Z1000 Tank Breather Problem (or not !!)

[Deleted]

Hi chaps, as Houston might say, I have a problem.

Riding home from work (in the SH1TE WEATHER !!!) last night I noticed the bike seemed to feel "strangled" and wouldn't pull well at all, and as I slowed down to 30mph ish towards the end of the commute I could hear a noise that sounded like the cooling fan was running, but couldn't say when the noise started because the first part of the journey is motorway (so I couldn't hear owt).

Now when I parked the bike up with the engine running the noise was still there, and when I took mi helmet off and turned off the ignition (thereby stopping the engine) the noise remained but it was clear the noise wasn't the fan (no surprise as the engine never got much above 70-odd degrees in the cold/wind/rain !)

Any rode up, the noise sounded like air trying to get in / out through a small opening (bit like an accountant farting I would imagine) and when I wheeled the bike in the garage (where the ambient noise was low) I sourced the noise to the tank's petrol cap. On opening the petrol cap there was an audible rush of air into (at least I'm presuming it was into) the tank !

My assumption is that the tank air vent (which I assume is there to allow air in as the petrol is sucked out ?) must be blocked.

I haven't had chance to investigate yet but I wondered if anyone had any thoughts / suggestions / similar experiences ?

Many thanks, and apologies for this ludicrously long post !!!

Cheers,

Fletch

[Deleted]

Lots of them do that mate. It kinda sound like an old style kettle about to whistle. When you opened the fuel cap it was actually pressure escaping out of the tank. The ZX9 does the same thing so don't worry about it. Mine does this in really hot weather and really cold weather and when the weather is just right lol.