Hi everyone...Long time reader, small time poster.. but i wanted to share some bad news with all my fellow 10rs.
Im bending over right now since since the dealer f***** me good last week.
Ill give you a brief history of my bike since i believe it contributed to my current situation.
After purchasing my 06 10r brand new from riverside Kawasaki in somerville ma, the first month was great. Until the forks started leaking at 2900 miles.
After much argument, and 4 weeks in the shop for a 2 hour repair, kawasaki covered the seals under warranty. they first said not covered as they dont cover fork seals. But having such low miles, kawi ended up covering the seals.
a month later i brought it to them to check a "pop" noise that i get under heavy breaking. I later found out that the chain was too tight. Odd especially since i never tightened the chain. However, the stealer couldnt find the location of that "pop" but upon checkout.. the mechanic says he hears lots of noise coming from the engine. And wanted me to leave it and have it checked out.
I asked him how long it will take, and he said it could take about 2 months to tear the engine down and find the "noise"...it was june 30th of that time. the heart of our Boston summer. the last thing i wanted to do is loose my bike for 2 months! He also said that if it was not something covered under warranty i would have to pay for the diagnosis and time to tear the engine down...well, i refused as i didn't know what kind of scam they were running and wanted a second opinion so i left with the bike.
after 3 weeks of riding later, catastrophe struck. While riding the streets of boston, my engine seized up with a loud crunching sound. well it didnt so much as seize but more of a crunch to a stop with my back tire locking up.
Towed to dealer. long story short, clutch basket bolts and rivets some how sheared off and exploding the entire clutch and basket etc... all into the oil pan.
the engine block, transmission, crankshaft, rods pistons etc.. all needed to be replaced. a major rebuild was needed to a 3 month old brand new bike with only 3700 miles on it. wonderfull.
the bike was at the stealer for 5 months. awaiting parts, awaiting rebuild
.
after much arguing with kawi warranty, they finally covered it. they initially said that since the clutch blew apart, its not covered under warranty, and that since i chose to ride it a couple months before when the "tech" heard noises i pretty much was negligent.. anyways after i sent a lemon law letter to them since they had it soo long, they "did me a favor" and covered it under warranty ( those exact words from kawis lawyer)
anyways.. so, i get my brand new bike back, with a rebuilt engine in december.. great.. so much for riding my brand new bike i owned for 3 months in the summer.
2 year of ownership went well,
3rd year had to replace some fork seals, but this time i did them my self in 30 minutes.
4th year.. more fork seals. and an added starting issue.. no fuel on a cold start with computer code showing cam sensor.
replaced the cam sensor, still no start. shot in carb cleaner.. bike fired up, didnt have problems for a month.
5 year ( this year, same year ext warranty expired) more start issues. brought bike to stealer 1 month before warranty expired to find the start issue. they had it for 3 weeks, couldn't find the problem, and blamed ME for my led turn signal lights i have installed and a fan switch i have jumped into the fan relay going to the ecu. since the "technician" couldn't find the problem of the no start, and why it set off a cam sensor code, he blamed the user.. his exact words on my receipt was " my gut feeling is all the garbage customer has installed" yes, led turn signal lights are garbage, and, they are somehow shorting out my ecu... real smart tech huh?
anyways, since they couldnt find the problem, they charged me $90 for their time to "diagnose" the problem, even though they didnt have the answer... so i take my bike back home and ride it for a month. now my warranty has expired.
3 days ago, went out for ride, stopped at starbucks, went to restart... no start. upon cranking, i noticed alot of back fires... almost as if timing was off.
tried my carb cleaner trick.. bike fired up.. but this time with what sounded like 13 monkeys playing drums on a tin roof...i immediately shut it down...
being a car mechanic my whole life.. what popped into my head was..."valves being hit by the pistons"
i pushed it home in 88 degree heat.
pulled off cam chain cover and found crushed up cam chain guide, the metal one that is part of the block... it seems my cam chain was so lose, it hit the guide smashing it... i reasoned that if it was so loose, it possibly jumped some teeth on the timing gear, leading to the valve noise...
i removed the valve cover to get at the cam shaft gears to check timing...
yup.. timing was off...it did jump a tooth.. maybe a bunch of teeth.... well.. that explains the back firing and hard starts... it also explains why the cam sensor code was being set during the no start scenario. A very loose cam chain.
but it gets worse.....
i decided to reset the timing, tighten the cam chain, flush the crankcase, and fire it up hoping that this engine doesnt smash the valves when the timing is off.
i removed the starter clutch sprocket off the crankshaft... and more disaster...the center bolt holding the sprocket on was either tightened with an air gun, or had permanent thread locking sealant put on by the "technician" who rebuilt the engine during my first engine failure.. so the bolt didnt unscrew, instead, the neck of the crank shaft spline.... split... yes, the crankshaft broke on removal of a bolt that was over tightened with an air gun or with some thread locking agent....clearly a fault of the person who rebuilt the engine a couple years ago...
so as it stands right now, i have a 06 10r with 13k miles on it, needing a crank shaft, and possible valves.. and my warranty just expired.
moral of the story, i hope that tech has a catastrophe like this to his penis, as well as the idiot tech who rebuilt my engine 4 years ago.
now, all this could have been prevented if the "tech" did his routine diagnosis last week..
for instance, when your a kawi tech, and a 10r that is known to have faulty cam chain tensioners comes into your garage, with a cam sensor code, you test the sensor, then simply remove the cam chain cover to see if the chain is loose, and adjust the auto tensioner as needed. clearly a cam sensor code should set off some alarm in a techs mind...and not blame the customer for led turn lights or fan switch.
long story short, if none of you have routinely helped your cam chain tensioner tighten the chain by rolling your bike backwards in 5th gear, then you may run the risk of a loose chain jumping teeth, and smashing your valves...
now, i have a few options.
1- get a lawyer and do the whole 9 yards thing of suing kawi, the dealer etc...which will take months if not years...
2- remove the engine and rebuild with a new crankshaft and remove head and put in new valves...
3- push it to the dealer telling them the chain is broke, and attempt a trade in with a non running bike . maybe ill get a couple grand for it. i owe $5800 still
4- try to sell it as is.. but not sure who would buy a bike that needs to have a crank replaced...
any ideas? any one else have a cam chain jump gears?
can any one confirm that this engine design does in fact smash the valves if the chain jumps teeth?
thanks for your input.. and think of me the next time you fire up your 10s today....
:crybaby2:
Im bending over right now since since the dealer f***** me good last week.
Ill give you a brief history of my bike since i believe it contributed to my current situation.
After purchasing my 06 10r brand new from riverside Kawasaki in somerville ma, the first month was great. Until the forks started leaking at 2900 miles.
After much argument, and 4 weeks in the shop for a 2 hour repair, kawasaki covered the seals under warranty. they first said not covered as they dont cover fork seals. But having such low miles, kawi ended up covering the seals.
a month later i brought it to them to check a "pop" noise that i get under heavy breaking. I later found out that the chain was too tight. Odd especially since i never tightened the chain. However, the stealer couldnt find the location of that "pop" but upon checkout.. the mechanic says he hears lots of noise coming from the engine. And wanted me to leave it and have it checked out.
I asked him how long it will take, and he said it could take about 2 months to tear the engine down and find the "noise"...it was june 30th of that time. the heart of our Boston summer. the last thing i wanted to do is loose my bike for 2 months! He also said that if it was not something covered under warranty i would have to pay for the diagnosis and time to tear the engine down...well, i refused as i didn't know what kind of scam they were running and wanted a second opinion so i left with the bike.
after 3 weeks of riding later, catastrophe struck. While riding the streets of boston, my engine seized up with a loud crunching sound. well it didnt so much as seize but more of a crunch to a stop with my back tire locking up.
Towed to dealer. long story short, clutch basket bolts and rivets some how sheared off and exploding the entire clutch and basket etc... all into the oil pan.
the engine block, transmission, crankshaft, rods pistons etc.. all needed to be replaced. a major rebuild was needed to a 3 month old brand new bike with only 3700 miles on it. wonderfull.
the bike was at the stealer for 5 months. awaiting parts, awaiting rebuild
.
after much arguing with kawi warranty, they finally covered it. they initially said that since the clutch blew apart, its not covered under warranty, and that since i chose to ride it a couple months before when the "tech" heard noises i pretty much was negligent.. anyways after i sent a lemon law letter to them since they had it soo long, they "did me a favor" and covered it under warranty ( those exact words from kawis lawyer)
anyways.. so, i get my brand new bike back, with a rebuilt engine in december.. great.. so much for riding my brand new bike i owned for 3 months in the summer.
2 year of ownership went well,
3rd year had to replace some fork seals, but this time i did them my self in 30 minutes.
4th year.. more fork seals. and an added starting issue.. no fuel on a cold start with computer code showing cam sensor.
replaced the cam sensor, still no start. shot in carb cleaner.. bike fired up, didnt have problems for a month.
5 year ( this year, same year ext warranty expired) more start issues. brought bike to stealer 1 month before warranty expired to find the start issue. they had it for 3 weeks, couldn't find the problem, and blamed ME for my led turn signal lights i have installed and a fan switch i have jumped into the fan relay going to the ecu. since the "technician" couldn't find the problem of the no start, and why it set off a cam sensor code, he blamed the user.. his exact words on my receipt was " my gut feeling is all the garbage customer has installed" yes, led turn signal lights are garbage, and, they are somehow shorting out my ecu... real smart tech huh?
anyways, since they couldnt find the problem, they charged me $90 for their time to "diagnose" the problem, even though they didnt have the answer... so i take my bike back home and ride it for a month. now my warranty has expired.
3 days ago, went out for ride, stopped at starbucks, went to restart... no start. upon cranking, i noticed alot of back fires... almost as if timing was off.
tried my carb cleaner trick.. bike fired up.. but this time with what sounded like 13 monkeys playing drums on a tin roof...i immediately shut it down...
being a car mechanic my whole life.. what popped into my head was..."valves being hit by the pistons"
i pushed it home in 88 degree heat.
pulled off cam chain cover and found crushed up cam chain guide, the metal one that is part of the block... it seems my cam chain was so lose, it hit the guide smashing it... i reasoned that if it was so loose, it possibly jumped some teeth on the timing gear, leading to the valve noise...
i removed the valve cover to get at the cam shaft gears to check timing...
yup.. timing was off...it did jump a tooth.. maybe a bunch of teeth.... well.. that explains the back firing and hard starts... it also explains why the cam sensor code was being set during the no start scenario. A very loose cam chain.
but it gets worse.....
i decided to reset the timing, tighten the cam chain, flush the crankcase, and fire it up hoping that this engine doesnt smash the valves when the timing is off.
i removed the starter clutch sprocket off the crankshaft... and more disaster...the center bolt holding the sprocket on was either tightened with an air gun, or had permanent thread locking sealant put on by the "technician" who rebuilt the engine during my first engine failure.. so the bolt didnt unscrew, instead, the neck of the crank shaft spline.... split... yes, the crankshaft broke on removal of a bolt that was over tightened with an air gun or with some thread locking agent....clearly a fault of the person who rebuilt the engine a couple years ago...
so as it stands right now, i have a 06 10r with 13k miles on it, needing a crank shaft, and possible valves.. and my warranty just expired.
moral of the story, i hope that tech has a catastrophe like this to his penis, as well as the idiot tech who rebuilt my engine 4 years ago.
now, all this could have been prevented if the "tech" did his routine diagnosis last week..
for instance, when your a kawi tech, and a 10r that is known to have faulty cam chain tensioners comes into your garage, with a cam sensor code, you test the sensor, then simply remove the cam chain cover to see if the chain is loose, and adjust the auto tensioner as needed. clearly a cam sensor code should set off some alarm in a techs mind...and not blame the customer for led turn lights or fan switch.
long story short, if none of you have routinely helped your cam chain tensioner tighten the chain by rolling your bike backwards in 5th gear, then you may run the risk of a loose chain jumping teeth, and smashing your valves...
now, i have a few options.
1- get a lawyer and do the whole 9 yards thing of suing kawi, the dealer etc...which will take months if not years...
2- remove the engine and rebuild with a new crankshaft and remove head and put in new valves...
3- push it to the dealer telling them the chain is broke, and attempt a trade in with a non running bike . maybe ill get a couple grand for it. i owe $5800 still
4- try to sell it as is.. but not sure who would buy a bike that needs to have a crank replaced...
any ideas? any one else have a cam chain jump gears?
can any one confirm that this engine design does in fact smash the valves if the chain jumps teeth?
thanks for your input.. and think of me the next time you fire up your 10s today....
:crybaby2:
