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oil pressure vn 2000 - 2008

7K views 17 replies 12 participants last post by  The Heater 
#1 ·
Hey,

I have a vn2000 classic 2008 and i'm the first owner. All the maintance is done at a recognized Kawasaki dealer.

After driving it for 25000 km one of the campshafts has totally disapeared. Non of the oil canals was blocked. My dealer says that it is a hardening error.

Kawasaki admits and pays for all the materials but not for the labour.


Than we find out that also the oil pressure was musch to high. As a test we meassured another VN2000 and by this one the oil pressure was to high as well.

We communicated this to Kawasaki Japan and after 7 weeks they gave us the answer that they have doubt about the possibillities this is through and say it must have been a meassurement error of the kawasaki dealer. (He has been a qualifited exclusive Kawasaki dealer for the last 35 years).

When my motor is fixed next week Kawasaki Holland is going to take a new measurement.

My guestion to you all, Does anybody know about any problems with a high oil pressure? Or the combination between broke/disapearing campshafts and a high oil pressure at the vn2000?
 
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#2 ·
You would think high oil pressure would be good, short of blowing out seals or the filter. Except... If it is due to a blockage restricting flow. Depending on the location of a blockage, it could starve certain areas of lubrication (and cause the demise of cams).

Woody
 
#5 · (Edited)
Not necessarily.

A "typical" relief valve has pressure override. IOW, if the amount of oil dumping over the relief is more than expected then the pressure is higher than expected, potentially quite a lot higher depending on the characteristics of the system.

A cause for that could be as Woody eluded to. Restricted oil flow somewhere could/would cause higher flow over relief causing higher pressure override.

I deal with a fair amount of hydraulics and typically the relief pressure is at cracking pressure. Cracking pressure is with a small amount of oil flowing through the relief valve. Something like 1/2 to 1 GPM isn't unusual. However, if there is say 5 GPM going over relief, the pressure could/would be considerably higher.
 
#6 ·
Hmm...

it's a known fact that if you put to much oil in these V2K, it will vomit it out on your pipes.

Seems like if there was to much oil pressure, it would be just like having to much oil in there, and the oil would start to get blown out.
 
#7 · (Edited)
There again falls back to the blockage theory right? If it is restricted to the point of building up pressure, it might be restricted to the point of not being able to overflow out.

I'm with those guys. Too much oil, or too much oil pressure, could cause problems but losing a cam doesn't seem like one of them to me. A blockage to the top end could cause oil pressure to increase AND be starving the top end. That's also probably some of the smaller oil passages. My uneducated unresearched guess as to the oil blowing out the pipes is that perhaps it comes from the top end as well (around/through a breather around the exhaust valves or something?) I mean I'm purely guessing, but if that IS the case, then that still fits with why the pressure wasn't being relieved through whatever breather or valve or whatever allows the excess oil to come out of the pipes.

To answer the OP's question, anything out of spec is, quote-unquote "bad". It itself may or may not be a big deal, but if it's out of spec, it could indicate an issue elsewhere and the cause of such should be determined. I wouldn't leave anything alone that is outside of the manufacturers spec, without at least determining WHY.
 
#10 ·
The relief valve of a vulcan 1600 has to work at 4,5 bar. When the relief valve of the vn 2000 has to work is niet discribed in the owners manual. By comparing those two the 1600 is much smoother. A new relief valve for the vn 2000 works the same as the one that is in allready. Looks like the relief valve for the vn2000 is not able to do it's job on time!

Anyone measured his own vn2000 for oil pressure? I'am curious of their is a colllective problem.

My problem started with acceleration, started holding back and backfiering.

We find out about the oil pressure before we knew about the problem with the cam.

When the new cams are in we will measure the oil pressure again.
 
#12 · (Edited)
The relief valve of a vulcan 1600 has to work at 4,5 bar. When the relief valve of the vn 2000 has to work is niet discribed in the owners manual.
No, but it is in the service manual:

Oil Pressure Measurement
Oil Pressure @2 000 r/min (rpm), Oil Temperature 90°C (194°F)

127 ∼ 167 kPa (1.3 ∼ 1.7 kgf/cm², 18 ∼ 24 psi)

If the oil pressure is much lower than the standard, check the oil pump, oil pressure relief valve, and/or crankshaft bearing wear and con-rod big end bearing insert wear immediately.

If the reading is much higher than the standard, check the oil screen first, and the oil passages for dirt or clogging. Also, replace the oil filter.
 
#13 ·
Its very simple . If there is oil on your air filter, you are overfilling the oil.
If your camshafts are wearing out , they are not getting oil. BAD.
Why is your rod bearing NOT wearing out?
You need to make darn sure those oil passages are open or you'll be right back in the shop.
 
#14 ·
It seems to me that labor should be there exspence as well if the cam wore out due to a hardening error. Thats a defective part, right? Be he same thing if your cooling fan ddnt work because of a improoperly install bearing in the fan motor when assembled I would think.
 
#16 ·
Start with the easiest thing first, when you get the engine all back together put a brand-new oil filter on it and run the engine and test oil pressure.

If that does not fix it then you have a problem somewhere that's clogging an oil passage beyond the pressure regulator.
 
#18 ·
Anything is possible, but I doubt the camshaft issue is related to the high oil pressure. I tend to agree with your dealer that the camshaft is just a bad production product. Maybe hardening. Most likely that is the issue in my opinion.

I have owned a few cars that had "soft cams" and all of the models made that year or sometimes multiple years with that engine had camshafts that had the lobes flatten after so many miles. You just replace it with a new non defective one and the problem is solved.
 
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