Wilsons Sandbox

All I just spoke with Kawasaki today about my balancer adjuster breaking at 85mph, in the rain, on the freeway, passing cars that then caused the engine to seize. The balancer and lack of an oil screen were to blame. Either Kawasaki or a dealer left the screen out. Kawasaki won't deny nor accept the forgotten part. The Dealer looked shocked. I won't blame anyone. It happened. Long story short, Dealer #3 took a while getting in touch with Kawasaki. I didn't like their results, so I called Kawasaki myself, after finding the case #. I overnighted a number of pictures and diagrams mapping out what happened to the motorcycle. They disagree that the balancer breaking is their fault. They say lack of adjustment is what causes the bracket and spring to break. I say whatever; mine was adjusted twice in 7600 miles. But, the spring made its way into the oil pump, shattering the rotors. Thus, seizing the main connecting rod bearing. At 85mph. Anyway, they will not deny nor accept responsibility for the oil screen not being installed. Nor will they or I blame the Dealer. Two Dealers had replaced various gaskets in the water pump area to fix an oil leak under warranty. The leak was small, but the oil made the bike look dirty. Dealer #1 fixed the leak. The leak came back six months later, so, I had it chased down by Dealer #2 near my new house. The leak stopped for good. Then, the failure occurred. I ended up chasing the warranty claim down from Dealer #1, they were cleared, they didn't go near the case gasket. Dealer #2 did replace the side case gasket. They looked shocked at the oil screen being missing. In short, Kawasaki accepted responsibility and settled this matter with me. They made me a deal that I feel is fair in light of all the related areas of the engine failure. I am now a happy KLR-650 owner again. Parts should arrive in about a week. Thank you all for your help that you provided to me in this matter. Major thanks go out to Devon J. and Matthew on their technical expertise and interest in this matter. Thank you, EJ VanTassell

Way to go, and good job staying with it!!! As I mentioned last weekend, I changed my doohickey at 6k on my '02, and I'm glad I did as I could have adjusted and adjusted, and it would not have moved because it was warped.... I would have to say that I am relieved to have done this. As for the necessity of changing your doohickey...... Read the original note about seizing at 85mph.... major ouch.... Of course, just my $.02 worth.... Thanks for keeping us informed!! Ron Crandell St. Cloud, MN P.S. Anyone in MN need to borrow the rotor holder and removal bolt, let me know... I have the parts from Fred...

I was in the same area but at 10K ft a couple of weeks ago and the temps dropped very low but had no starting troubles. Cold enough to turn everything white that was not covered, probably in the high teens or low 20's. I did notice that at full choke the idle speed only rose to 1500 rpm while at home it will jump to 2500 or better unless I back off the choke. I figured that was due to the elevation. I was concerned a bit by the running temp of the bike as the gauge only came off the cold post significantly when I stopped and let her idle. I know truckers will cover the radiators of their rigs when the outside temps get too low. Can a KLR motor run too cold? I worked a winter 300 miles north of the arctic circle, on the frozen Beuford Sea where low temps were 50 degrees below zero. We would leave the diesel tractor motors idle all night during the coldest spells and use the electric heaters when it warmed up a bit. When the wind would blow it would get really ugly. --Jim