Head Replaced Under Warranty

[J.R.]

Just got my bike back after being in the shop for over a month.

I had been getting a slight smell of coolant occasionally while riding around. There always seemed to be other vehicles around, so I just attributed the smell to that. I purchased a Rostra crusie control to install in preparation for a road trip headed down to Key West next month. Got all the plastic off the bike I needed to, and saw the telltale greenish/white residue of a coolant leak down the block on the left hand side of the engine. Traced it back up to the lefthand most exhaust stud, where even more residue was. Put everything back together, and headed up to the dealer. Dropped it off and showed them what I could with the plastic on the bike. Got a call a couple days later saying there was a casting defect in the head causing the coolant to leak from the area around the exhaust stud, and Kawasaki would be covering the replacement of a head. Just over 10k miles on the bike. Crazy what had to be removed to get everything replaced. Rides great now though! Now to get the cruise installed...

[VirginiaJim]

 

[jwh20]

WOW!  Be thankful for that warranty!  The cylinder head itself is $2200!  I'll bet the total tab on this was at least $5000.

[roy826]

They should have just gave you a new motorcycle. Long term I can see the potential for other things to pop up due to this extensive repair so early on.

Good luck on down the road.

[J.R.]

They should have just gave you a new motorcycle. Long term I can see the potential for other things to pop up due to this extensive repair so early on.

Good luck on down the road.

I have the extended warranty, so I’m honestly not that concerned about it. I’ve bought several motorcycles from this dealer, so I have a good relationship with them. I’m confident they’d go to bat for me if there was something that came up down the road.

[maxtog]

I am glad it was taken care of, and in a fast and competent manner.  First post I have ever seen of a head needing replacement.  The C14 is pretty rock-solid, but no manufacturing line/parts supplier is absolutely perfect.  Throwing such a long, end-to-end warranty (3 years) on a motorcycle already shows their confidence and offering an affordable option to 9 years even more so.  If they weren't making good stuff, they would lose their shirt in no time.