I had the same rusty fork problem with my Fazer when I bought it. It's just down to the previous owner(s) only cleaning the bits they can see, and not up inside the fairing.
I thought about getting them re-chromed, but when I took the forks off it was apparent that they were also slightly curved. As the curve was pretty even I'm guessing that this was probably just down to 60k miles of front brake use, rather than accident damage. As I didn't want to risk getting them straightened as well as re-chromed I went for a set of the Tarozzi tubes from Wemoto. They're fine, everything went together ok and a year later I've had no problems with leaks.

I have a similar problem with mine which started a few days ago. It runs fine above 3000 rpm, and it ticks over ok, but between 2 and 3k it feels like it's missing on one cylinder. I tried new plugs (even though I'd recently changed them) and new caps, but that hasn't fixed it. I might try new coils at some point if it gets any worse, other than that I'll just ride around it for the rest of the summer, and get the carbs professionally cleaned and set up over the winter.

This metal pipe is in two parts with a single screw holding a tubular pipe into the end of the cast section. I haven't had a leak, but when I recently stripped my engine down I tried to separate the two parts and it proved completely impossible due to the fact that they'd corroded together. I ended up scrapping the whole part and getting a decent replacement off ebay, although they're a bit difficult to find because most people who break engines sell these with the rest of the head rather than separately. Both bits are no longer available from Yamaha.


If it'll separate then you should be able to get the end metal pipe fitting off by just undoing the single bolt and pulling the pipe out. Alternatively if it's stuck fast like mine was then you'll need to remove the two parts as a whole, which is just four screws into the front of the head. Then you'll need to replace the two o rings between the fitting and the head, as well as the o ring between the two halves which is probably where the leak is.


Edit, there's one here http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/yamaha-600-fazer-mk1-front-water-pipe-/112292713457?hash=item1a252ad3f1:g:3qwAAOSw44BYlf1q


Andy

Yes, still interested.


Andy

I got mine from Wemoto. It wasn't the cheapest by any stretch, but seems well made. The main top pipe on the right seems slightly at the wrong angle which makes getting the hose on a bit tricky but not impossible. Otherwise I'm very happy with it.

Andy

The bike ran fine with the pump disconnected and a temporary tank plumbed straight into the feed to the carbs.


The pump had been shutting off ok, and it was only leaking when running, but as I've tried pretty much everything else at this point I've ordered a second-hand replacement pump off ebay and will give that a try.


Plan B, if that doesn't work, then I'll have the carbs off (yet) again and give them another clean. I think that the most likely culprit at this point is a valve which is sealing just well enough to stop the fuel at atmospheric pressure, but not well enough to stop the fuel when the pump is running and the engine is vibrating.


If Plan B fails then Plan C is to get the carbs cleaned and overhauled by a professional.

Update on my fuel overflow problem. I lapped all the valves, which took absolutely ages and then reassembled the engine and checked and re-adjusted the valve clearances. I started it up this afternoon and it's still bloody leaking.


In desperation I disconnected the fuel pump and started it up again, and it ran absolutely fine until the carbs emptied. So it doesn't seem to be a back-pressure problem, but rather a problem on the inlet side of the carbs. I've already replaced all the float valves and seals, so I'm at a bit of a loss as to what the problem is.


Interestingly, when I dismantled the bike last autumn, I discovered that the wires to the fuel pump were connected in the classic bodger's "twist them together and wrap tape around it" method. This leads me to believe that the pump isn't exactly the correct one for the bike. It may just be that it's been replaced with a 98-01 pump at some point, or it may be a pump from a different model entirely. Does anyone know if the connectors are different between the different years? I know this is the case for some parts of the wiring loom, as my ebay engine had different connectors on the oil pressure sensor and the alternator.


My first worry was that I might have reconnected the pump backwards, but I'm pretty sure that it wouldn't run at all if I'd done that. The pump seems to be operating correctly, ticks a few times when you turn it on, then stops.


Next step is to try plumbing the fuel in direct from the tank to the carbs and see if it'll run properly then.

OK, I checked the valve seals this morning by carefully filling the combustion chambers with engine coolant and blowing compressed air back up the inlet and exhaust ports (I used an old plastic bottle lid with a hole drilled in it to seal the outside of the port).


First prize goes to......Disorderlypunk! Both inlet valves on cylinder one are leaking.
Second prize goes to....Fazerider. The exhaust valves on cylinder one are also leaking slightly.


Of course none of the above explains the compression readings, which were ok on cylinder one and low on cylinder two. It's possible that there might also have been a slight leak in the gasket, but recent enough not to do any obvious burning damage to the head or block mating surfaces. Since the gasket's going to need to be replaced anyway I guess this doesn't much matter.


On the bright side, the allegedly low mileage engine which I bought off ebay is clearly otherwise in very good nick. There's still clear cross-hatching on the cylinder walls and the heads and pistons are very clean.


Hopefully the valves don't need anything more than lapping in.

OK, so here's what I found out.


Firstly, the fuel levels appear to be spot on.


Cyl 1 is getting a spark.


I tried running the bike with the sparkplug removed, first from Cyl 2 and then from Cyl 1. With the Cyl 2 plug removed the problem persists. This seems to rule out a leaking inlet valve in Cyl 2 since the pressure in the cylinder is able to excape through the sparkplug hole.
With the plug removed from cyl 1 something very interesting happened. The problem persisted, but also exhaust fumes were escaping from the sparkplug hole. I'm guessing that this means that there's a leak between cylinders 2 and 1? Possibly a failed head gasket.


Thoughts?


A.


 

Update on this. I changed the float valves in the carbs, and also checked and adjusted the valve clearances (all the exhausts were a little low, the inlets were mostly fine, other than two which were at the low end of ok). Unfortunately this hasn't fixed problem. It's not running on cyl 1 and fuel is still coming out of the carb breather on that side. I did a compression test, and the cold values are 175, 150, 175, 175. So it looks like No 2 cylinder might be blowing back through the inlet. I guess the next step is to take the head off and have a look at the state of the valves, unless anyone has any other simpler suggestions?

Hi DP. I've had a think about your new theory and it seems to be logical. There's not much useful info on the net; most of the leaky valve info is about exhaust valves as the inlets don't generally seem to be a problem. I'll get a compression tester and check it out though.


Andy.

Regarding removing the engine, the Haynes manual states that you need to remove the oil filter. The only piece of additional advice I have is to remove the oil cooler as well. It is possible (just barely) to get the engine out without doing this, but it's a lot more difficult and you risk scratching the frame and damaging the threads on the oil filter mounting. Good luck.

I'd definitely be interested in a kit, as my resto is also crying out for some nice new hoses.