Cam lobe wear

Richer222
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Richer222
Edited Date/Time 1/27/2012 3:11am
Any body heard of other 2010 kx 450f's with premature cam lobe wear. Mine has around 15 hours and 2 cam lobes ( 1 on each cam of course ) have pitting/missing plating on them. All valves where in borderline spec. being on the stiff side.
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onenastynotch
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onenastynotch 1/10/2011 4:17pm
1/10/2011 4:17pm
when did u change your oil? at what intervals?
Richer222
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Richer222 1/10/2011 5:30pm
1/10/2011 5:30pm
change oil every 3 hours ( ride tracks only), change filter every 6 hours. i even open my filters and never found anything to worry about!
lumpy790
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lumpy790 1/11/2011 4:38pm
1/11/2011 4:38pm
What oil and rating?
Richer222
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Richer222 1/11/2011 5:21pm
1/11/2011 5:21pm
kawasaki S4 synthetic 10w40

The Shop

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Jakes Dad
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Jakes Dad 1/11/2011 5:55pm
1/11/2011 5:55pm Edited Date/Time 1/11/2011 5:57pm
You're going to have to replace it, but 1st find someone who can do a hardness test. Then do some checking and see if it's in spec, you might have recourse for a warranty. Any bumps or flat spots? Anything been done to the topend other than valve adjustement? And what did the buckets look like concave?
Richer222
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Richer222 1/12/2011 3:25am
1/12/2011 3:25am
Nothing has ever been done to the top end. The bikes only got 15 hours on it. Buckets are beautiful. Valves where in spec yet on the tight side. Missing plating looks like oxydation or a stain to the human eye, yet you feel the missing plating when you drag your finger nail. Whats this warranty thing? Are you talking about a kind of product improvement type warranty.
lumpy790
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lumpy790 1/12/2011 9:18am
1/12/2011 9:18am
Hows the clutch? Could be the clutch is worn so bad the fiber material is clogging the oil pump inlet screen and restricting oil pump operation.
CamP
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CamP 1/12/2011 4:13pm
1/12/2011 4:13pm
If it's truly a 15 hour bike, I'd say you got a bad cam from the factory.
Richer222
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Richer222 1/13/2011 3:32am
1/13/2011 3:32am
I just finished talking to my kawi dealer. They have had the same issue on their kfx 4 wheeler models. He contacted kawi and they said that they where aware of the situation, and that once the cam has missing coating that it can still run fine without damaging the engine or other parts. I believe them since my buckets are in beautiful condition. My dealer sent my file/complaint to Kawi and if there ever is a call back/failure, i will be covered. I will most certainly be having a look at my cams after every weekend. It only takes 15 min anyways!
Richer222
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Richer222 1/13/2011 3:33am
1/13/2011 3:33am
Oh and i said 15 hours, but its actually got 20 break in included.
lumpy790
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lumpy790 1/13/2011 1:11pm
1/13/2011 1:11pm
Can you please post some detailed pictures?
Jakes Dad
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Jakes Dad 1/13/2011 5:42pm
1/13/2011 5:42pm
Coating of a camshaft is new to me hardness or valvetrain bind or float are most common.

If it is a coating I'd suspect it's a band-aid to a material issue.

Kawi has warranted parts before, back in 06' or 07' they had skirts hitting cranks on 450's.
TerryK
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TerryK 1/15/2011 8:45am
1/15/2011 8:45am Edited Date/Time 1/15/2011 8:48am
I would say someone is dropping the ball here. The dealer telling you it is a "coating" issue is pure bullshit. Parts such as camshafts are manufactured to be super hard, not hard coated. The reason the buckets are un damaged is that they are manufactured to spec and are hardened properly. If your cams are losing material, where do you think that material is going? They say they will cover a cam failure, but if (when) a piece of the cam breaks off and causes a catastrophic engine failure do you really think Kawasaki is going to go good for it? I would get after the dealer and Kawasaki to replace the cams asap, BEFORE riding the bike any more.
Richer222
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Richer222 1/17/2011 8:42am
1/17/2011 8:42am
"Camshaft lobes and tappets feature a soft-nitride surface treatment for long wear and high-rpm reliability"

This was taken out of a Kawasaki spec data sheet, for those who think that cams are not coated. As for having my cams replaced. thats really what i wanted, but i also understand kawasakis point of view. I myself work for a Caterpillar dealer, and we often apply what we call "before failure call-backs" and "after failure call-backs". This one looks to be the later. Anyways i'll let you guys know this summer!
Mod Killer
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Mod Killer 1/17/2011 1:44pm
1/17/2011 1:44pm
Richer222 wrote:
change oil every 3 hours ( ride tracks only), change filter every 6 hours. i even open my filters and never found anything to worry about!
is changing the oil every 3 hours a little excessive?

off topic i know....but it peaked my interest.
Richer222
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Richer222 1/19/2011 3:22am
1/19/2011 3:22am
From the color and fluidity it had when it came out, i would definitaly say that it is not excessive. And it only costs me 10$ of oil. I call it preventive maintenance.
Mod Killer
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Mod Killer 1/19/2011 11:47am
1/19/2011 11:47am
different strokes for different folks i guess.

the manual says for me to change the oil every 15 hrs on my 250f. and i know the manual is pretty excessive. but ive followed that regimine with no issues.

i would think the 450s would need oil changes even less frequent.
Richer222
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Richer222 1/19/2011 4:30pm
1/19/2011 4:30pm
My manual says the same thing as yours. Its written every 15hours of ridding or every 6 races. 6 x 30 min motos = 3 hours. Anyways, if your oil has a nice color to it, doesn't stink, doesn't have whitesh gray cloud to it when you pass your finger through it, or doesn't leak like water when you drain it. Keep doing what your doing.

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TerryK
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TerryK 1/19/2011 7:01pm
1/19/2011 7:01pm
Richer222 wrote:
"Camshaft lobes and tappets feature a soft-nitride surface treatment for long wear and high-rpm reliability" This was taken out of a Kawasaki spec data sheet, for...
"Camshaft lobes and tappets feature a soft-nitride surface treatment for long wear and high-rpm reliability"

This was taken out of a Kawasaki spec data sheet, for those who think that cams are not coated. As for having my cams replaced. thats really what i wanted, but i also understand kawasakis point of view. I myself work for a Caterpillar dealer, and we often apply what we call "before failure call-backs" and "after failure call-backs". This one looks to be the later. Anyways i'll let you guys know this summer!
So what you are saying is that since Kawasaki says it's ok for the "coating" to flake off that everything will be fine?
Richer222
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Richer222 1/20/2011 3:28am
1/20/2011 3:28am
Nope, im saying that they are aware of the problem, i filed a complaint which puts me on their list. And if anything does go sour, i aint paying didly squat. Don't forget guys, one satisfied customer will talk to one person about his product, yet an unsatisfied customer will tell 20 people.
motofab36
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motofab36 1/20/2011 6:44am
1/20/2011 6:44am
15 hours on a oil change sounds crazy. We change ours after every race day (2 classes= 4 motos plus practice) or every practice day (hours may vary)
Richer222
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Richer222 1/21/2011 3:18am
1/21/2011 3:18am
15 hours is intended for trail riding/play riding, where-as every 6 races means full out motocross.

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