Has anyone else tried adjusting the K-Tric throttle sensor themselves? I just did it and it was easier than adjusting the chain!

What did you do to it? This is the first I've heard of anyone messing with it.
Tony

yeah, what did you do and why? any way to sneak some perfromance gains in here with just the turn of a screw?

scott

I'm turning a little dial, like with the idle adjust, and dialing in horse power. Cooooool. Ahhhh, power on tap.zzzzz

Tony....Tony....wake up....time to get up....

What, huh what.....DAM, just a dream again ! Why couldn't you just let me sleep ?

You need:

1) Voltmeter
2) Wiring harness adapter

Instead of the Kawi wiring harness adapter (P/N 57001-1400) I made my own. The sensor puts out a voltage that goes to the ignitor, the higher the voltage the more ignition advance you get. Loosen the two screws that attach the sensor to the #4 carb and rotate it while checking the voltmeter. My sensor was putting our 0.924V at idle and 4.04V at full throttle, which is low end of spec and low out of spec, respectively. It is now at 1.12V and 4.19V, which advances the ignition about 1 degree from where it was before. The difference is small but throttle response is definitely better!

O.K., 2 questions.....

1) Did you adjust your mixture screws in the past, resulting in loss of high idle at warm up?

2) If #1 applies, did adjusting the K-Tric bring that back?

Martin:

To answer your questions, no and no. I have contemplated going to 2.0 turns on the idle screws and reducing the main jets to 106's, but so far my bike is absolutely bone stock except for a K&N filter. Even with the K&N, IMHO the bike runs a bit fat on top.

So this is something a "competent" dealer shop should be doing with a tune up or check up ? Must have missed that on in the manual, have to go back and check it. And, if the advance is below spec, I think I would definately feel the difference when brought back up that little bit.

Thanks Nemesis !

sounds cool! what octane gas do you run? have you had any trouble with pinging? is this listed in the service manual? what page? whe you say 'better throttle respones' are you referring to smoother off off idle or just throught the range?

scott

The instructions for the Throttle sensor inspection is on page 14-53 of the service manual. Yes, I think that a competent dealer should definitely be checking this especially on the 600-mile service. It only takes about 5 minutes to do! There is a noticeable improvement in the way the bike runs now, which could explain why a few people notice that their bikes are running much better after a thorough servicing by a competent dealer.

I'm running 87 octane gas and have not noticed any knocking. The bike responds noticeably better now in the 2000 to 7000 RPM range, above that there's not much difference.

And for something used on many, many Kawi bikes, and for something important, and this easily checked and tuned up, how often do the competent dealers really do it ? This one will go down as the most often overlooked servicable item, I'm sure. Yes, this can very well explain some mysteries ,after having the bike professionally worked on. I don't want this to turn into another "hate" thread, but here is some more proof of the poor dealership service center syndrome.

Once again, thanks Nemesis. Hey, maybe someone could put together a comprehensive tune up article for the ZR-7.com site. Someone like me, and there are a few of me out there, could really learn alot . There are many little details that go un-looked. This is a great example of one little detail. I wonder how many more I'm ignorant of ?

The less we must rely on The Professionals, the better. And so far, the info here that I have relyed on has been spot on target. I would never had installed my fairing, re-jetted my carbs, and done several other jobs on the bike myself without the guidance of this board/site.

Tony

Looking at the owners and service manuals on scheduled maintenance... it doesn't mention any place I can see that the K-TRIC needs checked or inspected (it is in the Service Manual section, however, as nemesis described). So a trained mechanic may not know the K-TRIC as a serviceable item. But, we as Kawa owner's know most everything is rattling when we get it. Everything appears to be a serviceable item!

Kawasaki may believe these are set to spec when they leave the factory and rarely need looked at, maybe replaced once in a while - thus needing to show an adjustment procedure.

Nemesis, can you share some details on what you did (parts/soldering) to make that test cable? Curios, why would you change the fuel jets from 110 to 106 when the bike is already running lean? You know something else, too?

And thanks for pointing this out. Wish you could break it easier to Tony, though.

Nemesis,
So why couldnt we run premium fuel and then set the Ktric unit a little higher than spec to gain some more ignition advance.
Alot of after market ignition advancers for other model bikes that do this same thing....Any thoughts?

Berto, the stock jets are #107.5 which is commonly known as 108, not #110. I am thinking of going down to 105 (not 106 as I said before, duh, sorry) and turning out my idle mixture screws, because my bike seems to be running a hair rich at the top end and slightly lean on the bottom end. Note that I am riding in hot, humid weather. For many of you who are close to sea level and not living in Hades this might be a bad idea.

Woody, you could trick the K-TRIC to a point,
but you will probably run out of adjustment room before the ignition could be advanced very much. My ignitor is putting out 4.89 V to the K-TRIC sensor and the K-TRIC puts out about 4.2V at full throttle, which limits the extra advance possible at the top end (you can't put out more than is going in). Could also be that the maximum advance caused by the K-TRIC is limited by the "black box" too. I believe that you would get the biggest benefit at low to mid-RPM's, but at some point you would likely have to change to higher-grade fuel, and higher-grade fuel burns slower with less energy and thus has less power. My advice is to set it to the high end of the factory spec and look elsewhere for performance gains.

For making the wire harness: you don't want to know about my very crude method. Nine wires in sets of three, twisted together at one end and jammed into the K-TRIC wiring connector with the third wire that sticks out connected to my digital voltmeter. It's Mickey Mouse but it sure beats paying for the factory harness adapter part.

Originally posted by woody1
Nemesis,
So why couldn’t we run premium fuel and then set the Ktric unit a little higher than spec to gain some more ignition advance.
Alot of after market ignition advancers for other model bikes that do this same thing....Any thoughts?

Hi Woody,

Regular fuel provides more power then premium because it burns faster. So to answer your question, you could do that, but the end result would be less power.

Link source: http://www.factorypro.com/tech/fuel_..._vs_power.html

In my opinion, Kawasaki most likely made the K-tric and ignition map timing for optimum power, therefore our engine is making maximum power at any given RPM and load. Adjusting the K-tric sensor to anything other the stock settings would only lower power.

Andy