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Out ridin and suddenly bike loses power, starts smoking heavy. Quits all together when I come to a stop. Got it restarted and limping home and she's just not right. Seems to clean out then heavy smoke, power loss. Check my case oil level (it's the only other place the engine can get oil to burn) and sure enough getting lower and lower.

So I'm throwing myself at your mercy and asking...what the hell is going on???

Have I finally ate the piston? No funny noises just heavy smoke from the case.

Broke a ring?

Blown a seal in the case between the clutch case and crank case or are they linked already? In other words does the same oil in the clutch lube the basement? I hardly think so cuz you would not be able to use tranny fluid in there.

So any good ideas guys?

Case oil getting lower and lower? Hmmm..... must be leaking into the crankcase causing backpressure against the power stroke and blowing by the rings.

Originally I was thinking reeds...

Sounds like a crank seal alright. You can tell by the smell of the smoke - it stinks like buring oil, not premix.

I've ridden with someone with a bad crank seal: power loss, and smoky, stinky exhaust (kind of like bike BO, yer buddies don't wanna' ride close to you) . . .

interesting, though, how your's happened all of a sudden. I wonder if that's typical . . . anyone? (just curious).

I've always seen crank seals go slowly. I don't see why they could not also go south quickly or finally get bad enough to be really noticeable.
One of my buddies rode quite a while with a leaky crankseal. It smelled like one of my old cars, Castrol 20W-50 cloud

Make sure that vent tube from you crankcase to the airbox is not kinked or blocked. Long shot, I know.

OK thanx...sounds like there is a seal between the clutch and crank cases that has blown allowing clutch oil into the crank case (which is normally lubed by the pre-mix fuel)

Correct?

Does it require that the case be split?

Again...Thank you everyone.

Wazowski

Yep. Time to split the cases - be sure and replace both seals, the flywheel side will cause an air leak when it goes. If the engine is high-time, you might want to replace the crank bearings and countershaft bearing too while you're at it, just as a precaution. If you have the resources, replacing all the case-shaft end tranny bearings is a good idea too, they aren't that expensive and it will ensure the working gear assemblies remain tight which reduces gear wear and play - The only KDX bearing that ever failed on me was a small tranny end bearing - and I caught it on a rebuild before it did any damage.

Regarding crankshaft seals and bearings. ALWAYS check for play in main bearings when you have a seal leak - likely the seal was worn out do to excessive slop developing in a crank bearing.

IdahoCharley wrote:Regarding crankshaft seals and bearings. ALWAYS check for play in main bearings when you have a seal leak - likely the seal was worn out do to excessive slop developing in a crank bearing.

Cool! Good info from all of you. We'll let you know what we find out.

Thanx again.

Waz

Finally got the engine out of the frame and into the shop. Apex Motor Sports wants 210 bucks plus parts. Should come to about 350 all told if nothing else is too wrong.

Only took a few hours of careful disassembly but it's a fairly easy job.

Can you believe Kawi actually uses the swing arm pivot bolt as a rear motor mount!?!?!?

Good thing it's not under a lot of load from the shock. I was sure it was going to be a real pain in getting the engine out of the frame because of it.

Whew!

Guess they have a few enginooing smarties at 'ol Ma Kawa.......

Got the bad news today.

Broken piston took out the cylinder and crank. Pin bearings took out seals.

Rebuild Crank $250
Replate sleeve $250
Replace piston $124.95

Changing out stock piston before all this happens...$PRICELESS$

By the time I pay this guy 640 bucks in rebuilt parts and labor and another 382 in gasket sets and something called a hot rod kit we are looking at $1022.75.

Good thing it's my nephews bike and not mine!

OUCH!

Just buy another motor. Isn't someone on here selling one I though?

If another motor is cheaper I'm game!

Hell I think he only paid 2000 for the whole damn bike!

Waz

was this a 220?

Colorado Mike wrote:was this a 220?

Yep...

gotta love those pistons that Ma Kawy says are perfectly fine.

This might interest you:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/KAWASAKI ... enameZWDVW

Curious...were you aware of the fabled 220 piston problems?

Note to everyone that hasn't 'fixed' their 220 yet: See? It's NOT a fairy tail (sic), it DOES happen, and if you haven't resolved YOUR imminent problem, you should.

Sorry to hear that yet another 220-rider got bit.

grump99 wrote:This might interest you:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/KAWASAKI ... enameZWDVW

Thanx, I'll consider it...