Replaced everything and she's still broke...

[bornagainbiker55]

Help would be much appreciated, here's the story:

1999 Kawi 1500; clutch master cylinder blew the diaphragm about July. After getting it home I noticed the rear tire needed to be replaced and while everything was off the bike anyways, I replaced the factory “red” with a new blue. After gobs of work on the body and clutch, I had it back on the road. All in-town road tests were fine, and I decided to run a nice day trip (unsure if this is even related).

About 20 miles out she stalled. The starter kicked it back over in the breakdown lane and I was on my way, until about 30 miles further when it happened again. This time there was no bringing it back to life. I let her sit for about 8 hours, then ride back with a friend and jump-start her. She kicked over and had knock in the rear cylinder, shut her down and went and got my pickup. Once she was home in the garage I started the diagnosis.

The owner before me did all sorts of crazy inside the motor, upped the compression to 10:1, removed all the emissions stuff and who knows what else. My first thought was a bad spark advance / timing, but an adjustable CDI box proved that wrong. Replaced the battery, still starts only when jumped and only runs for a few seconds and stalls. Won’t start again for days. Tested compression and failed in the rear. Ok, something’s wrong on the inside. Take the motor out. Apparently the first guy used Permitex to seal the parts back up. Can’t find any bad valves, lash preventors or the compression release.

I gave up and bought a salvaged ’98 motor with 1500 miles on it, which the shop claimed ran and shifted just fine. Put that in and put the parts on to test it. Jumped it and it fired up and ran fine, YAY! So I put the trim pieces on and the exhaust and intake on. Jump her again, fires up and after 6 months I’m excited for a road test. She stalls out. Now she won’t start again, just like before. Except this time I’m on a different engine all together. All I can see that I haven’t replaced yet is the carb, exhaust, fuel pump, radiator, and non-moving parts.

Is there something I missed? Where do I look now, or is a visit to the dealer in order? Kawi techs are telling me $3,000 could get her road worthy again, and she’s not really worth anything as is…

Anyone want a half disassembled 1500 with 27500 on it? ;)