Tony's KLR 650

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Squint
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Re: Tony's KLR 650

Post by Squint »

Close enough. Celebrating this weekend with a trip rather than on your birthday. No big deal to move the celebration slightly.
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AHTOXA
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Re: Tony's KLR 650

Post by AHTOXA »

Tempted to just ditch out now and get on the way. Weather is supposed to hold well. Excited.
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AHTOXA
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Re: Tony's KLR 650

Post by AHTOXA »

A few better pics of the bike.

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Squint
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Re: Tony's KLR 650

Post by Squint »

It's still a nice looking bike. I also still prefer these colors to that green/purple combo.
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AHTOXA
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Re: Tony's KLR 650

Post by AHTOXA »

Put 500 miles on the bike - it rides great and I love it.

I do have a small issue with it being a bit of an oil burner. Granted, all KLRs burn oil, but I'm going through about 400ml of oil in about 570 miles.

When I bought the bike, the dealer actually rebuilt the top end, including a new piston and rings, however it doesn't appear that they honed the cylinder when they did this - they likely just threw new rings on. This bike may have been an oil burner to begin with.

Kawasaki says that burning 1L per 1k miles is in-spec, and even though mine seems to burn about that or maybe less, it seems excessive.

The good news, is that the bike was sold to me with a Kawasaki extended warranty, which is applicable until 2017 (unlimited miles). I'm doing an oil change this weekend. Going to measure exactly how much oil is going in there, and then will measure precisely how much oil I'm adding and at which intervals.

Reading the 'net, it appears that those with oil-burning KLRs just live with it and add oil. It doesn't appear to have any side effects, such as plug fouling. The only solution to the burning oil is an after-market 685 kit, for which you bore out the cylinder. A good HP increase, too. That said, I'm not willing to spent $700 (with labor) doing that when I just bought the darn bike.

I'll measure exactly to see what my losses are, and then go to dealer requesting them to do an oil burn monitoring session, which is them doing an oil change, noting exactly how much oil goes in and then telling me to come back in 500 miles or sooner, if oil level falls below a predetermined level.
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Re: Tony's KLR 650

Post by theholycow »

AHTOXA wrote:I do have a small issue with it being a bit of an oil burner. Granted, all KLRs burn oil, but I'm going through about 12oz of oil in about 570 miles.

Kawasaki says that burning 1qt per 1k miles is in-spec, and even though mine seems to burn about that or maybe less, it seems excessive.
Fickset.
AHTOXA wrote:I do have a small issue with it being a bit of an oil burner. Granted, all KLRs burn oil, but I'm going through about 400ml of oil in about 920 km.

Kawasaki says that burning 1L per 1600 km is in-spec, and even though mine seems to burn about that or maybe less, it seems excessive.
Fickset the other way.

Anyway, it sounds like the warranty thing is worth a try following up but they probably won't do anything.
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Squint
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Re: Tony's KLR 650

Post by Squint »

Consistency is important to Cow.
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Re: Tony's KLR 650

Post by Rope-Pusher »

Squint wrote:Consistency is important to Cow.
That's why he chews his cud over and over and over and over and over and over,....(ad nauseam)
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Re: Tony's KLR 650

Post by AHTOXA »

theholycow wrote:
AHTOXA wrote:I do have a small issue with it being a bit of an oil burner. Granted, all KLRs burn oil, but I'm going through about 12oz of oil in about 570 miles.

Kawasaki says that burning 1qt per 1k miles is in-spec, and even though mine seems to burn about that or maybe less, it seems excessive.
Fickset.
AHTOXA wrote:I do have a small issue with it being a bit of an oil burner. Granted, all KLRs burn oil, but I'm going through about 400ml of oil in about 920 km.

Kawasaki says that burning 1L per 1600 km is in-spec, and even though mine seems to burn about that or maybe less, it seems excessive.
Fickset the other way.

Anyway, it sounds like the warranty thing is worth a try following up but they probably won't do anything.
I called another local Kawasaki dealer today, after lack of interest from the dealer where I bought it from (spoke with the owner, actually).

The second dealer I called today was actually far more receptive (spoke with service manager). He mentioned that he's got another KLR in his shop now with a very similar issue.

His thought was that my oil consumption could be higher during break-in (first 1k miles or so), after which it may reduce. If not, he asked that I bring the bike in and they will do a leakdown test, compression test and then perform an oil usage monitoring test - basically do an oil change with exactly measured quantity of oil, have me drive for 500 miles, or come back earlier if the level falls below a predetermined point. Then they drain the oil and see exactly how much is missing.

He mentioned that Kawasaki is aware of the issue and they will have the afflicted bikes tested for oil consumption with the above-mentioned method and then go from there.

It was a much better conversation with the second dealer, and it appears that they are familiar with the issue and Kawasaki is working with them on it. Good stuff.

I've got my first oil change (since the rebuild) coming up this weekend, so I'll change the oil, measure the amount I put in and monitor how much I'm adding. If the burning persists, sounds like I have a receptive dealer to go to.

I'm glad the bike came with the warranty, though. The previous owner paid for it (about a grand), and it's transferable to me. That was a good perk in the deal.
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AHTOXA
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Re: Tony's KLR 650

Post by AHTOXA »

Reading the interwebs about this issue, it appears that the compression tests on afflicted bikes often don't show any outward issues, indicating a problem with rings. It also appears that some of the KLRs ended up having the consumption issues due to ovaled out cylinder. That's quite bizarre. Granted, most of those bikes consumed a quart per 200 miles (happy, cowman? :)), which is far greater than what I'm seeing.
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Re: Tony's KLR 650

Post by DKaz »

Nice bike, Ahtoxa!
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