1980 Kawasaki z500 runs fine for about 60 miles then I have a complete loss of power and bike dies causing me to pull clutch in and coast to a stop. Bike left to sit for ten minutes then sounds really rough on starting and is popping/backfiring with white smoke from exhaust. If left for a little longer the bike seems to get back to normal and is sysmtoms disappear. Any ideas would be appreciated, have no idea where to start.
Check that the tank cap is venting and not causing a vacuum in the tank and lack of fuel to the engine.
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SOURCE: white smoke both pipes when started minute later gone away
White smoke indicates water in the combustion chamber. If the bike is still running okay I would keep an eye on the coolant level, make sure you're not losing any. Best guess is a blown headgasket. You can do a leakdown test or a compression test to check. If your headgasket is blown, two adjacent cylinders should show lower compression since pressure will be leaking from one to the other.
That's the kind of thing that probably won't run for long. Be sure and keep an eye on your oil level too, if you happen to be leaking coolant into the oil you can dilute the oil to the point it no longer lubricates very well.
SOURCE: What causes premature wear in the rings and bore of BMW K75s?
the K75 has very reliable engine .. its unusual for it to fail in this way .. the frozen rings would suggest overheating and thats possible if the radiator fan fails (that happens often before your 80,000) .. many of the pre 1990 k75s would smoke after storing for awhile .. that was a ring gap positioning problem .. that was corrected in newer models .. the smoke however would not have damaged the cylinders .. maybe in the extreme could foul a plug .. is it possible that someone put something in your gas tank ??.. or could it have been run without oil/water or perhaps the wrong type oil (like transmission fluid) ... that engine should have lasted longer than most cars .. nice smooth bike ..
SOURCE: exhaust pipe comes out white smoke when start bike on side stand
Continuous or just for the 5-10 seconds.
If continuous you may have oil seeping past your pistons oil rings or valve guides oil seals.
Check your spark plug see if they are fouled badly (covered heavily and oily) or just covered by oil and sooth lightly.
If 5-10 sec it is normal as the engine is heating up there are normally a little oil seeping past the seals.
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SOURCE: 2000 honda 1100 shadow spirit. Rough idle, little power.
Replace the spark plug caps and try again. On Honda's the cap is often part of the wire (a dealer part) NGK makes some inexpensive plug caps about $5 each. They should OHM out to 5000 anything above or below and you need to replace them. This should fix the problem.
SOURCE: Vstar 1100 idling rough and backfiring letting off the throttle
It sounds to me that your carbs might be a little gunked up - you mentioned the gas may have been old, so it's possible that the smaller (idle) jets are slightly plugged up. Fresh fuel might do the trick and/or you could try using a fuel system cleaner and water remover. This problem might 'solve itself' with a little time.
As far as the backfire - this might be either from the carb issue or it could be related to that rattle you mentioned - you could have a loose connection at or near the head - this can **** air and cause a backfire.
I hope this helped!
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