Hey guys, I was just wondering when everyone else changed their oil for the first time? I changed mine today at 200 miles, and the 14 is a lot easier to change than my 05 busa. Which I'm needing to do to. But my oil was a brown color , you couldn't see through it. It seemed pretty dirty for 200 miles. So I figured maybe its kawasaki break in oil? I thought at first kaw oil must be colored but the new kaw oil was nice an clear. Maybe my engine had a lot of sharp edges that broke loose in the oil. Or clutch material.. dunno anyone else see this? Thx

* Last updated by: Pete on 3/4/2010 @ 10:31 PM *

Any chips or pieces of stuff in the oil?Mine had some clutch pieces(TINY)chunks from the bands-but otherwise-ya..not clear.You're good.

I didn't see small pieces of anything. Just thought the oil was too dirty for just 200 miles. Glad I changed it early.
Thanks for the reply.

^^First runs on any engine will darken up the oil very fast regardless of whether or not you find engine shearing.

Recently broke in my G2 busa and that oil looked dark after running just 30 miles. I'm pretty sure the 14's first oil change looked unexpectedly dark too. The oil now darkens up after 2500 miles but always quite transparent.

I saw metal shearings in the first oil change on the 14 after 500 miles. Also the next few changes after that. They were visible in the bottom of the pan after emptying the oil. The busa had almost no flakes but that was because i changed the oil so frequently in the first 1000 miles. The oil never sat in the engine long enought to accumulate much shearing.

Thanks Rook, I guess I didn't notice the dark oil when I broke in my 05 Busa or it wasn't as bad.
For just 200 miles it was dark.
I went on a ride in 70 degree weather today on the 14 an just as I pulled up to the house, the fan kicked on. I backed it into the garage an shut it off. About 5 mins later it spit out about a half a cup of coolant on my garage floor out of the radiator
overflow next to the kickstand. After it cooled down the overflow bottle was about a half cup low.
Is this normal? The temp only went one bar over half way. I recently put headers on an had to drain the coolant but it took 99% of what I drained to fill it up so I don't think I had a air pocket, least not a big one. I worry what it will do on a hot day.
At speed the temp stays middle ways. Hope that's normal?
Thanks for all the help guys!

* Last updated by: Pete on 3/8/2010 @ 4:49 PM *

The G2 busa runs a lot cooler than the 14. The oil does not seem to darken up as much as the 14's oil. Maybe the G1 busa was cooler running too?

The ZX-14 temp gauge readings you are mentioning sound normal to me. My 14 runs at half way point in warm weather, 2 bars in cold (below 40 F air temp). 90 F days, it will go to 5 bars. Never saw all six lit up.

The overflow sounds strange so I would keep an eye in that. The motor heats up after it is shut down and the coolant stops circulating. I don't believe running the fan on a hot engine does a thing to cool it down if the coolant cant circulate. Don't worry yourself too much, i have heard of overflows before, but only a couple times. It could have been that your system was over full??? I keep my coolant 1/2 way between the marks on the reservoir and the radiator is full to the rim on a cold check.

It could have been a clog from the fuel over flow?? I had some waxy goop come out one time. There is also a couple other drain hoses down there for crank case, air box...I don't know what else. If the stuff that came out og your bike smelled like maple syrup, that's coolant.

Something is not right there, Pete. That upchuck on the garage floor is what might be causing the color to change like it's HOT!!

That radiator messing around needs a burping. I would pull the radi cap and check the level now. You can even start it with the cap off for a test. That test is to give a slight rev to the engine. It's cold so do not ramp up the speed of the hot pistons growing faster than the cylinder walls. Your eyes are looking to see that water drop lower as you rev the bike. The hotter the bike, the more the water will come out the filler neck on that expansion. The fast check is to let the bike idle for 3 minutes before you really set a 6 or 7k rpm at it. By that time, the water should be walking up the filler neck. So it's a quick test with the cap off to see the burp level.

That was one way of checking. Now a cold static way is to move the spring out of the way of the lower water hose at the water pump or the lower left radiator hose behind the fairing near the #1 exhaust pipe [you sitting on the bike for the far left side pipe] can be squeezed at that lower hose for burping purposes.

You purge the air out of there somehow because there still a bubble and/or still needs to be topped off, because the bubble may have self-purged on the garage floor. The thing is not to ride the bike until you have only water filled to that neck and not air in between.

Are you sitting down? You have the PAIR blocked, the exhaust on, and a radiator coolant service that found dark oil and coolant on the floor. You know if you cooked a head gasket, this job is on you? This might be nothing and you did not ride it far enough to damage the bike. I'm am not about to say, yeah it's cooked!

You did good by dumping the oil this soon. It can't hurt. The water purge to the floor is a wait and see. You know what to do and what look for now before the next ride out, right?

Thanks Rook and Hub! That's good advice. The coolant on my garage floor was a nice bright green. No oil.
I had just rode the bike about 30 miles on a 70 degree day with the temp gauge in the middle like normal. Surely in 30 miles any air pockets would have migrated to the top of the radiator. But ill double check to see if its full in the rad.
Yeah that would be bad if I have overheated the bike and blew a head gasket with only 240 miles an no warranty.
Like I said previously, it took 99% of what I drained out to refill it. An I bought a $9 quart of kaw coolant and topped off
the overflow reservoir.(between low an high marks)
I typed this on a cell phone from work. That's harder than putting headers on my bike.
:-)
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Dumb question here....WHERE did you see the coolant coming from?If I'm not mistaken...it's a closed system...meaning it can't escape the circuit unless something is not connected?(like a return hose from the reservoir?)Unless it can be forced out from under the cap at high pressure?IDK.Sounds strange alright.Mine has run up to "high" on the guage,and I've parked it like that.Never had any fluid come out.ONLY when I didn't get the CAP screwed ALL THE WAY ON.THEN it flowed from the rad onto the floor.The cap can be a bit touchy getting it locked on there securely.You are pushing down and turning till it seats aren't you?(it CAN tighten down and seem like it's on there)(the little 1/4 turn will NOT close the cap IME.)It can get slightly angled on there and "appear" to be locked on.Might want to check that.It should tighten,then turn a tad more till it seats.You can feel it seat as it hits the stops.You should not be getting fluid outside of the rad.

* Last updated by: blue07 on 3/9/2010 @ 10:53 PM *

Blue07 , The coolant came from the overflow hose next to the kickstand. I think the hose next to it is the gas vent hose. When I shut
the bike off the fan had just kicked on.but the temp gauge was on 3 bars. It probably went up some after I shut it off. I am
assuming pressure in the radiator went over 15 lbs or what ever the relief is on the cap when it spewed.or upchucked as Hub called it.:- ) I am betting I had a small air pocket from refilling the radiator. Is there a bleed screw ? I just don't think rocking the bike would get an air pocket out of the top of the head.
I will check the coolant level and see if maybe I didn't tighten the cap enough. Thanks for all the help.

Okay-it sounds like your reservoir was "maybe" overfilled(not "running out" overfilled),but enough to have the transferred hot coolant from your radiator push the reservoir level to the overfilled condition,causing it to end up going out the reservoir overflow tube.Nothing to worry about I'd say.Probably a one time event.Now she's most likely sitting where she's supposed to be!Voila!I wouldn't bother checking any levels now.Just ride and see where the temp goes.If it is steady about where it's supposed to be sitting on the guage give or take the riding conditions-then she's most likely corrected herself!Congrats!!!!If your temp guage is displaying a "normal" temp for your conditions-I doubt if you have a bubble in the line.She would definitely show an overheating condition,riding or sitting in traffic.

* Last updated by: blue07 on 3/10/2010 @ 2:06 AM *

Thanks Blue07, The hot spot thing on a aluminum engine had me worried. I'm going to take it for a ride today just to make sure. I remember the 50k aluminum Vega cylinders and I've built VW motors with 92mm cyls that warp easy from heat. I'd sure hate to do that to my new bike. It wasn't like a boil over..Just spewed less than a half cup of coolant on the floor. I'm still going to check the radiator cap to see if I got it tight and full. This was from the second time I pulled the rad and my headers loose. No coolant problem the first time..then I looked under the bike and the header collector was touching the oil filter. I had to loosen the bolts an scoot it away from the filter. Part of the reason I bought a complete header was the catalytic converter part of the header was about 1/8 in from the oil pan with no heat shield and the converter holds a lot of heat. And I wanted more hp and sound too :-)

Oh I looked at my oil drain pan and there was what looked like small clutch particles in the bottom.

* Last updated by: Pete on 3/10/2010 @ 3:39 AM *

Well I went for another 30 mile ride this morning... No problems so far...It didn't upchuck on my floor when I got home.. No funny sounds or white smoke from the exhaust...

Anyone know how the oil cooler works on the 14? That little silver cylinder on the LH front of the engine case?

Hey Rook, I read your Gen2 Busa to ZX14 comparision. Good review! Much better than the magazine writers do. Sounds like the new Busa handles a lot like the Gen1.

Well now I'm changing the oil in my busa. Thought id replace the header on it while I have the plastic off. I dented the pipe dropping off a curb that was higher than I thought. A friend at work gave me his stock exhaust an I had it powder coated Chrome about a year ago. All I lack is putting the plastic back on. I didn't drain the radiator. I'm gun shy now!

"I didn't drain the radiator"-I always say,"if it aint broke,don't fix it"(this does not apply to regular upkeep!)Glad yer 14's doin okay ....at least pop the frontend up if yer gonna go curb hopping!You Rednecks!!!!!

* Last updated by: blue07 on 3/13/2010 @ 12:19 AM *