Got problems?

Got problems?
The usual suspects!

A common source of annoyance and mystery especially to new owners is how the air filter cover (dummy fuel tank top) fixes to the petrol tank filler cap so here are some pics that hopefully will clarify this.
There are often pieces missing or they have not been assembled correctly or if your unlucky a previous owner might have chucked the lot!

The cover clips on to the spring loaded wedges, arrowed red.
To release the cover open the fuel cap and push back the levers, arrowed blue.

With the retaining covers removed the locking wedges, springs and levers in there assembled order can be seen.

Clutch problems.

The hydraulic clutch is well known to cause problems and it’s usually when the seals in the master cylinder or slave cylinder or both need replacing.
It also doesn’t help if a bike has been stood for a while and the master/slave cylinder has become a bit seized as forcing them can tear the seals.

These are the parts you will get in the master cylinder rebuild kit and the order they fit into the master cylinder, the seal (arrowed blue) must be fitted onto the piston shown above it the correct way around, check it when stripped and fit the new seal the same way around, they are a tight fit to get on the piston when new so use plenty of brake fluid to lube the seal and piston to help fitting.

NOTE: The spring (arrowed red) doesn’t go inside the master cylinder it fits onto the pushrod that fits into the clutch lever.

The clutch slave cylinder rebuild kit only has one seal and one dustcover, the seal that fits onto the piston must be fitted the correct way around (arrowed).

This kit is for a FZ750 part number 26H-W0098-00 the part number may be different for the Fazer/FZX but the parts are the same, as with many parts get them for the FZ if the Fazer/FZX is an import to your country such as the UK

Many owners have had real problems bleeding the clutch myself included, but as i had rebuilt the master cylinder, the slave and fitted a new braided hose with new sealing washers there didn’t seem to be any reason why it would not bleed!

The reason turned out to be the threaded hole that the bleed nipple screws into in the slave cylinder was worn and when the bleed nipple was tightened up it was still allowing air into the system.
When bleeding the system the fluid that is expelled must be replaced with fluid from the reservoir but with the bleed nipple leaking air was being drawn in around it instead of fluid being drawn from the reservoir.

The simple and cheap solution to this was to wrap some PTFE tape, (the very thin stuff that plumbers use on pipe threads) around the bleed nipple threads, after doing this and bleeding the system 3-4 times i had a full clutch lever and have had no proplem with it since.

If you still can’t bleed it you could try pre-filling the brake line and slave cylinder with fluid then bolt them up and bleed the master cylinder first at the bolt the brake line attaches to it, it might help get it started.

Fitting LED Indicators.

I fitted LED indicators using the standard flasher unit and had the usual problem that is “They don’t work”.
I tried using the various resistors that are advertised to fix this problem, firstly, the very small resistors that often come with the indicators and simply plug into the existing wiring in series, these did nothing there to small and don’t offer enough resistance.
I then tried the bigger resistors that come in a gold coloured heatsink these actually seemed to offer to much resistance as only three of the eighteen LED’s in the indicator lit up!

The wiring diagram below came with these resistors, now the first thing you should notice is that one resistor is shown fitted to one indicator so even if they had worked you would obviously need four of them if you fitted LED indicators all round, they are not the “universal” solution as often claimed!
These types of resistor may work if you only fit two LED indicators and have two bulb type indicators but that seems a bit pointless.

These didn’t work and you would need four of them if you fitted LED indicators all round and not two as advertised!

This is the wiring diagram that came with the resistors, it didn’t work!

I eventually bought a proper electronic flasher unit for use with LED indicators and it worked, if your fitting LED indicators i recommend getting one first as last, mine cost £20 but it’s the only thing i found that worked correctly.
I ordered the unit for a yamaha but it does not plug straight into the FZX wiring as the connector is different but it's only two wires (the same as a FZX) and just needs a couple of new connectors fitted.

It ain’t big but it is clever and it works.

The next problem, when i plugged in the dash the indicator warning light didn’t work and also caused all the indicators to come on at once like hazard warning lights, very weird!
I think this is because the indicator warning light is a bulb and puts to much load on the electronic flasher unit which is only meant for LED’s, so replace the bulb with a LED i thought but that was too easy and it caused some more strange problems.

So finally i put a single LED in parallel on each of the front indicators and success, a flashing single LED warning light with the indicators.
This means that there are now two LED's one for the left side and one for the right, they are fitted into the dash in place of the old bulb.

Most LED's are not designed to run on 12volts but they are available with a resistor soldered to them so they can or you can solder a resistor on yourself like i did, a 470-500 Ohm 1/4Watt resistor will do the job.
LED’s have a positive and negative connection (anode = positive, cathode = negative) the positive is the longer leg and the connection the resistor should be soldered to.

Lost the reserve fuel?

If you keep running out of fuel because the tank won’t go onto reserve it’s often because the wire (arrowed) has broken off the fuel sensor which is located inside the tank.
There is no actual separate reserve tank what happens is when the fuel drops to a certain level the sensor cuts the power to the fuel pump and flicking the reserve switch on the bars turns the power to the pump back on.
I know a lot of bikes that use a fuel pump use a similar system because if the fuel supply to the pump stopped it could cause air lock problems so this way it just “immitates” having to go onto reserve but i think it’s a crap over the top unneccesary idea and also a dangerous one, a simple low fuel light that does not turn off the fuel supply would be sufficient.

Consider being in the fast lane and running onto the “simulated” reserve it unneccesarily places you in a dangerous situation of having to flick the reserve switch to turn the fuel pump back on and hoping the carbs fill up with fuel before you start to slow down and have to try and get into a slower lane hoping that someone doesn’t drive into the back of you!
I know this from experience, on a bright sunny day i did not see the reserve light had come on and the next thing i know the bike is slowing down as the carbs had emptied and i am cruising on a dead engine in the fast lane, not good!
Bypassing the fuel pump cut off so only the light comes on is something i will looking to modify in the future.

fuel sensor

Carb Cleaning .htm