Hello new member here. Purchased a 2015 14r in June of 15. Coming up on 13,000 miles. My cooling fans are melting. Never had an issue with over heating whatsoever. Besides the smoked windshield everything is stock on the bike. Live in Tulsa, Oklahoma and the temps are not that bad here at all. What the heck could be causing this and why? Too close to the exhaust pipes? Pretty sure warranty will cover this but just replacing them will not solve the problem. Anyone seen this before? Thanks.

* Last updated by: doznkoz on 2/27/2016 @ 7:13 AM *

I can honestly say I have NEVER seen that before. Bad batch of plastic? The thermoplastic used is pretty tough stuff, really strange! Hope warranty does cover it, would love to hear what dealer says caused it!

Very strange...

I have been to Tulsa and it's hotter than hell in the summer. You are probably just used to it. The only cure for melting fan blades is replacing them with metal ones. Since Muzzy has gone belly-up, I would suggest buying any you can find as they may no longer be produced.

NEVER heard of that problem. I'd ask for new ones and replace. Maybe this was a one time happening. The exhaust may have gotten pretty hot during break in. have a look at other new 14R. I would think you would be able to see a difference in header proximity with a situation that severe.

I'm going two possibilities. I agree with Rkt, could be a defect in the plastic. Air is an excellent insulator, and you can put your hands within an inch of your running exhuast and it not become uncomfortable. So if it's something to do with exhaust then the plastic has to be defective.

My other thought is possibly some kind of critter. Maybe where your parking at work? Or where the bike is kept? Maybe there's a critter getting in there, or had gotten in there and thought... who knows...whatever they think sometimes. It's difficult to tell, but it doesn't relaly look melted. It looks more like scraped and scratched up.

Take a look at this picture...

I appreciate the quick feedback guys. I am also thinking it is a defect in the plastic. If you will notice especially in the first and third photo, the plastic shows signs of a centrifugal force while it is at a very high temp thus causing it to "stretch". So obviously this has happened while riding or they never would have kicked on to cause this "reshaping". The highest temperature I have ever seen on the display was 216 Fahrenheit while at a long red light. I park in my garage and no signs of critters at all. I work construction and never had an issue with critters there either. I have taken it to my local Kawasaki dealer here and they too have never seen this. They have yet to get it on the lift to diagnose but I will certainly post what they come up with when they do. This is my very first bike so please just bear with me. Thanks guys.

I have to agree with Vic. It doesn't look melted. It's kind of shredded. It looks like it was chewed on.

No matter what stick to the "clueless" story. If they replace them under warranty, well good. But my guess is it was chewed on. Especially that you work construction.

Centrifigal force couldn't have played any issue, those parts don't move. The middle picture looks like the edge has been shaved down. Think about using some pliers and tearing into that plastic. Usually plastic deforms and sort of "grows" instead of just breaking off. Some critter gets going all the sudden you've got a mess of plastic with real pattern. It's definitely not from your exhaust.

It could've happened in one day. Trying to understand why some animal does what it does, who knows? My concern would be other parts of the motorcycle. I'd give her a good looking over.

VicThing, the ends of the fan blades are molded into the wheel assembly on this bike. The entire wheel spins with the blades (one piece). If you will notice in photo #1 you can see a straight line in the plastic wheel where there should be a circular radius form. Heat did this, not an animal. Anyway gentlemen, I will let you know what Kawasaki figures out. Already made a request to them to locate metal fan blades if plastic is the problem.

Thanks for the correction Donk. Hopefully they'll cover it under warranty no matter what. Be interesting if they are able to determine a cause.

Maybe it was mice eating the fans and they didn't like the way it tasted so they tried cooking it?

When the fans are rotating the entire assemble get hot, raising the temp of the fan to about the same point. When the fans are turned after the engine is run and up to normal operating temp off a section of the fan is close to the headers. I would suspect something probably was assembled wrong allowing the fan to be to close to the the header and melting a section.

Rudy... I Wonder if it was teh same guy that assembled my clutch....

The distortion of the plastic definitely suggests a melting heat, the odd thing about the photos is the fact it is confined to small sections in different areas. The pattern of the melting and the stringy nature would indicate direct contact with a very high heat source.

I was born and raised in Oklahoma, and yes it does get hot there, but NOT that frigging hot!!!

'sled, the heat in Tulsa is just like the humidity here; if you live there you become accustomed. If you go there from a different climate, it's hell. The only city I've ridden in that was hotter than Tulsa was Little Rock. When your breath inside a closed helmet feels like air conditioning compared to outside air, it's frickin' hot!

* Last updated by: Danno on 2/28/2016 @ 6:42 AM *

Maybe we should all check our fans... who knows maybe this is happening more often than anyone is thinking.

I can't see any location on earth being a real factor here. What is hot temps for us means nothing to mechanical things. 100F? Think of it this way. An A/C system can still easily and efficiently cool at that temperature. What's the difference between 90 and 100 to it? Not much.

Considering exhuast temps are around 1000F 100 or 90 ambient temps aren't going to make the difference in melting plastic. That's like say you can't start a fire in 32F because it's too cold.

* Last updated by: VicThing on 2/28/2016 @ 7:35 AM *

I agree. I don't see location being an issue either.

Maybe we should all check our fans... who knows maybe this is happening more often than anyone is thinking.

No damage to the fan on my 2013 with 7000 miles

I follow the idea about ambient temp being a lot less significant than exhaust temp but the Gen1 14 was known to have some overheating issues in really hot desert tests. I had my stock exhaust actually backfire at low speed on a real hot day. I don't feel much heat off the bike in cool temps but when it's hot and I'm going slow, I feel it. I think the ambient temp might be a contributing factor.

Agree Pretty strange.

Is it possible there's an exhaust leak at the header and
it's just heating the shit out of it?

I don't know, just thought I'd throw that in.

I have been thinking the same thing piken. Hopefully this week they will have it diagnosed. Factory warranty until August of 16, after that I have a 5 year second party warranty. Those fans/motors are not cheap and you can't just purchase the blades either. One is $360.00 and the other is $430.00.

DAmn!!!$360 for a couple plastic fans!!! I'd check Ebay for something like that. Low bid if you don't find a real cheap price. I'm seeing many used OEM parts for a sixth of what they cost new. I hope this is covered by warranty.

Rook, that is the price for each fan. One fan and motor costs $360.00 and the other is $430.00. One is a bit larger then the other. Insane!

Is it poosible you could have spilled some brake fluid down there while servicing the clutch or brake M/C?
Plastic parts hate that stuff.

Mad