Vaquero intake leaks

[RACNRAY]

Thi is the post detailing the results/improvements after the intake leaks on his Vulcan were fixed.

"I finally got to ride my bike after i got home from work. What i have found is the overall smoothness of how the engine runs, idles, is better than the day i bought the bike. My decel popping has decreased by atleast 50 percent and im sure a good fuel processor will take care of the rest. Im not really thrilled with mt FI2000 due to lack of tuneability. The throttle response is very crisp compared to the way it was before. The bike also had what i refer to as a cough from the day i bought it. I had the ECM replaced under recall and in my opinion it actually ran worse than before i had it changed. The "cough" would happen at any given time when rolling on the throttle and would basicly pop back through the intake. From what i can tell by riding it the other day is its now gone after i made the repairs. The bike runs great. I didnt want to believe that my brand new bike had a vaccum leak but i definitely did after some simple testing. Anyone experiencing decreasing perfomance, poor idle quality, excessive decel popping backfing, i would recommend looking for vaccume leaks because they may be there just like Racnray and myself both have found. Its only a matter of time before more and more of these start showing up."

His performance/driveability improvements mirror mine. I know of a few other members that are planning to check their skoots for vacuum leaks, so we'll wait to hear their results.

RACNRAY

[element80]

Originally Posted by RACNRAY

Thi is the post detailing the results/improvements after the intake leaks on his Vulcan were fixed.

"I finally got to ride my bike after i got home from work. What i have found is the overall smoothness of how the engine runs, idles, is better than the day i bought the bike. My decel popping has decreased by atleast 50 percent and im sure a good fuel processor will take care of the rest. Im not really thrilled with mt FI2000 due to lack of tuneability. The throttle response is very crisp compared to the way it was before. The bike also had what i refer to as a cough from the day i bought it. I had the ECM replaced under recall and in my opinion it actually ran worse than before i had it changed. The "cough" would happen at any given time when rolling on the throttle and would basicly pop back through the intake. From what i can tell by riding it the other day is its now gone after i made the repairs. The bike runs great. I didnt want to believe that my brand new bike had a vaccum leak but i definitely did after some simple testing. Anyone experiencing decreasing perfomance, poor idle quality, excessive decel popping backfing, i would recommend looking for vaccume leaks because they may be there just like Racnray and myself both have found. Its only a matter of time before more and more of these start showing up."

His performance/driveability improvements mirror mine. I know of a few other members that are planning to check their skoots for vacuum leaks, so we'll wait to hear their results.

RACNRAY

Isn't this something Kawi should fix?

[RACNRAY]

Originally Posted by element80

Isn't this something Kawi should fix?

YES!! Now that some of us have diagnosed intake leaks on our skoots, performed the necessary repairs and achieved performance improvements, somehow this info has to make it to Kawi, to actually someone there who gives a you know what to even start the process of Kawi investigating.

Back when i was a service (circus!!??) manager at a Kawi dealer we recieved factory directed modifications from Kawi for skoots that had certain problems. This issue would fall under the FDM as i have heard some peeps don't have vacuum leaks on their skoots.

Anyone with a running/performance issue should take this info to their dealer and have their skoot checked out. Hopefully this will help.

RACNRAY

[ponch]

Originally Posted by element80

Isn't this something Kawi should fix?

Only if they think it's enough of a problem. Unless it's a safety issue, manufacturers may play dumb and not acknowledge an issue. The question I have is, why is it a problem for some and not others? Is it design, manufacturing, environmental, idiopathic, psycho-autobirotaric or a combination? BMW has had issues with final drives for 10+ years. Only last month did the NHTSA open a case in spite of the complaints. Some estimate the failure rate for some models/years to be 4%. That's bad. Funny thing is, they made changes to the final drives over the years and the problem seems to have gone away. Back to Kawasaki, look up POG. Hopefully, if there is a real issue, they will address it.

[RACNRAY]

From what i have learned in the short time i have owned my Vaquero and been involved on a few Vulcan forums, i believe performance issues go back to the 2009 model and from what i have read, many peeps having stalling/poor running/ excessive popping on decel.

Kawi's original and current fix was to install under warrantee "upgraded?" ECU's that many commented not only did not cure whatever their particular complaint was, but fuel mileage suffered and some commented their skoots ran WORSE. Kawi has been throwing ecu's at a problem that has the source of it's affect elsewhere.

This is a very real problem on some but maybe not all skoots. As a 35+ year m/c mechanic I see the affect of mass production on a daily basis many times. There are so many allowable tolerances in the manufacture of all the components it takes to make one engine, that is a by-product of mass production. I read in a thread that the compression ratio on a torn down Vulcan was .4 LOWER than what Kawi specified, and that can only come from allowable variations in mass production.

As a dyno owner operator since 1993 i have ammassed over ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND dyno runs on various skoots, and one thing we do is dyno every single stock skoot b4 ANYTHING is done. The variances in power are sometimes HUGE and disappointing for an owner of a weak example. Case in point, the first generation Busa's have a peak power spread from 146 to 158, 12 H.P. on completely stock skoots! That's what they're building and that's what we get.

I should be recieving the intake system from an owner of a Vulcan that diagnosed intake leaks on his V tomorrow for our mod. I'll be able to take measurements, compare them to mine and have another example of mass production variations.

I'll post the results.

RACNRAY

[RACNRAY]

I recieved the intake parts and here is what i found. These parts are off a 2012 Voyager.

First, i could see where the right side o-ring between the t/b and manifold had not been making full contact. The manifold surface which is A MACHINED surfaced was very uneven, just as i found mine was, and had a very poor surface finish, with a "galling" pattern in the middle. Laying a straight edge across the surface revealed quite a bit of warpage-not good.

Second, there was the tell-tale signs of intake back-fires on the engine side of the manifold. Black soot on the edges showing where the backfires were escaping thru that sealed area. Out of curiosity i called the owner and asked if he had intake backfires, he said "yes ever since new".

I finished the parts today and will be sending them out next week.

I had a Vulcan owner stop by yesterday with complaints of severe exhaust backfiring on decel on his skoot with only 200 miles on it. The dealer is stumped along with the Kawi tech rep, so i told him to have the dealer service manager call me, which he did. I told the s/m of our findings and he said he would relay this to the tech rep and i might get a call from the rep. Hopefully this may help in getting the ball rolling with Kawi coming out with a FDM for those with performance complaints. We shall see.

RACNRAY