Technical advice: Kawasaki ZZR400 carb icing

MCN expert Chris Dabbs is here to answer any questions you have on anything bike related.

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Q. As soon as the weather gets a bit cold my Kawasaki ZZR400 won’t tick over. It starts fine but the engine takes an eternity to warm up and it just cuts out as soon as I stop at lights etc.

Mark Mostyn, e-mail

A. It sounds like a classic case of carb-icing. The ZZR400 was never officially imported into the UK, but plenty came in as grey imports from the Japanese market and your bike is probably one of those.

Although Japanese winters are cold, they aren’t damp like ours, so Japanese-market bikes weren’t fitted with carb heater kits.

Try using Silkolene Pro-FST in the fuel. A one per cent solution should be enough to ward off the ice crystals.