Versys Engine Blown

[pokerkid]

if this would have happened to eh.... lets say the new Benelli 600 ,many members here would have laughed and said I told you so.........But it didn't. it happened to a bike that has a reputation for being reliable.

So everything is not so black and white in bikeland.

Its a fact that out of thousands of engines some are gonna blow. As far as benelli or other Chinese bikes good luck getting them to warranty it.

kawasaki did a good job in this case and I don't expect keeway to do the same in a similar situation and lets be honest not many people here would bet their life on kawasaki doing what they did in this case either.

I am sure you have seen the differences in price between keeway and kawasaki. If kawasaki would put a 600cc 4inline bike on the thai market they will make sure their profits are so high they have no problems to replace the odd engine here and there...... I would expect keeway to replace the engine if the bike was still under warranty though.

By the way ,where do you get your statistics from ?

Edited August 5, 2013 by pokerkid

[VocalNeal]

Think you threw a rod.

This would be my thinking but the bit or bits stuck in the exhaust don't look quite right.

No clean fracture , not very clean casting?

I think you are very, very lucky they decided to fix if for free.

As for the engine swap vs new engine. My money is on new or at least a short motor. If they change the block then that will be where the number is so the book will still need to be changed. If they get the whole engine back to the factory then then can do an autopsy themselves rather than rely on the dealer to tell them what went wrong.

Edited August 5, 2013 by VocalNeal

[dave_boo]

I agree failures are to be expected; there's a long supply line between the ore and the end product where a breakdown in any of it could result in such a situation. The OP's wording is a bit ambiguous; did he still have time left on the warranty of was he that far out of it? If he was out of if even more kudos to Kawasaki for doing the right thing.

As an aside, it appears that 1 in 13 MG engines 'failed' (non-specific) and 1 in 344 Honda engines 'failed'. While you would assume that's all kinds of failures (electrical, fuel, etc) it is awful high; considering Kawasaki has sold a boatload of these er-6 engines in the Kingdom alone and this is the first catastrophic failure I'd say they're doing fairly well.

[transam]

I have seen holes blown in pistons for different reasons, to me the weakest part of an engine is the small end of a con rod. It does a lot of work.

[mania]

The OP's wording is a bit ambiguous; did he still have time left on the warranty of was he that far out of it? If he was out of if even more kudos to Kawasaki for doing the right thing.

I would say it is outside of its 2 year warranty since he said (purchased Nov. 2010)

That would also mean he is about 9 months past his warranty ( if it was a 2 year warranty which I believe they are ? )

Or was it 1 year?? If so even more kudos to Kawasaki for covering it

Edited August 5, 2013 by mania

[dave_boo]

Think you threw a rod.

This would be my thinking but the bit or bits stuck in the exhaust don't look quite right.

No clean fracture , not very clean casting?

I think you are very, very lucky they decided to fix if for free.

As for the engine swap vs new engine. My money is on new or at least a short motor. If they change the block then that will be where the number is so the book will still need to be changed. If they get the whole engine back to the factory then then can do an autopsy themselves rather than rely on the dealer to tell them what went wrong.

Looks like carbon build up from blowby (not rough casting). If the blowby was bad enough and diluted the crankcase oil the bearings could have gone. Would be interesting to hear if the bike was running hotter and down on power.

[VocalNeal]

I have seen holes blown in pistons for different reasons, to me the weakest part of an engine is the small end of a con rod. It does a lot of work.

OT.

Had a hole in the piston of my Mini, after "racing" with a Lotus Cortina. Probably wrong grade of plug or centre cylinders a bit lean.

Was involved with a race car that threw a rod. That was funny as at idle what was left of the rod would pop out for a few rpm then disappear for a while then...

[transam]

I have seen holes blown in pistons for different reasons, to me the weakest part of an engine is the small end of a con rod. It does a lot of work.

OT.

Had a hole in the piston of my Mini, after "racing" with a Lotus Cortina. Probably wrong grade of plug or centre cylinders a bit lean.

Was involved with a race car that threw a rod. That was funny as at idle what was left of the rod would pop out for a few rpm then disappear for a while then...

Thats odd, I have done the same. Different times, the hole yes, racing a Lotus over Blackheath , lost it and destroyed it via a lamp post.

[nikster]

Think you threw a rod.

This would be my thinking but the bit or bits stuck in the exhaust don't look quite right.

No clean fracture , not very clean casting?

I think you are very, very lucky they decided to fix if for free.

As for the engine swap vs new engine. My money is on new or at least a short motor. If they change the block then that will be where the number is so the book will still need to be changed. If they get the whole engine back to the factory then then can do an autopsy themselves rather than rely on the dealer to tell them what went wrong.

Looks like carbon build up from blowby (not rough casting). If the blowby was bad enough and diluted the crankcase oil the bearings could have gone. Would be interesting to hear if the bike was running hotter and down on power.

^ It's funny you should say that. I had already forgotten about it but the bike did feel a bit off before this happened! I am not sure it's related. How was it "off"... it's a bit hard to say. It didn't lose power. It may have run hotter?! It seemed like engine braking was weaker, and the feel was just a tiny bit different, for the worse. Not enough to really be able to tell the dealer anything so I hadn't brought it in yet - I doubt they'd have found anything or even felt the difference though. Could be it had a little less power actually, like 1 or 2 HP. Not enough to be certain, but enough to feel a bit weird.

Yeah the bike was out of warranty. Kawasaki has a 2 year warranty on the engine, bike was 2 years and 8 months old at the time of the incident. I was impressed but I also had pretty good hopes for that to happen. The damage from posting these pictures on a forum with lots of complaining would be much greater than the cost of a new engine. How many marketing dollars would Kawasaki have to spend to overcome this? I am not saying it would kill sales, but people would find it, and it would affect sales and/or negate marketing campaigns.

A new engine turns the story into a positive. Still they did the right thing, and they didn't have to, so kudos to them. I certainly appreciate it

Edited August 6, 2013 by nikster

[ll2]

nikster, sorry for hearing this.

Never seen something like that before so it might be an unlucky forge or something.

Respected Kawasaki to cover this problem especially on a bike belongs to a farang!

[nikster]

There she is... new engine should be in tomorrow morning, will try early next week.

According to the mechanic "everything" is new

[VocalNeal]

Thats odd, I have done the same. Different times, the hole yes, racing a Lotus over Blackheath , lost it and destroyed it via a lamp post.

I was on the M6 so racing is not truly accurate, toying with, either him or me. It just started running a bit rough after about 40 miles. So later in the month I took the head off and found...

When I put it all back together with a different cam just for fun I took it to Alexander Engineering which just happened to be in the next village and asked them to set up the carbs. Spend that afternoon listening to my car being driven through the village numerous times during whatever they were doing.

[transam]

Thats odd, I have done the same. Different times, the hole yes, racing a Lotus over Blackheath , lost it and destroyed it via a lamp post.

I was on the M6 so racing is not truly accurate, toying with, either him or me. It just started running a bit rough after about 40 miles. So later in the month I took the head off and found...

When I put it all back together with a different cam just for fun I took it to Alexander Engineering which just happened to be in the next village and asked them to set up the carbs. Spend that afternoon listening to my car being driven through the village numerous times during whatever they were doing.

Must admit I liked doing whatever ''they'' were doing.

[KRS1]

Think you threw a rod.

This would be my thinking but the bit or bits stuck in the exhaust don't look quite right.

No clean fracture , not very clean casting?

I think you are very, very lucky they decided to fix if for free.

As for the engine swap vs new engine. My money is on new or at least a short motor. If they change the block then that will be where the number is so the book will still need to be changed. If they get the whole engine back to the factory then then can do an autopsy themselves rather than rely on the dealer to tell them what went wrong.

Looks like carbon build up from blowby (not rough casting). If the blowby was bad enough and diluted the crankcase oil the bearings could have gone. Would be interesting to hear if the bike was running hotter and down on power.

^ It's funny you should say that. I had already forgotten about it but the bike did feel a bit off before this happened! I am not sure it's related. How was it "off"... it's a bit hard to say. It didn't lose power. It may have run hotter?! It seemed like engine braking was weaker, and the feel was just a tiny bit different, for the worse. Not enough to really be able to tell the dealer anything so I hadn't brought it in yet - I doubt they'd have found anything or even felt the difference though. Could be it had a little less power actually, like 1 or 2 HP. Not enough to be certain, but enough to feel a bit weird.

Yeah the bike was out of warranty. Kawasaki has a 2 year warranty on the engine, bike was 2 years and 8 months old at the time of the incident. I was impressed but I also had pretty good hopes for that to happen. The damage from posting these pictures on a forum with lots of complaining would be much greater than the cost of a new engine. How many marketing dollars would Kawasaki have to spend to overcome this? I am not saying it would kill sales, but people would find it, and it would affect sales and/or negate marketing campaigns.

A new engine turns the story into a positive. Still they did the right thing, and they didn't have to, so kudos to them. I certainly appreciate it

Did they ever say what went wrong ? Rod or possibly the counter balancer that let loose?

[Richard-BKK]

The process of aluminum alloy pressure die casting is for almost all motorcycle manufacturers the same. What happened with the engine of the Kawasaki Versys could have happened with any other motorcycle, or any brand, with the casting process it’s possible, but extremely rare, that a weaker point develops.

Nothing you can do about it, as it’s not visual with the naked eye. X-raying all engine parts would make the engine easily twice as expensive… what is also not an option.

Kawasaki did solve the problem correctly, as the source of the problem was clearly a manufacturing error it would give a lot of bad publicity, and probably if the owner would have pushed the matter in court Kawasaki would had to compensate the owner anyway.

100 points for doing the correct thing.

[denkiblue555]

The process of aluminum alloy pressure die casting is for almost all motorcycle manufacturers the same.

^^ Most definitely not the same specs/result/raw materials/equipment/expertise/care&attention etc... simply because a certain 'process' is being followed??

What's your point?

[transam]

I thought all alloy rods were forged.

[thaicbr]

The process of aluminum alloy pressure die casting is for almost all motorcycle manufacturers the same. 

 

^^ Most definitely not the same specs/result/raw materials/equipment/expertise/care&attention etc... simply because a certain 'process' is being followed??

What's your point?

Richard is showing us all how much he actually knows about motorcycle manufacturing!

Sent from my i-mobile i-STYLE Q6

[poanoi]

I normally dont fancy racer bikes, but i saw a white versys today with a box, and i actually think it looks nice.

[thaicbr]

I normally dont fancy racer bikes, but i saw a white versys today with a box, and i actually think it looks nice.

It would look good parked outside your condo :D

Sent from my i-mobile i-STYLE Q6

[nikster]

So to update and to give Kawasaki and Kawasaki Chiang Mai credit - all is well now.

Fixing the engine took about one month, for getting the parts and doing the work. According to the mechanic, it's a completely new engine, meaning almost all parts were replaced at no cost to myself.

I had to pay BHT 3,500 for a bunch of incidentals - parts that are considered wear and tear, I guess. For example they replaced the accelerator cable and other things like that. The upside is, the bike feels pretty much like new. A good deal IMO

It then took another month to get the correct papers. Most of that time was spent waiting for some office in Bangkok to issue some sort of document. Kawasaki had to produce some documents from the factory - those were then handed to the BKK office.

To their credit, Kawasaki Chiang Mai called Kawasaki BKK on a near daily basis, to put pressure on the BKK office to hurry up with that stamp. But there wasn't much anyone could do, really - we just had to wait for bureaucracy to take its course. I eventually gave up and just rode the bike around semi-illegally. I figured the chances that I get stopped, and then somebody inspects my VIN number and compares it with my greenbook are near zero - I've never even been stopped before.

But that was just 2 days before the paper came, so now I am all road legal and the VIN change is correctly noted in the green book.

Nearly done breaking it in. To my great surprise it is possible to move a Versys whilst staying below 4,000 RPM. In fact, I got used to shifting a lot so in the city it wasn't a big difference. I had to suffer through Honda Waves and CBR 500s passing me on the freeway with a top speed of 86 kph in 6th gear at 4000 RPM - certainly something new

Oh yeah not doing the "hard break in" method this time - I want to do this completely by the book. I certainly didn't pay too much attention the first time around so maybe that played a part.

Edited October 14, 2013 by nikster

[ll2]

nice to hear all is good now nikster.

appreciate kawa for your case. they did not leave you alone.

[Wong!]

Good service from Kawa. Well done.

[Beardog]

Just carry around any supporting docs in case the heat does pull you over. I just lost my Lic. Plate & changed my bikes colors so I have to do the same for the next 2 months. Glad Kawi squared you up. Sweet deal for sure- But it should not have cut loose anyway. Glad they stand by their products. Glad to be a kawi rider myself!