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kiwifan
2/22/2016 12:20pm
2/22/2016 12:20pm
Edited Date/Time
2/29/2016 8:05pm
I am perplexed, I have had heavily modified Suzuki, KTM and Honda motors for years and never had one engine blowup...but my modded KX450F spewed its guts out. Now take this as gospel I am a meticulous maintainer of my bikes, they are highly maintained to the point of OCD ! I have not seen any evidence of metal in the oil prior to the failure. I also don't race mine on the limiter (all my bikes have mega midrange HP, you don't need to rev them hard anyway, unlike for arguments sake a 250F or a KTM350SXF) so I am confident it isn't maintenance, consistent high RPM/riding style that led to the failure.
I have canvased friends/non friends/dealers to see if this is a common occurrence and it doesn't seem to be the case, perhaps a one off weakness somewhere in the crank or some metal (from somewhere) in the oil (because it lost oil on the track I am not sure if there was an metal in the oil, I didn't think to check the dirt actually).
So long story short (!) I was wondering/interested if anyone else has heard of any problems with the Kawasaki 2016 450?
I am, at this point, 99% sure it is a one off failure.
I have canvased friends/non friends/dealers to see if this is a common occurrence and it doesn't seem to be the case, perhaps a one off weakness somewhere in the crank or some metal (from somewhere) in the oil (because it lost oil on the track I am not sure if there was an metal in the oil, I didn't think to check the dirt actually).
So long story short (!) I was wondering/interested if anyone else has heard of any problems with the Kawasaki 2016 450?
I am, at this point, 99% sure it is a one off failure.
What happened exactly to "spew it's guts out"?
A hole appeared, broken cam chain and bent valves :-(
The Shop
I believe it was a one-off failure.
One of the best engine builders in the biz virtually INSISTS that more compression, hotter Cam's...etc. ...
Requires a better crank and bearings in the KXF.
"I buy from a dealer I constantly stick up for on here, and since I voluntarily pay way over what I should for each bike they were nice enough to cover it under warranty like they are supposed to. I can't belive they took the time to unbolt my ecu and read the hours on the bike and determine whether it was a defect or not, I'm so glad I overplayed and they did their job"
You're welcome.
Pit Row
OEM kawi main bearings have had occasional failures even stock
I can honestly say first hand that Kawi will bend over backwards to help out the customer. I have seen them actually pay for parts when the customer put the oil filter in backwards on a 2015 KX450 and the customer even stated that they screwed up.
Now if you dealer won't try to help you out perhaps you need to find a new dealer or stop being a dick to them beating them up on everything from a new bike to a spark plug.
You're Welcome
It seems the KXF bearings and cranks are more suspect than I was led to believe!
Mods: Tokyo high comp piston, Tokyo vavles and springs, Tokyo hotter cams, Vortech ECU, Tokyo 10 ignition maps, Hinson clutch, Tokyo head work, engine vent kit, FMF exhaust
Rebuild with a full bottom end and you will be fine. Especially if you're light on the revs and abuse like you have stated.
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