Using oil

[ray2]

When you check your oil do you screw the dip stick in all the way?

[tomrtrd]

yes i do

[mbarr10]

Thats what im worried about, I already had it Ivanized.

You should not have to worry about it. Normally they try everything to not pull a motor. that is the only reason I even mentioned it. Any dealer that knows of Ivan usually does not have an issue with it. (So I have read many times).

Let us Know what happens

[Snake Ranch]

Originally Posted by tomrtrd

Hi everybody, I have a 2012 Voyager with 24,000 miles and it's using oil . I have it at the Kawasaki dealer right now because it's still under warranty.
I bought it last March with 20,000 miles . When I got it it had fresh oil in it, I doubt the dealer would have put synthetic oil in it but after 2,000 miles I was down a quart, 1,000 miles after that another quart. After that I changed the oil and I put in Mobile 1 synthetic 10w40 motorcycle oil . About 750 miles I'm down another quart. The Dealer is blaming the synthetic oil for the problem. I haven't read anything about burning oil with synthetic anywhere on these bikes.
I live in New England and when it started getting cold the bike would tick very loud after it sat overnight. No matter how long I let it idle it would tick for at least 15 minutes of very light riding. The ticking, the Dealer says is normal for this engine.
I've read that these engines do tick but i don't know to what extent. The oil burning, I haven't heard of on this bike. Any ideas?

Good morning,

Two cents of thought.

First....If they are going to point their finger at an oil, the burden of proof rests on them. They have to prove that it's the oil being used causing the oil consumption before they can deny warranty.

There is a law that governs this sort of action on the dealers part. You don't have to prove that it isn't the oil.

Second.... Yes it's probably the HLA's. But you need to video with good sound the times it happens.

Then you contact Kawasaki directly and speak to customer service. Explain the problem. They will want a copy of the video.

There will be a process to resolving this issue.

A leaky HLA is not an issue if it pumps up promptly. But your description indicates it is more sever.

My skoot would do this every day on cold days.

There were times I could let it idle for about 25 minutes and the lifter clatter would not go away. The engine would heat up till the fan would kick off and on for that 25 minutes. I would have to rev the engine up to about 2000 rpm for a few minutes before the lifter would pump up.

I asked the customer rep at the factory how many motorcycles they expected to sell if these engines had a reputation of clattering like this.

The HLA's were replaced under warranty. And there was an oil galley that was drilled out to allow more oil flow.

Remember: the purpose of the HLA is to eliminate the valve lash and to eliminate adjusting the valves.

When you hear a clatter form your engine, there are parts that are coming together in a way that they are not designed to.

Another thought is to make sure you use the correct viscosity oil for the temperatures you ride in most.

[Onlydad]

Many quality responses here most recently by Snake Ranch above, I'm not going to try to confuse things. The dealers reasoning about changing from conventional to synthetic oil has some credibility however I don't believe it's causing your missing oil problem. His thinking is that after running conventional oil for many years/thousands of miles the seals become impregnated with carbon, by switching to synthetic oil (no carbon) it actually sucks the carbon from the seals thereby causing a leak, but you don't have a leak, you have disappearing oil, basically try to stick with whatever oil and try to avoid switching back and forth. He's arguing that by changing the oil to conventional and running it for a while it'll carbon back up and solve your issue.
But you're using/losing a lot of oil and apparently it's not dropping on the floor. In my humble opinion you have a problem not caused directly by oil switching worthy of some sort of warranty related servicing. If you're able, why not have him change the oil and check it thoroughly, then take it for a hard fast 700-1,000 mile ride over a weekend, by his argument you should have lost no oil, if you have lost oil he has a warranty issue.. My simple thoughts, good luck..

[tomrtrd]

I would love to but I live in Massachusetts and I can make it on short rides but it's to cold to go for long rides and I stop riding when it starts to snow. I will have to wait til April to start riding again . Hopefully I can get some riding in before it gets warm. I dont want to be without the bike all next summert.

[tomrtrd]

As of today,the dealer said they put in a claim to rebuild the motor to Kawasaki .

[Chuck A.]

Maybe they will take care of it. A happy customer is the repeat customer.

[mbarr10]

tomrtrd Just glad you are getting some solutions, I hope it all works out. A rebuild should do it I hope. then you can get back to what you wanted all along, RIDE. The bright side is it should be fixed during the down season. I waited a month during the ride season once, it was not a good year. Good Luck

[tomrtrd]

Thats what im hoping for. They have had the bike since the end of November.