Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

many ppl told me to contact kwaka aus to see if they could shed some light on why my bike broke down, i sent them an email explaining what happened, asking for second opinion.. here's the emails..

From: T James
Sent: Thursday, 8 February 2007 6:32 AM
To: Kerrie Bates
Subject: Re My Z1000 problem

My name is Tanya James, and I own a 06 Z1000 with 14,000km on the odo.



About a month ago, I was about to ride my bike to work, it started, ran for a second, stopped and refused to start again.



I had it towed to my regular Mechanic, and he found the bike to have no compression in cylinders 1 and 4, and small amount in 2 and 3, so to not void my warranty he did nothing else to it and I rang Pro Kawasaki to come collect it.



I got a call later on in the day, they've sprayed crc down it, changed the plugs and now it goes.

The theory they put forward on why it stopped was that I'd washed it, water had got in, corroded valves, that's why they seized and bike stopped, so therefore it wasn't warranty problem and I got charged. I've been asking to try to find other people's opinions on why it stopped, one theory is that due to me doing mainly short around town trips the valves carboned up, and another is that there's an oil flow problem to the valves.



None of these theory's explain why all 4 valves suddenly stopped working when I'd ridden it a week earlier and it was fine, but it does seem to be rattly?



Hope you can help me, I really want to know why the bike stopped, is it a bigger problem and is it going to happen again? At the moment I just don't want to ride it as I don't trust it.



I haven't had the bike a year yet, and up to now I've absolutely loved it, but at the moment I don't even want to look at it.



Looking forward to hearing from you,

Tanya James





I can't copy his email as there's a confidantiality clause on the bottom, he basically copied word for word what pro kawasaki said, and accused me of using a high pressure washer on it.

Here's my reply..

I'm sorry Jeremy but my bike is washed using a spray bottle and water, and most of the time not even that, I use meguairs quick detailer. I really don't see how water has got down the plug holes, that is why I questioned the verdict. The only time a high pressure washer has gone near it was when it's has been washed after servicing (twice) and once I used it about October last year, and then I was extremely careful. If you'd read the email, you would have seen that the bike hadn't been washed for 3 weeks, and I'd ridden it since. And please explain exactly how all four valves play up enough to stop at exactly the same time?? Forgive my ignorance but they are separate items, wouldn't they get water differently? And why start, run then stop.

I wanted an unbiased opinion, not a rehash of what Pro Kawasaki said. I've asked about 50 people about the bike stopping (all of them either mechanically minded or in the industry) and they all said to contact Kawasaki for a second opinion, to see if they knew of anything that might have caused it.


Don't get me wrong, Pro Kawasaki were great in the speed that they picked the bike up and got it going, that was greatly appreciated. All I'm questioning is the why it stopped.

It was rattly before it stopped, after it was going it was quiet again... Now it's rattly.. Is it going to stop again? Does the rattling have anything to do with it??

I suggest you talk to an unconnected mechanic with the facts and then get back to me..


I got a reply back saying as the bike has pipes and power commander my warranty is void anyway, and that I had a problem with pro kawasaki and they want no more to do with the matter. Also that pro kawasaki are the only people's who opionions they take any interest in, or I can get the bike assessed at another kawasaki dealer (which I will)


Nice hey.. last Kawasaki I ever buy..

That's crap I could only begin to imagine how you feel

Sorry to hear it Tan

sounds like they are giving you the avoid waranty duck & weave to me . hope you get it all sorted out to your satisfaction .

Two words Tanya, CONSUMER AFFAIRS.

This is a very amateurish and political response from a major company.

Do Kawasaki really operate in this country or has it been outsourced to Centrelink?

+1 for consumer affairs.

JERKS

Quite a few years ago I had some work done on an engine - and the engine disintegrated the day after I picked it up. Actually, that was a week after I picked it up the first time. The first time I got it, it blew smoke the whole trip home. So I returned it, it was "fixed" and then I took it again. Anyhow...

I had the car towed to my mechanic to find out what had happened, he pulled the rocker cover gasket off and found lots of broken bits...I told him to do no more. Editing the details, what I did then was to get the engine inspected by an RACQ engineer and got a full report. That was worth every cent, and made all the difference to my case.

I don't know if they do bikes (though they should), but it wont hurt to give them a call to find out.

Pipes and PC shouldn't make that kind of difference, but it certainly could mitigate and damages they would have to pay in a claim...

That is the only reason I would consider switching manufacturers, the service.

I hear Yamaha are fantastic at after sales service, maybe Kawasaki should take a leaf out of their book.

Take it further Tanya, that is really poor.
Take it to the dept of Fair trading..
and if your really keen send something into notgoodenough.com.au
Although a 2nd, professional, written opinion should be the next step.

Did the Kawasaki shop fit the pipe and power commander...?

I've just come back from another Kawasaki dealer, and the guy I spoke to agreed that the water theory is highly unlikely. I have to ring back during the week to talk to the head mechanic about it as he wasn't there, to see if he's heard of it happening before, and if he'll back me up with it.

I dont want much, I just want to know why the bike stopped, I'm not sure why they think it's such a big deal and are so into blaming me.. A little customer service here would go a long way

The power commander was fitted by a Suzuki dealer as they had a dyno, the pipes were fitted at pro kwakka during my lunch break by myself and a workshop guy.

Thats a Bugger Tanya, But i'd be surprised if the other Jap brands would treat you any better. They never did when i had an issue with their bikes. Spewie was the worst i've dealt with for warranty issues.
Hope you get some satisfaction just the same.

A 10R has been on my shopping list for a while, so I registered here to stay abreast of all things green. I gotta say that I'm a little concerned about the number of threads I've seen regarding seemingly poor customer service from Kawasaki Australia. In particular, their reluctance to honour warranty claims.

Maybe someone should start a thread containing some good news about Kwaka Oz. (world's shortest thread ?)

Adding pipes and a commander doesn't void your warranty. It simply means that any problems these items may cause are not repairable under warranty.

Good luck with this Tanya.

"good news about Kawasaki oz"
* They claim to sell kawasaki's

Whitey wrote:A 10R has been on my shopping list for a while, so I registered here to stay abreast of all things green. I gotta say that I'm a little concerned about the number of threads I've seen regarding seemingly poor customer service from Kawasaki Australia. In particular, their reluctance to honour warranty claims.

See Ponti's response above. They can all be as bad as each other. Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if the motorcycle distributors were as incestuous as every other industry... ie. there's a finite pool of about a dozen warranty dept managers, and the importers for all the major motorcycle manufacturers just keep swapping them amongst themselves, so the guy who tried to knock back my claim for cracked mounting screw holes on the seat cowl on my R1 back in 2001 while he was at Yamaha is actually the same guy who's now trying to fuck Tanya over...

...yet another reason why I'm a compulsive buyer of random spares and why my bikes never see the inside of a workshop. The entire industry is too full off fuckwits to bother with.

The sooner we can buy bikes in the crate direct from Kawasaki Japan the better. Let the useless middlemen starve.

thats bullshit...id go further..if CA cant do anything (ussually not much) or fair trading or sum1..is it woth whinging to ACA/today Tonight and seeing if they can publicly shame them into sumthin??

good luck tho... hope it gets sorted...