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About done with Kawasaki

7K views 34 replies 16 participants last post by  Allen D 
#1 ·
Some of you may be aware of the ordeal I had over the last year getting the bike rebuilt after hitting a deer in April of 2015. The process was long and frustrating due to poor communication and Kawasaki's endless list of back ordered parts... Well a couple months ago, we finally got the last pieces of the bike changed and it finally came back home again, this time, it was done right.

In the mean time I hadn't spent any additional money on the bike because I wasn't sure it'd ever be right, so I waited. Once I got it back and I was comfortable I started doing some of the upgrades I had wanted to do and liked many of them...

All the while this debacle was going on my warranty was about to expire and I was sent the extended warranty offer but sadly didn't take advantage of it because I really had no confidence the bike would be done right and I would keep it. Well, on 5/20/16 my warranty expired and along with it went the extended warranty option.

The bike was finally done in July and I thought everything was great, better than new really. So I thought.

This past weekend was my annual ride weekend with a couple buddies. We were meeting at a cabin about 275 miles from here so I decided to ride there instead of trailering. Again, the bike rode great and had zero issues getting there...

Once we got to the cabin we chilled for an hour or so and started off on our first ride of the weekend. Less than 4 miles into the ride, not one but BOTH rear shocks blew out... Oil was everywhere and my bike was like a damned pogo stick. After examining the issue, I limped the bike back to the cabin and parked it.

Not long ago I put progressive 430's on the rear but wasn't too thrilled with them and put the stock air shocks back on but still had the 430's. So my buddies and I road tripped it back home to grab my progressives and my motorcycle lift and headed back to the cabin. Meanwhile we lost a great day to ride but I felt fortunate I had other shocks, was close enough to home to get them and had friends willing to go along.

Start Friday am with a quick replacement of the rear shocks and off we went riding. We only got about 300 miles in and 2 states due to the late start but the bike did great despite still not being in love with the progressives.

Most of Saturday was a bust due to rain but we did manage to get 80 miles or so in that evening and again the bike did great.

Sunday morning we were going to head out for a short ride before heading home but one buddies bike wouldn't start so we decided to pack up and head home.

Despite getting caught in a little rain here and there I made it to Nashville with no issues. I needed to stop for gas before home and when I went to leave again this is where the issues really began...

The shocks were ok and doing their job however when I turned the key and hit the starter I heard a few clicks and my whole bike went black. No electricity AT ALL!

Fortunately I saw a roadside incident assistant at the gas station and he got the bike jumped and off I went. Again the bike did great the rest of the way home. As I pulled into the drive and hit the kill switch, again my bike had no electricity, NONE!

Not once has my bike showed any issue with the charging system or the battery but all of the sudden something is dead and I'm fearful it's the stator...

Here I am, 3 months out of warranty, no extended warranty and really I only had 2 years of riding under warranty, due to the issues with Kawasaki and getting parts, and my bike has fallen apart in one weekend.

I'm so frustrated right now I want to shoot my bike. I should have let them total it in the first place.
 
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#2 · (Edited)
You did have the option of getting the extended warranty. How many things went wrong with the bike that cost you money while it was under warranty?
 
#5 ·
I'm going to just forget your first post and address this one...

Sadly, not once was there ever any warranty work done on my bike. It's good and bad, good I didn't need it but bad that while I had it, it wasn't utilized and now it's gone.

Any work that's been done on my bike was mostly insurance work and one recall that didn't coincide with warranty issues.

I'm irritated at the whole situation and mostly at me for just t pulling the trigger on the extended warranty even with the circumstances. T shocks only had 16,300 miles on them an were all put on by me and I know the bike wasn't abused so it seems very premature for them to even wear out let alone just completely explode.
 
#3 ·
Right after I bought my Voyager, literally 20 miles from where I bought in the hinterlands of Michigan, I needed to fill it up.
Pulled up to the pump and filled up. Went to start and nothing. Not even a light etc.... Bike was a couple of years old with 2200 miles on it.
I dug down to battery with a swiss army knife McGyver style and found the negative terminal had worked it's way loose.

Hopefully that's all you have. That or the harness under the tank that chafs.

Gary
 
#6 ·
Gary, yeah I was hoping that too and looked everything over really closely and all was good. I put the charger on the bike all nigh and woke up to a still very dead battery. With the charger on the battery posts just right I could get electricity but barely however, when I went straight to the battery cables, full power.

I took the battery to Napa as well as the dealership to have tested and both confirmed the battery was putting out virtually nothing. It seems it was simply a battery that had given it's last breath.

I have never experienced a motorcycle battery die like that so I never even considered it was the issue. Car batteries give the tell tale signs of dying like slow starts, dim lights before the motor is running etc... This thing was A-OK to start the bike in the AM and 2 hours later flat dead...

New battery is down in the garage charging, here's to hoping that's all it was...
 
#4 ·
Allen, I hope this will be a simple and cheap fix. Were your shocks replaced after the accident? Seems strange that they'd both fail at the same time. Or least to me it's strange, but I'm not a mechanic. For the most part, I've always declined extended warranties. If I keep this bike, I may decide to get one. Good luck.
 
#7 ·
Thanks Glenn, yeah it's a bit odd to me too. The dealership mechanics had nothing to say, they'd never seen it before. From what I'm gathering there is no rebuild for them...

Nothing was replaced on the rear of the bike, all damage was contained to gas tank and in front.

I have the 430's on there still but would like air ride back. I'm going to call Kawasaki again tomorrow to see if they'll be of any help.

On to looking at other rear shock options.
 
#8 ·
Sorry to hear about your problems. Maybe the impact caused a problem not seen by the mechanics. Also, 300 miles and two states? I would take me most of the day just to get out of Texas.:grin2:
 
#13 ·
Thanks... It' unlikely but possible that there was some unseen damage to the rear shocks. Fortunately I still had my progressive 430's so the bike is still usable.

Ha Ha, that's true. We were in the southern part of Illinois just 20 minutes from Missouri so that helps, LOL. Technically the entire trip touched on 4 states, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois and Missouri.
 
#9 ·
Have you checked the:

IGNITION SWITCH WIRING INSPECTION--Kawasaki Motors Corp., U.S.A. has determined that a problem which relates to motor vehicle safety exists in 2009-2015 Vulcan 1700 Voyager, Voyager ABS, Vaquero, Vaquero ABS.
 
#14 ·
This has been checked 2x and the most recent time was when it was getting the new frame put under it a couple months ago. There was never any signs of wear but, as per the recall, they installed the protection kit Kawasaki made available.
 
#10 ·
Actually, the bike running, then clicking completely dead; sounds more like a connection than charging system. First off, you should get a warning light if the charging system has failed.

Remove the battery cables, and scuff the cables and battery terminals with some sandpaper to clean them. Reinstall, and see if the issue persists. Get a multi-meter, and look at the charging system voltage. Kawasaki says 13.5-15v is "in range". So run it up to about 2,000 RPM's, and if it's within range, your charging system is just fine. It may also just be a bad battery; not unheard of if a battery sat, was allowed to get discharged, etc., while the bike was being rebuilt.
 
#11 ·
Not to threadjack too bad, but I Googled it and came away with no info. on what RPMs are required to charge the battery. I would assume that since the break-in RPMs are 2500 and below, that the charging would start below 2500, am I right?

The sales guy didn't know, and said that it should start charging at 3k RPMs, but if that's right, then the bike's battery would die before you could finish breaking in the engine.

Thanks,

-John
 
#17 ·
I have more scoot batteries just "stop functioning" than I have had the privilege of getting any type of warning. I normally get an Odyssey battery to replace every scoot battery that dies. They cost more but they last forever. Ten years and going on my trade in for the Voyager. Tried to find one last April for My Voyager, which had a dead battery about 3 hours after I got home from a Patriot Guard ride. But I have not found one for the Voyager. Every other motorcycle in the world but mine..... Sounds like trying to get goodie parts for it.... not much out there...
 
#18 ·
Electrical components just quit sometimes. How many of us have closed a door on a car and the dome light went out and never came on again for that door but works fine for the other doors in the vehicle. Same thing for a battery, hit the right bump and a peace of scale off of the lead bars brakes loose and falls between a +and-, dead as a hammer from now on no warning. Happens all the time, I wouldn't over think it.

The 1700 has a good tell for when the battery is getting tired. If the red charge light stays on for any length of time after start up replace it.

The shocks are a different story all together. I have never heard of both failing at the same time. Do you mind if I ask how you filled the air on the shocks and to what PSI?
 
#19 ·
I'm curious too. It's not very commonly reported that a shock fails, at least not around here.

I'm curious what sort of tool was used to fill them, too. Air compressors are notorious for wrecking air shocks.
 
#20 ·
My shocks were typically filled with my air compressor dialed back to 40 PSI max, which would only pump them up to 35lbs and very slowly. To be honest I'm not sure what the actual pressure was when they went but I can guarantee they weren't at max. The bike was a bit softer than I prefer, probably around 20-25psi.

Yeah the battery was odd. No extended red light on startup, no tell tale sign at all, just done.... Only rode the bike 1 time since replacing the battery and it started up like a champ every time I shut her down. Time will tell...
 
#21 ·
It specifically states in owners or service manual Big highlighted square on page 171 DO NOT RAPIDLY FILL THE SHOCKS OR OIL SEAL MAY BE DAMAGED. Shocks have a very small bladder and they are easily damaged by any rapid fill or overfill. Most low volume air shocks call for a zero loss pump which is similar to what HD requires. It's a low volume short stroke bicycle style hand pump with built in gauge. I have one and have set shocks upwards of 25PSI (max is 43PSI) Never had a problem. My guess is you nuked your shocks by using the compressor. Lots of threads on how to set air pressure on the forums.
 
#22 ·
I'm fully aware that the manual states that, hence the lowered pressure of my compressor. They have been filled that way for the entire time I've owned it without an issue. The dealership even fills them that way. When my compressor is set to 40psi, it will barely even fill the shocks to 40, let alone 43. Lowered pressure to ensure it cannot overfill them with a slow fill via a soft air trigger pull has served me fine for the life of the bike. Not to mention they hadn't been adjusted in quite some time.

Besides that, it wasn't the air bladder that blew, it was the hydraulic reservoir that went. According to Kawasaki, the 2 reservoirs are separate.

Something inside has failed and caused them to bottom out and blow out the seals. I heard 2 separate and distinct thumps within a half mile of each other, just after that I had hydraulic fluid everywhere and virtually no rear suspension. The previous 270 miles of 75-80 mph highway ride they worked just fine.
 
#23 ·
That's just so bizarre. For BOTH to fail... If you ever figure out what happened I'd love to hear about it.

I use a zero loss hand pump with mine. Even if I crank the pressure on my compressor way down I prefer to use the pump. I keep it in the saddlebag. I don't run anywhere NEAR that much pressure though, so it's easy. Even two-up and with the trailer I'm running 30psi.
 
#24 ·
Never ever fill the shocks from an air compressor because too much air is delivered. Besides that a compressor air gauge shouldn't
be counted on for being exact enough for such small increments. The electrical problem was a dead battery and to me, that should
have been the first suspect. I hate being too critical but it seems Kawi is getting too much blame. Again, that is only my humble
opinion.
 
#28 ·
Apparently you did NOT read the whole post.

First: As you would've gathered from my first post was I am irritated in general because of the length of time it took Kawasaki to get me parts to have my bike rebuilt resulting in almost a year loss of riding and warranty. Not buying the extended warranty is all my fault, not blaming anybody but I do wonder how many people would've shelled out another $700+ for a warranty when they were being told that they're not even sure a new frame will fix the issues remaining...

Second: You again should've seen where I explained that I didn't suspect the battery as I've never seen or heard of one failing like that before. I wondered but it didn't seem plausible. Once I got home and got the battery to the parts store and the dealership and they both conformed the battery was dead and explained how and why bike batteries die so rapidly it made sense and I ADMITTED it in another post.

Third: I have a variable pressure tire pump with a trigger. With the compressor dialed back to 40PSI on the valve, my compressor will barely even get to 40PSI and if it does it does it very very slowly in addition to a slow fill via a small trigger pull. Have you seen your dealership or mechanic fill your shocks? They most likely use a compressor as well.

Lastly: If you read my post at the bottom of page 2 you'd also have seen where my shocks weren't near over filled, they were in the 20-25PSI range.
 
#25 ·
Hey Allen I had a problem with my 15 voyager not charging and the dealer had to replace the stater. I also had a prestone leak out of the cylinder head they had to change and this spring I had a broken wire in the new stater they had to replace. Mine however is the only bike that Kawasaki Canada has ever had a problem with. At least that is what they keep telling me that no other voyager has ever been in for warranty. I know mine will be gone before the 4 year warranty runs out. Jim
 
#30 ·
Wow that's frustrating... Mine's been pretty reliable and the brunt of my frustration is in losing the time I did while Kawasaki finally got the parts I needed to put my bike back together again. Kawasaki USA keeps very few parts in stock it seems and Kawasaki Japan does not know the meaning of expedited or urgent, LOL. I can't count how many parts my bike needed that were on back order for months... In retrospect, I maybe should've let them total it and started all over...

Hopefully mine isn't the charging system, just a depleted battery.
 
#26 ·
I've had my OEM shocks apart, before I replaced them with aftermarket. There are no bladders inside them, just oil (which of course drops to the bottom) and air.

Yours have failed because they had too much pressure in them. 40psi is too close to the maximum 43, so one decent pothole would have found and exceeded their limit. Once the oil blows past the seals, they will no longer hold air (or oil).

Having attempted to improve the OEM shocks myself on both the Nomad and now the Voyager by replacing the oil with quality 15W - and now comparing that to the ride that aftermarket shocks can offer - I wouldn't hesitate to recommend you replace your OEM with a decent set of aftermarket shocks. Progressive and Works Performance both do reasonable off the shelf solutions, mine are Öhlins, put together by a bike shock specialist.
 
#27 ·
Peg way better explanation than what I had but net is they were over pressure. I read somewhere outside of the owners manual
nothing over 25 but can't find it. Once that first shock goes I would expect more stress on the second and that would explain why
they went one after the other.
 
#29 ·
[maximum 43, so one decent pothole would have found and exceeded their limit. Once the oil blows past the seals, they will no longer hold air (or oil).

Having attempted to improve the OEM shocks myself on both the Nomad and now the Voyager by replacing the oil with quality 15W - and now comparing that to the ride that aftermarket shocks can QUOTE=Peg;2541985]I've had my OEM shocks apart, before I replaced them with aftermarket. There are no bladders inside them, just oil (which of course drops to the bottom) and air.

Yours have failed because they had too much pressure in them. 40psi is too close to the offer - I wouldn't hesitate to recommend you replace your OEM with a decent set of aftermarket shocks. Progressive and Works Performance both do reasonable off the shelf solutions, mine are Öhlins, put together by a bike shock specialist.[/QUOTE]



I really don't know how they're constructed, all I know is Kawasaki said there are 2 separate reservoirs for air and oil and the seals for the oil must've blown. They told me to try to fill them with more air to see if they'll hold a charge so I can ride it..

Please show me where I said I had 40PSI in my shocks when they blew? I only said my compressor was set to MAX 40PSI and they were typically in the 35PSI range.

You should've also seen where I had tried aftermarket rears, Progressive 430's, but didn't really like them so the 430's went back on, for now
 
#31 ·
Not to beat this dead horse; but I still would avoid using the compressor in the future. PSI is sort of a useless metric when talking about different sized reservoirs. The volume of air can be completely different. In theory, you wouldn't ever have more pressure at the receiving end then coming out of the compressor; but the manual strictly says not to use a compressor So even if you had the compressor dialed down to 40psi, and only filled it to 25psi; I'd still really suggest using a hand suspension pump in the future. I mean it's your bike; no skin off my nose. But it's a worthwhile investment. If for no other reason than they fit in the side pocket of the saddlebag and can be used to adjust the suspension anywhere; not just at home. (Useful for me when camping, once I unhitch the trailer and want to let a little air out of the shocks). I know with my little hand pump, a few 'squirts' of air and she's at 25psi, very little resistance. Shocks blowing out isn't commonly reported here (that doesn't mean it doesn't happen), and having both blow out is just crazy. One must assume that there's a common thread here. Could be you got a dud, could be damage caused by debris, could be something the dealer did. But, it's worth entertaining that it could also have been the compressor; Kawasaki does specifically state not to use one, and instead to use a hand pump. Lots of dealers do things they shouldn't do; I don't think one dealer cutting a corner should be evidence for ignoring the engineers at Kawasaki. But, again, it could be entirely something else. So, there's that plea again to just consider dropping the $30 for the correct tool. It's nearly impossible to get the shocks set the same with a compressor anyway, since some pressure is let out when you remove the air chuck. Not so with a suspension pump (they are thread-on and zero loss).

But, anyway; it sounds like things are heading in the right direction. Hopefully, it all works out. Batteries are junk. When you buy the 'better' version of a battery, you're actually just buying a better warranty (most of the time). They come from the same small handful of lead smelting plants in China and that's about it. With a few rare (expensive) exceptions, all batteries are junk. Lithium batteries have real promise and are superior in every way; but they're pretty expensive.
 
#33 ·
Allen D if you are looking for a set of stock air shocks there is someone on the FB Vaquero Group that is selling a set. Check them out if you wish. You may get a good deal on them. Good luck.
 
#35 ·
Thanks, I'll see if I can locate them.
 
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