servicing /cleaning KIPS

[bac]

I'd like to check out the KIPS valves on our recently acquired 89 but would rather not remove the cylinder. The manual says to do so but from one post I saw here that may not be required? Is removing the head enough to get the valves out and cleaned? and is just removing and cleaning the valves really the only critical work - IOW is it necessary to completely disassemble the whole system?

I did the whole nine yards on a 95 kx125 a few yrs ago and it appears the kdx is similar so I'm not 'afraid' of the work but would like to avoid if possible.

[bac]

sorry, i meant to post this to the E model section. Admin can this be moved?

[bac]

so I decided to just start in on this by taking the tank and pipe off, figuring I could at least see into the cyl. I'll make a separate post for what I found in the pipe.....

what I discovered was that the left and right side valves are not open or closed the same as each other. The RH appears to be operating correctly while the LH looks to be timed wrong- it's not closed with the rod in all the way nor is it open with the rod pulled out.
Also, after reading the manual more carefully, i think the one valve can be removed and timed WITHOUT removing the jug, only the head. Seems that only the main valve requires removing the cyl (?)

BTW I'm calling left and right per the side of the bike rather than from my view looking into the exhaust port.
Call me a boomer, it's accurate in regards to tech- the pics are rotated 90°. the top one ccw, the other cw. in the RH valve pic you can see the rough casting of the transfer port.

[KDXGarage]

is that a crack in the last picture?

[bac]

I think (hope) it's just a bump in the casting but I'll definitely take a closer look!

[bac]

had a bad feeling this is what I would find. as I tried to get it timed correctly it wouldn't 'catch' the operating rod. apparently the PO figured he would just rotate it to the remaining good teeth and that would work. UGH!

[Goat]

Oh man. That looks like you found it. Sorry!

[KDXGarage]

Sorry it's like that. They do require some maintenance, which the previous owner(s) did not do.

Look on eBay for BDK Engineering. They make new subvalves.

[bac]

bike saw very little use over the past several years and from what I found in the pipe was never 'rapped out' (as we used to call it) leading to lots of carbon build up. bad combo with never opening it up to clean the power valves.

on the bright side i did find a new one on ebay (with free shipping!). on the not so bright side I now have no choice but to pull the jug so as to thoroughly clean it out.

[KDXGarage]

At this point, "not having to pull the cylinder" thinking needs to be put in the garbage can by that chewed up power valve. :-)

[Goatfish]

One of mine looks the same with the teeth worn away. I am very tempted to buy the steel ones but before I do I was wondering if this is a horrible idea or not:

Cut the gear, rotate the teeth to the fresh side and tig it back together?

[bac]

two things : the teeth have to be oriented just so to the cut-out (the exhaust path) and secondly the whole thing (after welding) needs to be dead straight.

time and effort wise doesn't seem worth it but then again you have nothing to lose!

I found a new oem piece on ebay so that's what I went with.