Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

Got my bike back from a major service at on two wheels in penrith on sat. Riding to work this morning and look down at a blink temp gauge cos of over heating. This is just after sitting on the M4 exit ramp for 20 minutes! so likely 20 minutes at something over 118C which is all the display goes upto before its gets all friendly and just say HI to you. Get the bike home tonight to find not enough coolant, barely enough oil (which is already a light brown) and the fan cable swinging merily, not connected. Getting them to fix it all just for the sake of teaching them to be more careful and not so stingy on the fluids. Anyway, the questions is, besides opening the engine up and looking inside, what kind of things should I be on the look out for that could be signs of damage from this heat? Or is it that I will probably just have to replace my rings or something earlier?

It really depends on how hot and how much oil was left in it. If it gets hot enough, it can not only score the bore, but can pick up big end and main bearings and warp some surfaces as well as melt pistons. Valves and valve seats can be damaged as well. As to what to do now? If it were my mistake I'd probably pull it down and inspect it at least. But I bet they won't want to go there!!

At least tell them they will be responsible for any breakdowns related to the overheating issue. This may put the wind up them, but at least they can expect you to come back at them should anything go wrong in the near future.

If something does go wrong, ring them directly and have them come and sort it out!

If it was me I would hire an attorney, (I think you call them solicitors). The engine damage is definitley there and you probably need them to give you a free overhaul depending on how many miles you have on the bike, (if you have a lot of miles they may pro rate it where you pay part of the cost). Most large parts on modern water cooled motorcycles, (head, block) are aluminum. Aluminum is a wonderful material but does not take heat very well. You could have a cracked head, possibly scored bores and bearings as well as fried valves and rings. Sorry I wish I could be more positive, but I've had this happen to an aluminum car motor, (my fault) and it was farked.

Whickle wrote:At least tell them they will be responsible for any breakdowns related to the overheating issue. This may put the wind up them, but at least they can expect you to come back at them should anything go wrong in the near future.

If something does go wrong, ring them directly and have them come and sort it out!

Devil's advocate here but this is a very easy way out for the servicing dealer ^^^^^^^think they will honour it??? A= NO!!

Also , If you lay a spanner on it yourself , any comeback becomes nul and void.

Take photo's ie the sight glass , coolant resevoir (may be low due to the bike overheating / fan not operating) and disconnected fan wiring etc.
Write out a statement with date , time , occurence as accurate as possible.
Email DOCEP and submit photos as attachment with statement and brief description / facts as dialogue . (Have hard copy of statement witnessed /countersigned by JP)
Remain proffessional in your dialogue and DO NOT use any defamatory / slanderous remarks towards the dealer (hardest bit) facts ONLY!!
CC in the dealer principal in ..

Allow to simmer for a few days and await phone call from dealer , if no phonecall forthcoming , continue / actively pursue DOCEP.


How low was coolant? - checked at rad cap as well as resevoir/recovery bottle?
Brown oil almost undoubtedly due to the overheating..

Magic number is 120 degrees C' . If it reaches this temp even momentarily , damage HAS occured.

Trying not to play bush lawyer here but cover your ass for your own sake

You can get an independant test on the oil and coolant to check for over heating and contaminants. When the dealer replaces the coolant and oil ask for a small sample of the old fluids. There is a place in Sefton called Oilcheck. They are directly opposite the Sefton Hotel.They can give you a very indepth report on the condition of the engine in relation to the fluid.
Oil Check Pty Ltd
95 Clapham Rd
Sefton
9644 9100

I rung up Kelen's and spoke to their head mechanic. He's of the opinion that unless I can feel, hear, smell something wrong, then probably nothing is. It would be very nice to be able to force them to go forensic and check the heads and stuff but I've dealt with the ombudson before and I know I have no hope in hell of getting them to take any action without some form of proof that there is something worth looking at. I once had proof that a mechanic did not change a rusted radiator out as instructed. I got the money for the radiator back but no the money for the labour. So I don't think there is much more I can do other than what I have which is set her to iddle for a while, make sure she gets nice and hot and nothing starts leaking or anything.

Call to the department of fair trading will be very helpful if you wanna go down that route if something is wrong with your bike because of their negligence.