again. When it finally did, i went for another 3 miles and it died out again and so the process continues...AGAIN. I went to fill up and found out that the tank wasnt even empty yet. i have only used about 2.2 gallons of gass. The tank should hold about 4.8ish so i was thinking to myself "WTF?!?!" I blew it off and filled up again and went on my way. now when it approached 130 after fill up it happened again. I dont know whats going on. I am thinking the carbs might need synchronizing? or cleaning? or both? but not sure. I do gas it alot when i ride but never full throttle. I am not sure if i am flooding the engine or something. Please help me out. Thank you all.

 

I think your problem iswith the gas petcock valve. If you can go for that many miles without a problem, and then suddenly run out of gas, it's not in the carbs.

 

Thanks Mark. I'll take a look into it. and is that a red tail boa (i could be wrong) i see in your avatar? i am a snake lover myself.

 

I agree with Mark; I don't think it's carbs. Are you sure there's no vacuum sound when you open your gas cap right after it's quit? Kinda sounds like a venting or a pressure build-up problem of some kind to me.

 

You can have some too at the KF BBQ in 5 years! lol

 

lol i'll be counting down. that will be some tender meat. [8D]


Oh and thanks for the heads up Jeff. Luckily, a bike mechanic just moved into my neighborhood and is also a kawa fan so i'll take a look at it soon. just have to find some time.

 

Does your switch have reserve/prime/run? If so, it is activated by vacuum and you will have to put it on prime to start it. The switches are vertically copulated. Here is my post about a 500 Vulcan:

I am having chronic problems with my 2006 Vulcan 500. I fill it up and at 163 miles (2.7 gal to fill)and later 133 miles (2.2 gal to fill) it runs out of gas and has to be switched to reserve. It is getting 60 mpg, which is great, but it is HELL to restart after it runs out. It has taken 15-20 minutes to start. This could get you killed on the highway. The tank is supposed to hold 4 gal with .8 gal. reserve, so there should be 3.2 gal. available, which would give me 180+ miles to fill. Only in my dreams. Kawasaki customer service had no solution or help, but admitted getting calls about this problem. ****UPDATE***My latest "run-out" was aT 50 miles - hit the choke first and switched to reserve and didn't have to stop. Vacuum controls the flow of gas through the tank switch/petcock.

 

yeh you know a bike mechanic just moved in next to my friends house and he has the same bike (Ninja 250r) and he theorized that the reserve for this bike might be set at half the thank which is about 2.2-2.4gal so i tested his theory and switched my bike to reserve after about 130 miles and its runny just fine. funny. i am still going to have him take it apart and help me clean and adjust everything. like a full service tune up.