Kawasaki ZX-10R Forum banner

Gen4 gearbox warrenty issues

7K views 38 replies 13 participants last post by  ukzx10r 
#1 ·
My bike has 4000 miles on the clock but from when i picked it up its never had a nice gearbox.
After some research and speaking to a few people i find out that some have gearbox issues.
As my bikes under warrenty ive been trying to get it booked in to get it sorted but ive been fobbed off for a bit with various excuses like try adjusting the angle of the gear change clamp that attatches to the gearchange shaft spline and try changing the oil etc etc..
So finally get it booked in and kawasaki refused to do it under warrenty as my bike is too modified.
Ive been arguing the toss with various people but kawasaki uk will not fund it nor will they even offer a reduced rate for parts as apparently the gen4 doesnt have any issues with the gearbox as it comes from the factory!!.
I find this very frustrating as mss and other kawasaki dealers and people i know all say that some gen4s have issues due to them not having good tollerences from the factory and they ideally need new components and reshimming to stop this occouring. If i want this done it can be done at a cost. After a good discount its still 900 pounds to do.
Im very angry with kawasaki as i feel i am being lied to and they know full well there are issues with the gearboxs.
Mine has recently had a quickshifter fitted that didnt help my case but my problem was there way before that so people need to be aware that if you have even the slightest issue that you need to act fast.
The bike must be completely standard. Anything relating it to track usage they will void it.
This is totally unfair as these are sports bikes supposedly designed for performance riding.
Very dissapointed with kawasaki uk.
 
See less See more
#4 ·
you have to hold some responsibility to the use of the bike, knowing you have stated on here (and elsewhere I am assuming) that the bike has been to the track, and you ride it "spirted" on your home area roads.

the early gen 4's had trans issues, (11 and or 12 I believe) but, the most recent years the trans have been flawless, unless a quickshifter with short kill times, or missed shifts, over downshifting has occurred.

I know it is not what you wanted to hear but, it needed to be said. we have to take some responsibility for what we do to the bikes, and how we ride, mod, and maintain them. you cant expect anyone to pay for our mistakes, or misuse.

with that said, I hope you get it sorted for a reasonable cost. Ski
 
#6 ·
you have to hold some responsibility to the use of the bike, knowing you have stated on here (and elsewhere I am assuming) that the bike has been to the track, and you ride it "spirted" on your home area roads.
Excuse me...

THIS IS WHAT THE BIKE WAS DESIGNED FOR!

It shouldn't suffer gearbox fault within the bounds of fair use.

ukzx10r doesn't race the bike, but does track days and rides on the road. It is perfectly normal to expect a 6 year old bike not to suffer gearbox problems.

I have a 2005 GSXR 1000 that I have track dayed, rode hard on the road, a race meeting, and crashed quite hard.

Suzuki would still honour the chassis recall after all this. They would even do it if I just gave them a frame.

Kawasaki, if there is an issue, should do the right thing and sort any inherent problems.

The bottom line though is that gearbox issues aren't an official recall, so Kawasaki won't do anything.
 
#7 ·
I missed the "it's never had a nice gearbox" since picking it up... my fault. change dealers, don't settle for what one dealer tells you. call Kawasaki parent company not kaw uk.

I do stand by my statement, we have to be responsible for our use. people bang gears, over run the rev limit, up shifting. over downshift (no protection from rev limiter on downshifting too far). shift forks, and arms get bent quite easily (especially with quickshifers), and once it starts, it will not fix itself and only get worse.

and as I stated, I wish him luck getting this sorted. I don't want to see him not get it fixed through kaw, I truly hope something can be done.

maybe work a deal with Kawasaki that you will pay to authorize teardown (at a dealer of your choice), to inspect and verify what is wrong with it, and if it is abuse, wear related you will pay for the diagnosis and repairs... BUT, if it is found to be a mfg issue, kaw pays for all of it. then find one of the dealers you spoke with that says there is a problem, and have them help you with the process, and kaw.

good luck! keep us posted on what you, they find.

Ski
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kllongbrake
#9 ·
When i brought the bike i didnt know gen4s can have a bad box and if i did i wasnt to worried about it as it had warrenty.
.
These bikes are sports bikes and are designed to be riden fast so why cant they go on track? The reason is on track your flat out alot more and the sluggish gear change can start to show when trying to shift quickly.
.
When i got my bike it was winter here and i did a few hundred miles in cold conditions where i wasnt flat out and the gearchange wasnt so much of an issue then but as the weather warmed up i started to ride faster and then i found the odd faulse nutural and notchy gearchange.
At first i thought it was my fault so didnt think anything about it but when it happened a few more times i thought it cant be just me so started to research it and speak to people which is when i realised there could be an issue.
.
Thats when i started to question my local dealer about it and didnt get much help on it.
As it happened my dad had a quickshifter going so i thought id try it to see if it helps which it does in some gears but 3rd to 4th is just too slow at engaging so even on the longest time setting its still hit or miss.
The bike had 3500miles on it before i fitted the shifter so not shifters fault.
I can ride it and i did today but i roll off the throttle a tiny bit especialy 3rd to 4th.
Still love the bike to bits but would dearly love it to change gear better.
 
#10 ·
The bike had 3500miles on it before i fitted the shifter so not shifters fault.
I can ride it and i did today but i roll off the throttle a tiny bit especialy 3rd to 4th.
Still love the bike to bits but would dearly love it to change gear better.
It doesn't matter if the quickshifter caused the problem or not. It is an aftermarket item than can cause the transmission to fail if not set up properly. You brought the bike in with a quickshifter on and Kawasaki probably has pictures of it now. Lesson learned, if you want the manufacturer to warranty something, make sure they don't have proof of you modifying it beyond their specs.

FWIW I have a Gen 4 with a quickshifter and haven't had any issues. If I do, the Gen 4 has a cassette transmission and is easy to remove.
 
#11 ·
I had my first false neutral on my GEN4 the first day I rode it with less than 1 mile on it. That was before I ever did a single mod and before I put it on the track. I ended up with such a problem I bought another GEN4 transmission off of Ebay from a wrecked bike. I had similar problems with that transmission. I have just come to the conclusion that the stock transmission in the GEN4 is a piece of crap. But since Kawi never admitted any problem and have never issued a recall or TSB I wouldn't expect them to pay for anything. I have a box full of gears and forks I've replaced. I have never had a single problem on either of my ZX6Rs and have never had a problem with my GEN5 gearbox.
 
#15 · (Edited)
Do you mind me asking what QS you run? Although I do feel much of the blame falls on my transmission I do believe those problems are magnified by my QS. I have run the same QS on my zx6rs for years and have never had a single problem with them. I suppose another possibility is that not all of the transmissions were bad leaving the factory. It sounds like you got a good one.
 
#17 ·
I run cordona shifter with the maximum 80ms cut but the bike doesnt always engage within that 80ms so i just flick the throttle a bit and it works.
Mss reccommend translogic shifter as its a learning shifter and the cut times can be different for different revs and each gear has its own setting. It was next on my to buy list.
 
#19 ·
The problem with the transmission is a really poor finish in general on some of them the faces on the dog's are so rough it prevents a smooth engagement so ultimately a missed gear occurs, the remedy is to get the dogs machined flat polished & back cut you will never miss a gear a again. Shimming does not really cure the problem as there is nothing wrong with the spacing just really shitty quality.
 
#20 ·
Ive heard of poor finished parts but mss shim these boxs all of the time. Its a very common thing and they have done loads of them.
Im thinking of whipping the box out and polishing and machining everything up spot on. But i would still need new forks and possibly a new gear to make it all mint again.
I really would like a online guide on how to do it though
 
#21 ·
Good luck UK. Hope you get it all sorted out. I had the same first days false neutrals on my 2015 as TDH and some of the same problems, or so it sounds, as you do. Only complaint about the bike. After a few missed shifts in the upper rev range I've really lost my confidence in this tranny. Before my quickshifter it happened a couple times, I think 3rd-4th, maybe it was 4th-5th. Scared the crap out of me every time. Thought it was me so went to a quickshifter. Woolich and race tools, I think. Works flawless 99% of the time but still in the upper gear range at WOT it will miss a shift. Very rarely but it has still been a problem. Hope you keep us up to date on how you get it sorted.
 
#24 ·
I wasn't going to reply to this thread because I don't have a quick shifter, but that is exactly the way mine started. Shifting up is easy but down requires a little clutch lever release. Now, on top of that, the shift lever occasionally does not return.
 
#26 ·
The Gen 4 has no box issues, for standard usage, in racing they shim the box because it can kick out between third and fourth gear hence why MSS Kawasaki shim them. They deal with a lot of race bikes so of course they shim lots of boxesfor street and track should be fine, but at the top level the boxes get shimmed along with lightened cranks and all other kinds of mods.

Kawasaki wont warranty a box as its a consumable eg if it wears its consumable. If it was happening from day one I would have taken the bike back in the first month and got it sorted.
 
#28 ·
The Gen 4 has no box issues, for standard usage, in racing they shim the box because it can kick out between third and fourth gear hence why MSS Kawasaki shim them. They deal with a lot of race bikes so of course they shim lots of boxesfor street and track should be fine, but at the top level the boxes get shimmed along with lightened cranks and all other kinds of mods.

Kawasaki wont warranty a box as its a consumable eg if it wears its consumable. If it was happening from day on5e I would have taken the bike back in the first month and got it sorted.
I would have taken it back had i of realised there was an issue with high rev gear changes. The trouble is as ive said before in winter you dont tend to ride too hard so didnt realise until summer came round at just 1500 miles on the clock that i found a faulse nutural.
Yamahas recalled their boxs coz of gearbox issues so kawasaki should have done the same.
My bike is a road bike and yes ive done two track days on it and got faulse nutruals on the first one where i had no shifter fitted.
Also its a sports bike isnt it?
Its supposed to ridden hard like previous zx10s so why does this model suffer from issues?
Reason is they were poorly finished and setup from the factory so some develop faults.
 
#29 ·
It doesn't look to painful to remove the cassette gearbox from the motor.

Looks like cheap insurance to do that, hand it to an engineering company to polish and clean the cogs.

You think we got it bad, was randomly on the Ducati Panigale forum yesterday and found a huge thread where 1199 and 1299s just randomly turn off mid corner, mid junction.

This shit shouldn't happen but at least we have a fix. Ducati haven't solved this after years.

I know this is crap and the other litre sports bikes I've owned that had issues werr dealt with under warranty so Kawasaki should do the same if this is wide spread.

My 04 R1 had issues on the TPS which caused the bike to shut off...Yamaha fixed under warranty. My 05 GSXR1000 had recall on frame and brake master cylinder issues..again Suzuki sorted under warranty.

Maybe Kawasaki is a bad company in these matters. They didn't warranty the gen 1 frame braking issue so I guess they have previous.

Someone told that in British Superbikes in 04, they were changing ZX10R frames like it was a consumable :)
 
#33 ·
Not saying this is the magic bullet but wondering if you have found any improvement when changing oil.

I've just stuck in fresh Castrol Power 1 10w40, and found that the dealer I recently bought the bike from looks like they water down their oil, as if that was freshly put in like they claim, then they're using oil that's like sunflower oil.

Anyway, just rode into work and shifting is night and day different..Can shift up and down the box with no extra effort.

Just wanted to hear other's experiences.
 
#37 ·
Super finish is the technical name for polishing Iv had race developments do for me in the past they are expensive for the same results as everybody else that does it but the individual dog teeth near machining flat & back cut prior to polishing it's very rare that a transmission needs shims as back cutting snaps it all in shimming will only increase inertia timers go to incredible lengths to lighten transmission shimming adds weight & should only be needed in higher mileage road bikes.
 
#38 ·
This is what I would think from a logical perspective.

If the finishing is not smooth then the interface between cog teeth will not be accurate and every missed interface will make the problem worse as more burrs or rough edges are created.

I would have thought that the solution would be to machine all cogs so that they interface cleanly, not move the alignments of them.
 
#39 ·
As with anything all the components will have tollerances.
But the gearboxes are not individually set and shimmed to suit from the factory so some will be better than others.
What mss would do is exactly set up each gearbox with the correct shims so each gear is exactly as it needs to be to and get the dogs as close to the next gear as possible to make it change gear quicker.
I fully believe what mss do works as they have a great reputation for this.
Just one nasty missed gear can cause dammage so it needs to be set right from new for spirited riding.
My arguement was a zx10 is designed for spirited riding (allegedly) so this should be covered by warrenty.
Plus any form of dragging of the gears is gonna cause issues from day 1.
Its not the end of the world and it is resolvable but annoyed kawasaki are claiming the problem doesnt exist
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top