[MPac]

So last night on my 2016 I was riding down the highway and leaned over changing lanes all of the sudden it felt like I was getting head shake and they started to viberate pretty violently so I give it throttle to straighten it out which it did. Then it starts shaking again then all of the sudden I feel someone thing my leg and the rear tire starts to look up and fish tail then recovers. I thought you’ve got to be kidding me did I just throw another chain?

Pull the clutch in and it goes down like it shut off and the oil light comes on, I blip the throttle to see if its dead, it revs up and oil light goes out, I immediately shut it down and coast to a stop my leg is hot because it’s covered in burning oil, and I thought something may have came up and hit the oil pan or filter.

So I then push it 4.5 miles up off the highway because my phone had died and it’s 10 at night, get a light on it and somehow it threw a rod and piston windowing the case in 3 spots. The bike only has 3,000 miles on it!?!?! I know we’ve got that factory warranty for 3 years, I’ve had the bike for a year now. Do you guys think this is covered? Out side of a slip on and a pc5 there is zero done to the bike other then looks.

 

[TheRoadWarrior]

ouch.. wow lucky you didnt crash... hope you get it covered.... def pull off all the mods before you try to make any claims.

 

[MPac]

Well I found out that if they don’t cover it I’m liable for all he labor. I just wish I could find a good motor and do it myself.

 

[scout]

Take to dealer for evaluation.

Unless you hit something or did whatever to the engine that Kawa deems no-no, it will be covered.

It may be in shop awhile.

For the record, I've had two blow up due to dropped valves and one possible dropped valve with clutch smoking red hot; no oil; and no odd handling; latter was on the '11 10r with 50k miles. Prior was on '13 10r at 70k miles and 82k miles. '13 10r fixed by Kawa and ran strong 12k miles then valve dropped. At dealer's now. That happened on June 12, 2018.

 

[MPac]

From what I understand the KDS on the gen 5 will show how it was ridden, I bracket race with it periodically at the drag strip and have done some track days. I would think seeing that they would say no. My dealer told me if Kawasaki denies the claim that I would have to cover the labor cost of the inspection and engine tear down.

 

[dudewhrsmybike]

Man that sucks! I purchased my 2016 Model used. Does anyone know how long the factory warranty is? 1 year?

Subscribed, please update this thread as you know more, I'd like to see if they will cover it and how the process goes.

 

[SkyDork]

That's ugly. Glad to hear it wasn't any worse than it is! That could've ended much more badly.

Factory warranty is 12 months, unlimited mileage. If you have an extended warranty through Kawi, then it will be covered unless they can show it was modification you did to cause that. You can extend the factory warranty out another 3 years if you buy that, but it has to be within the original 12 months. Otherwise, it is out of warranty and the failure doesn't matter.

Has the transmission recall been completed already on it?

 

[MPac]

After further investigation I learned it was the transmission that exploded windowing the case in 3 spots, luckily when it let go it didn’t lock up the tire, but definitely drives the point home of always wearing full gear. It was sketchy for sure, it felt like it was locking up them continued to roll. So basically the flash is to Euro spec so I would “think” that wouldn’t be to much of an issue for them the say it was that.

No the recall has not been done, apparently my bike was recalled for the tranny and the cam chain tensioner but I never received the first letter.

I’m scheduled to take it in the 29th, I need to find my original slipper clutch for it because I know they will try to say it was the clutch mod.

 

[tjg312]

Damn! Didn't know the tranny problems in the gen 5's were that bad before recall.. glad nothing happened to you when it did that. I'd think kawi should cover it since it's the result of a known problem..

 

[dudewhrsmybike]

After further investigation I learned it was the transmission that exploded windowing the case in 3 spots, luckily when it let go it didn’t lock up the tire, but definitely drives the point home of always wearing full gear. It was sketchy for sure, it felt like it was locking up them continued to roll. So basically the flash is to Euro spec so I would “think” that wouldn’t be to much of an issue for them the say it was that.

No the recall has not been done, apparently my bike was recalled for the tranny and the cam chain tensioner but I never received the first letter.

I’m scheduled to take it in the 29th, I need to find my original slipper clutch for it because I know they will try to say it was the clutch mod.

:eyecrazy::eyecrazy::eyecrazy::eyecrazy: WOWWWW! Glad to hear it wasn't engine failure. My 2016 I just picked up now with only 700 miles is getting dropped off at the dealer today for this trans recall

 

[Honey Badger]

After further investigation I learned it was the transmission that exploded windowing the case in 3 spots, luckily when it let go it didn’t lock up the tire, but definitely drives the point home of always wearing full gear. It was sketchy for sure, it felt like it was locking up them continued to roll. So basically the flash is to Euro spec so I would “think” that wouldn’t be to much of an issue for them the say it was that.

No the recall has not been done, apparently my bike was recalled for the tranny and the cam chain tensioner but I never received the first letter.

I’m scheduled to take it in the 29th, I need to find my original slipper clutch for it because I know they will try to say it was the clutch mod.

I'd be careful of handing them a bike with a flashed ECU - that's what they blamed all my issues on, and argued back and forth for months that there was no way it was the transmission.

Hoping you have better luck and they make it right!

 

[SkyDork]

Well, that's the first instance of a failure on it outside of racing or South Africa. Interesting. Glad it didn't cause more issues. If the dealer can trace it back the transmission, then the repairs should be covered under the recall, not the warranty.

But I agree with Honey on this. You need to be careful of the ECU reflash. What most people fail to realize is that flashing it to "Euro specs" is only one small part. Just because you're only changing the one small fuel value on it, the entire ECU is rewritten. You can't change just one thing without rewritting everything around it. If Kawi sees that you reflashed it from stock, they can't tell if you screwed with the QS values and caused the tranny to not operate properly. They aren't going to analyze the changes in the software you made, only that it isn't the stock settings and can be a contributing factor that caused the failure. It's best to put it back to stock to have them look at the bike. If they can pinpoint the failure to the bad second gear issue in the recall, then it won't matter in the end. But it's better to not give them any cause to question it.

Good luck!

 

[rcannon]

Skydork, Will the shop, or Kawasaki see all those flashes? Obviously, the factory does the first one, then we do our flashing. There would be a 3rd to it to stock. Can they see all of that activity?

I guess a second hand, stock ebay ecu is worse? Then nothing matches? Mpac, glad you are safe, this could have been a real disaster.

 

[SkyDork]

Skydork, Will the shop, or Kawasaki see all those flashes? Obviously, the factory does the first one, then we do our flashing. There would be a 3rd to it to stock. Can they see all of that activity?

I guess a second hand, stock ebay ecu is worse? Then nothing matches? Mpac, glad you are safe, this could have been a real disaster.

That's a good question and I don't really know the answer to that. An educated guess on my part would be "no".



But that is different than what the auto industry is going to. In those cases, the ECU on cars (especially the high performance ones) is set up to count how many times the EEPROM chip has been written. They log the value of it each time it is written which is not stored in the software. Each time you write to the EEPROM chip, it counts as one. The OEM keeps and tracks records of it so that if a dealer makes an authorized change to the ECU and the count is increased, the OEM can cross-reference that against their records. If the count is off by any value, then it was rewritten "another way". With all of the software changes and tuning out there along with all the warranty claims, they are countering that problem. They don't prevent you from doing it, but they void the warranty in that case. They are combat the people who retune the motor, blow up a piston ring, flash it back to stock so they can make a warranty claim anyway. I don't think the motorcycle industry has gotten to that stage yet, but I'm sure it will only be a matter of time.

 

[MPac]

So you think I might be safe then if I flash it to stock? And I was in 6th gear when the failure happened.

 

[MPac]

Also from what I was “told” is they can’t adjust the quick shifters yet atleast in the aftermarket on the stock ecus only kawi could.

 

[tjg312]

While what SkyDork said is true- in auto industry they can tell how many times it was written, at least in the subaru tuning game people usually can get away with throwing it back to stock. Most of the time people aren't going to look into how many times it was written, and even if they do it's still usually put through as long as ECU is stock(friend works at a dealership and I've gotten this info first-hand). With that said people have gotten denied for it, but it's unlikely.

I'd say you've got a high chance of being able to throw it back to stock and getting it covered. In the off-chance that anyone questions it, I'd just play dumb

 

[C3L1CA]

Sucks about your bike!

I'm pretty sure in woolich I can see how many times I flashed my ecu. Maybe could ask the guy who flashed your bike or maybe archer could even chime in

 

[chiffeee]

just experience from passed with different manufacture, it doesn't matter if you flash the ECU or done anything else to the bike besides the transmission and because it is a recall on the transmission they should fix it, although they going to try to blame it on other things . you should take pictures of the cause and discuss it with an attorney, the only way these manufacturers going to do a right thing is when they get a letter from an attorney .

 

[MPac]

This sounds like it’s gonna be a long and tedious process. I got my ecu flashed at Schnitz so I need to find out if he can flash it to stock or someone who can. The one thing I can do absolutely zero about is my clutch with the clutch mod and my aftermarket clutch because I don’t have the stock stuff and I feel like they are gonna grasp any straw they can. I hope this works out but it sucks because I know I’m done for the year regardless of them honoring the recall or denying it. With that being said getting my ducks in a row does anyone know how and where to get a hold of a brand new engine and what they cost? Used seem to be 3500 from the two I found.