Emerald Note Log
2001 Kawasaki W650
Property of chukcha14.
Added Jul 20 2023
Showing all notes
Dec 10 2024
Washed the bike thoroughly from road salt. Opened the engine sprocket cover and cleaned the grime. Washed the chain and sprockets with simple green and wiped with kerosene. Drained the carbs and fuel tank. Poured motor oil into the tank to preserve it.
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36,288
Added by chukcha14 on Dec 12 2024 at 12:10 am
Sep 29 2024
As the temperature lowered to below 18c I noticed that The bike would take a long time to warm up and stall right after I turned off the choke and start riding for 200m. To ameliorate the denser air I put the idle screws back to 2.3/4 turns out and installed brand new hotter temperature range (7e) spark plugs. The bike no longer stalls and warms up faster. I see no discernible change in engine temperature. Maybe it warms up a little faster from cold as I ride? I did notice the heat from the engine head did increase a little, but I’m not certain. I hope that hotter plugs will help with efficiency. Time will tell. I feel good that the plugs will fit better to my stop and go in cold weather type of riding. I don’t see any issues with riding on a highway with hotter plugs so far.
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35,480
Added by chukcha14 on Sep 29 2024 at 9:02 pm
Aug 23 2024
Setting idle jet back a little to 2.3/4, because the spark plugs were dry fouled and matte grey indicating rich mixture and I feel that in moist conditions the air filters are wet and it blocks the air flow making the mixture even richer. I also feel that the bike hesitated when cold or moist a bit too much.
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34,455
Added by chukcha14 on Aug 23 2024 at 11:44 pm
Aug 11 2024
Cleaned and lubbed the air filters. Dealt with a tiny oil leak from the valve cover gasket, by cleaning the gasket from old silicone and oil. Replaced a spring in fuel petcock valve in hope to stop the small leak. Oil 20w-50 semisynthetic And Fram filter replacement.
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34,204
Added by chukcha14 on Aug 12 2024 at 8:56 pm
May 12 2024
Set the idle screws to 2.3/4 turns out. I’m leaving them like that for ease of remembering.
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32,045
Added by chukcha14 on May 12 2024 at 8:52 pm
Cleaned the chain fully to a spotless level with first the simple green; dried: then powerful blast of ipon chain cleaner that brought it to a supremely clean state. I let it evaporate the chain cleaner and proceeded to wipe off the chain with a clean paper towel to the point where there were were little dust left on it. Carefully protecting the tire and the muffler I proceeded to apply the ipon chain grease in short even streams making sure to cover the inside of the chain and the side. Then I did the same thing but from the other side of the chain to make sure the chain grease covers both sides of the chain. I then started the bike on a center stand and span the wheel for 30 seconds to make sure that the grease really penetrates all the nooks and crannies of the chain and rollers while the centripetal force pushed the grease out to spill over the outside of the chain. It’s so perfect that when the wheel spins I can’t hear the chain links spinning around the sprockets. Rear sprocket was cleaned thoroughly as well. Rear rim and some dirty spokes were cleaned with kerosene.
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32,045
Added by chukcha14 on May 12 2024 at 8:47 pm
Mar 25 2024
I set the idle screws to 2.5 turns out and the bike really liked that. The bike warms up much faster than on 2.1/4 turns before; however, when the bike is fully warmed up I could feel just a tad of hesitation sometimes and the exhaust smells like gasoline. I need to revert back a bit and try the factory recommendation 2.3/8 turns which is half of quarter turn back in from 2.5 turns.
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30,819
Added by chukcha14 on Mar 25 2024 at 7:07 pm
Mar 21 2024
The bike wasn’t running right. It was running too rich with lot’s of vibration on all rpm’s. Idle screws had nothing to do with it. I took off the carbs again and realized that I swapped the main jet needles between cylinders. This caused the richness and vibrations. After that I rechecked and adjusted the floats and put back the 2.1/8 turns out for idle screws. The main vibrations at speed were gone and solved, but the idle was too lean with lots of shaking popping sounds on deceleration. So I put the idle setting back to 2.1/4 turns out. The bike likes this setting a lot more. Vibes are almost gone, but idle is still too lean and the bike takes a long time to warm up. I’ll leave it like that for now. Need to check out the fuel economy at this setting. I think I’ll set the idle screws at 2.3/8 later.
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30,758
Added by chukcha14 on Mar 21 2024 at 1:43 am
Mar 9 2024
Installed the IKON shocks. Cleaned the air filter in a kerosene bath, then soaked in simple green then rinsed with warm water. Dried completely. Soaked in SAE 30 oil and carefully pressed the excess oil out with paper towels and installed it back in the bike. Checked the service fuel level in the carburetors - all within spec. Adjusted the idle screws to ~2.1/4 turns out. Bike starts and warm up much happier and faster, but it’s still lean and it takes a long time to warm it up. I’ll leave it like that for now.
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30,534
Added by chukcha14 on Mar 9 2024 at 10:33 am
Feb 24 2024
I mounted the fork legs this week and mounted the headlight that I cleaned from rust and painted. Ordered IKON Basix shocks with proper springs for my weight. Disassembled the steering stem and lubed both bearings. The lower grease seal is broken, I have it, but I decided not to replace it as I don’t have the right tool to remove the lower bearing. I am afraid to damage the lower bearing. I’m planning to buy a new lower bearing and replace everything then. Reassembled and mounted fairings and carbs. Charged the battery. Started the engine first time since December. The engine started with choke and ran only on choke for about 4minutes. When I turned off the choke the engine stalled. This indicates a very lean idle mixture even though the idle screws are at 2.1/8 turns out which is the factory default setting. I’m installing the new rear hub rubber dampers and reinstalling the rear wheel. After that, I need to check the level of fuel in the carbs to make sure the floats are at correct level. Will check for vacuum leaks too, before touching the idle screws. Need to align the forks and then proceed to replacing to the last step which is to replace the bearings and oil seals in the front wheel hub. Whew
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30,468
Added by chukcha14 on Feb 24 2024 at 12:37 pm
Feb 12 2024
I filled the fork legs with 15W fork oil, reassembled and torqued the fork legs. I also completely disassembled the carburetor for cleaning. As I was working on it I discovered that the idle fuel screw on the second cylinder was screwed in too tight, so it was leaning the mix while the idle fuel screw on the first cylinder was too loose thus it was making the idle mixture too rich. This explains the difference in the spark plugs. The first plug was more sooty while the second plug looked lean. The float needles were bad and need to be replaced. Float position was wrong on cylinder 2 and it was too rich. That explains the fuel oil puddle in the airbox. I cleaned the airbox and adjusted the float position and idle screws to 2.5 turns each (should be 2.1/8 turns in the service manual). I made it a bit richer just to see how it runs and I’ll decrease it later. Waiting for new o-ring for the steering stem and new float valve and idle screw o-rings from China. Waiting for bearing puller from China. The bike is still disassembled.
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30,468
Added by chukcha14 on Feb 12 2024 at 3:21 am
Jan 27 2024
Fully disassembled both fork legs and drained old 10w oil. There was 400ml in each leg. The old oil was completely used up and black tar like substance with a ton of metal shavings in it. The previous owner did change the fork oil a long time ago; no one knows then (I know this, because one spacer washer was installed incorrectly), but I don’t think anyone actually disassembled the fork legs fully. The upper bushings were completely used up to the brass. The lower bushings are fine. I replaced: All 4 bushings, 2 Oil seals (oil seal covers were still ok), 2 OEM springs (I installed RaceTech 0.85kg/cm stiffer forks) Cleaned everything with kerosene. I also disassembled the front light and discovered that the inside of the chrome fairing around the headlight was rusty in several areas. I disassembled it, cleaned, scrubbed the rust away and carefully painted with Rustoleum paint to prevent further rust. In addition, I disassembled the top of the steering stem to find a completely dry upper bearing. I didn’t have the necessary equipment to remove the stem completely and inspect the lower bearing, but I suspect it is very dry too. I sprayed some chain grease onto the top bearing and reassembled everything. Painted all paint chips on frame and steering area with black Rustoleum paint.
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30,470
Added by chukcha14 on Jan 27 2024 at 6:19 pm
Jan 8 2024
Did a compression check. 165psi in both cylinders. According to the manual the usable range is 119psi to 185psi. This means that the engine used up only 1/3 of its potential after 49,000km. After 23 years, are you kidding!? Extremely good results! Did oil and filter change. Struggled to remove the filter. Poured in Motorex 20w-50 semi-synthetic HD oil. $25 for 3L oil (got it on sale) $10 for Fram filter $28 wasted on various tools to remove the stuck oil filter. $2 for crush washers $32 for compression checking kit on Aliexpress.
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30,468
Added by chukcha14 on Jan 8 2024 at 7:45 pm
Jan 6 2024
Took off my fenders for an inspection. Cleaned them with water. Then cleaned them with Lysol toilet bowl cleaner (contains phosphoric acid that obliterates rust). This removed most of the rust underneath the fenders. Painted hard to reach areas with Rustoleum paint and then when dry I applied the undercoating. Discovered oil in the air-box. Going to clean the airbox and carb last.
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30,470
Added by chukcha14 on Jan 6 2024 at 2:41 am
Dec 27 2023
Drained the fuel from tank and carbs. Flushed the residue from the bottom of the fuel tank. Replaced fuel cap rubber o-rings. Added 330ml of motor oil in the tank for the winter. Cleaned the fuel petcock. Inspected the spark plugs. Cleaned them from soot. Fixed gap. Did valve check. All shims are well within spec. Inspected, cleaned and put fresh grease in the swing arm pivot. Replaced the oil seals on swingarm bearings. Cleaned the swingarm and painted the rusty spots. Cleaned connections of cables and lubricated them with grease. Rewired connections to prevent water related short circuits. Cleaned/lubbed ground connection to the frame. Spray painted over rusty spots on frame and under the tank. Applied proper torque to all nuts and bolts strictly as per manual
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30,470
Added by chukcha14 on Dec 27 2023 at 3:38 am
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