[scout]

Ran perfectly right until I heard a chatter noise and felt loss of power; not total loss; on CA slab, busy; no. 1 lane; traffic on right two lanes heard noise and nicely backed down allowing for me to target a safe place on right shoulder; waited for AAA tow.

I'll call Kawa dealer to set up drop off and will get back here with their report with details.

Bike passed 81,000 miles or very close to that figure; engine overhaul at 70500 miles. 2013 purchased new Sept. 2014 with extended warranty through Sept. 2019.

The bike ran the last 10k miles with pure beauty.


AAA was perfect in getting both the bike and myself home without feeling like an extorted victim.

 

[bennice]

Again??


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[renais]

Looking forward to the outcome of this warranty wise

 

[bun1t]

There is nothing wrong with your Gen 4. It just needs a rider and some twisties

 

[SkyDork]

Another one? Time to upgrade to the overweight Gen 5 with the improved engine. :wink:

 

[scout]

Bike has just OVER 82,000 miles; so a little less than 12,000 after the rebuild.

Other observations: just before engine failure of the '11 g4 AND the '13 g4 the engine went into extreme SMOOTH mode; hard to describe as subjective.

OK

When my dealer tech released the '13 after the build, I immediately noticed the EXACT same super smooth engine I had prior to failure; so I was just a tiny bit nervous for a couple minutes prior to each loop for a couple days.

But np for 12 thousand miles.

Started this morning heard for first time with ear plugs, some disturbing chatter and shut off. Dealer gave me a go to bring it in; I also noticed that the front of the radiator appeared blackened; I suspect caused by the problem as I'm cleaning bugs, wheels and chain after each ride and always scan the radiator for damage as have had two radiator holes on each g4.

Certainly not rideable as the chatter without the ear plugs was disturbing.

Once I learn from tech guy I'll report back;

Also, for record, tank paint worn off in couple places about 75k miles; better than the '11; fork seals solid yet, '11 seals failed early about 30k; no oil burning but very MILD oil seepage after rebuild, nothing on garage floor and easy to clean off.

One other interesting observation concerning loop. Better tire wear. Part of loop that was extremely tight twists was closed by county due to storm repair in cliff section.

I had to learn a new tight section faster with more slab thus than the closed section; however with a fast mountain pass, slab, nearly empty, often with high winds (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_State_Route_152) the bike responded perfectly without regard to whatever wind strength.


Rear met rr lasted 4k miles; front rs10 same with slight V. With old loop, 3k is max at the steel for rear and front V'd terrible at 4k miles

New loop is 40 miles longer but same time and better tire wear; about 230 miles; time ranging from 3 hours 15 to 4 hours depending upon conditions.

 

[Schooley]

I would suggest buying twist of the wrist and reading x10000 times. Then repeat over and over.

 

[rcannon]

I know better than to ask this, but I dont suspect there was an oil and filter change, after the rebuild, was there? It was only 12,000 miles.....

 

[cwrzx]

At 13,000 miles it should have been on about the 4th oil and filter.

 

[trackaddict]

Oil changes? HA HA HA

 

[scout]

Bike at dealer today. They looked busy so not sure when I'll find out more and admin knows that I don't bother them but once a month.

edit: ok with oil; page 125 of owner book states oil change every 12k miles so I'm well under that as I changed it a few thousand miles ago; total mileage after rebuild is a bit less than 12k miles; so well within Kawa corp parameters.

 

[rcannon]

Bike at dealer today. They looked busy so not sure when I'll find out more and admin knows that I don't bother them but once a month.

edit: ok with oil; page 125 of owner book states oil change every 12k miles so I'm well under that as I changed it a few thousand miles ago; total mileage after rebuild is a bit less than 12k miles; so well within Kawa corp parameters.

My 2015 manual must have a mis-print .....Mine says every year, or 12,000 kilometers (7500 miles).....

Unless I am reading the chart wrong.....thats probably it.

I believe Kawasaki means, once you have owned the bike one year, you can go 7500 miles, between changes......at year two, you are good for 15,000 .

By year three, 22,500 miles and by year 4, 30,000 miles. That makes better sense.

 

[scout]

My 2015 manual must have a mis-print .....Mine says every year, or 12,000 kilometers (7500 miles).....

Unless I am reading the chart wrong.....thats probably it.

I believe Kawasaki means, once you have owned the bike one year, you can go 7500 miles, between changes......at year two, you are good for 15,000 .

By year three, 22,500 miles and by year 4, 30,000 miles. That makes better sense.

yes, every 7500 miles or 12 km. I dropped the wrong measurement in there.

 

[trackaddict]

So 82K and 12K oil change? Just trying to understand which part is truth and which is fiction.

 

[ninja_12r2000]

Hell they do shortcut in the rebuilt of this motor, they changed only what they look wrong seem like crankshaft are wrong. Did they replace it ? cylinder head changed water pump and oil pump.

If a motor is rebuilt the right way it's good or better then a new one. I would guess you need to change of mechanics or dealership.

 

[rcannon]

To be fair to Scout, thats what made his story interesting. He bought the extended warranty, so Kawasaki chose what to replace, not him. From his parts list, they re-used several parts we would have probably replaced. Had he insisted on these parts being replaced, it would have be he who paid, not Kawasaki.

Kawasaki chose to do a half assed job, and now they have the bike back, and can try again.

 

[scout]

Never bought extended warranty on any past super bike (liter); just stacked 100k miles within 3-4 years and sold them for very little. The '11 10r failed out of warranty, no extended, at 50k. My opinion was that the failure was unusual; so bought the '13 with extended.

Never bothered dealer upon 70k mile failure; simply waited until bike was ready.

Kawa corp has very strict protocol policy for failed engine fixes; photos of fails parts and written lists plus other stuff required from dealers that can't recall.

So everything dealer does must be approved by Corp HQ was my read.

One more thing; I never dealt with dealers on anything in past as the bikes ran perfectly, with one exception: 07 r1 needed new water pump inside seven hundred miles.

My point is that dealers NEVER looked at my bikes with mileage.

It wasn't until this '13 that I found out that from dealer 70k miles on a liter is apparently rare; for me 70k without extended is planning time for a new bike within one year.

Extended nice selling perk until Corp runs into a rider that rides all the time, weather permitting.

 

[rcannon]

Scout, Im in Utah, and we have a short riding season. This year, I saw the highest millage, used, 2011 zx10r that Ive ever seen. It was in a local classified.

The price was in the 7's, which stood out as being low, so I clicked on it. The fine print showed the bike to have 26,XXX miles. I clicked away as the bike had huge miles as compared to the rest. Around here, they appear well used once the odometer says 15,000.

Even today, theres a beautiful 2007 with 5800mi. Im sure there are high mile machines here, but ive not seen them.

Im glad you are ok, and I'l be anxious to see how part 2 goes....

 

[Geezer]

I'm up to nearly 50 miles on my gen 5 and it still runs great, also when I drop it in to get it serviced at the dealers they normally give me an old 11 model to use until mines is ready, and this thing is nudging the 90,000 mile mark, treat them right and they last a long time,

 

[wunnam]

Scout, any updates on the bike?