2 noob questions im sure...

[ja5983]

1) what are the positions for the fuel petcock? I bought my bike after it was painted and it didnt come with a manual. Mine came with the arrow facing the back of the bike...Im guessing down is prime, back of the bike is running or whatever, and front of the bike is reserve?

2) My bikes choke slider is like frozen...the top of it seems to have been knocked off when the bike was dumped and i cant move it at all regardless of how hard i try. Can i manually operate the choke in some manner without the slider?

[DumbLuck]

arrow "Down" is on for the petcock

proly have to pull the carbs and get to fixin for teh choke. download a service manual off here

[Disrupt Studios]

down is on. to the rear is prime. to the front is reserve.

[ja5983]

i should put it in on when im not riding right?

[arsenic]

you should put it on "on" all the time

[ja5983]

i dunno you tell me?

[md86]

likely the choke cable is frozen (happens . It's common), and you don't have to pull the carbs to swap that . Just pull the tank off . REALLY easy stuff .

[ja5983]

MD, what would i do to unfreeze it? just remove the tank and move the choke cable around?

[yngveny]

Check this "Frozen choke cable" tread: http://katriders.com/vb/showthread.php?t=49485

My guess is you need a new choke cable.
It is possible to operate it directly on the left side of the carbs, close to the idle screw if I am not mistaken. You have to pull and hold the lever/rail as it has a spring to pull it back.

[eviilil0ne]

the petcock should always be left in the on position .. reserve should only be used when the bike is low on gas .. and prime only for when the carbs and tank have been run completely out of fuel and then only to reintroduce gas into the sytem and returned to the on position

[ja5983]

thanks evil for the answer on that one...yngveny or anyone else who might know...

do you have a photo of what the choke lever that i would operate looks like? That blown up diagram gives me an idea but i dont want to start pulling on stuff without knowing :P

as for the cable being frozen...i think its actually the lever? Its like stuck in its current position and wil not move no matter how hard i pull on it...its really stuck on there...

[Psycho1]

Mine did the same thing, I had to disconnect the cable down on the carb end before I was able to pull the choke slide with my fingers. There's not really anything inside the lever housing that can bind up, so more than likely it is just the cable. Pull hard enough and you'll probably just break the lever off, I removed my cable and still couldn't budge it in the cable housing pulling with both hands on a pair of vice grips. I've been reaching in and pulling the slide by hand for about 5 years now, and it works fine, but since the wife informed me she eventually wants to take over my Kat, I'm going to get a new cable this winter and fix it.

[yngveny]

Not the best image as i pulled it of a video online.


If you watch the video here you will see it better.

http://www.zippyvideos.com/6621430175780196/bike_problem/

Hope this helps and that you can get your problem solved.

[JBLUE]

i should put it in on when im not riding right?

prime should be used if you are having trouble starting your bike otherwise its always should be on

[ja5983]

ok so i fixed the choke and that totally fixed my startup problem...

i saw that the choke pulls out, not up and down, so i attached a zip tie to it and now i can pull the choke with the zip tie.. Bike starts up every time now :P

Now all i need to figure out is why it wont run on 87 octane :P