The pictures seen in the first post of this thread came from the shop, so here are my first pictures of the ZXR back home. I removed the side fairings in order to make some verifications, one especially (I will explain just after). So here we go :
The bike is in very good condition, no visibles signs of "bad treatment" on frame, engine or what so ever. Because I had a "big big big big f****** rain session" when driving the bike back home, I made a big chain cleaning with the help of an Ipone cleaner. Very good product I must say, and Motul grease. Sorry for the chain looking "wet" but it needed a good protection and greasing.
The rear damper looks good, but I don't know at all if this can be the original damper :
is it ? Is it an aftermarket damper ? If you have an opinion about this, you're welcome
I made around 600 kilometers back home with the bike and everything was fine ... until the very end
.
1/ Speedo cable broken :
I was driving the bike and check the speed, ok, then continues and 2 minutes later have a new speed check on the cluster and .... 0 kmh. Not very surprised as I know that Kawasaki speedo cables fail regularly. I had the same issue at 45 000 kms on my GPZ 500 S. Just go for a new cable that's all.
2/ Not so easy : rising engine TEMP 100 kms before the end
I was driving on the highway, 130 kmh, and no problems at all with engine temp since the very beginning. It was stable and low (first quarter). Suddenly, I saw the temperature rising slowly but ... surely. When reaching the beginning of the last quarter (I was not on the top RED line) I pulled over on a service area and cut the engine. Stop the bike, wait for 5 minutes ...
When coming back, I had a big PUDDLE of coolant under the bike
. So so so ... scratching my head and starting to analyze things, I found that the coolant leaking comes from the overflow pipe of the coolant expansion bottle.
Remove the small plate over the radiator and open it : radiator half empty
!!!!! I wait during 15 minutes and buy a big bottle of water, then fill-in the radiator with running engine (to avoid temperature "chocks" with cold water). Everything back on and let's go. I had to check the gauge and refill the radiator the same way 5 times to finish the trip (had no choice, I know ...).
Each time, I fill-in the radiator, drive the bike during 20 kms with no problems then temperature starts to rise slowly and then pull over to fill in again.
3/ Coolant situation, informations I have and ... your opinion ??
I made a lot of research and here is what I saw on the bike and found on forums or websites.
First, I checked the bike with fairings out : no leakings. The whole engine is dry outside (no coolant or oil leakings), radiators also (both oil and coolant), checked the pipes, water pump area or drain plugs ... looks ok outside.
I found that the 400 ZXR with this age (42 000 kms) can have issues on the coolant system :
- Biggest problem can be a HEAD GASKET GONE
- Smaller problem can be a malfunctionning rad cap
- Smaller problem can be a malfunctionning thermostat
So here is what I have done to check the situation :
- Totally drained and flushed the coolant system, and filled-in with water (for tests)
- Made sure all bubbles where again by checking the bike and running the engine 30 seconds without rad cap
- Closed the system with the rad cap, and let the bike RUN AND REACH NORMAL OPERATING TEMPERATURE
- Gauge reached the middle and then the RAD FAN started to run.
Here is a picture of the gauge when the rad fan starts :
At this point :
- When engine running without rad cap : no big or small bubbles coming
- When bike is running : no leakings at all
- Before starting the bike : overflow bottle on the side was filled in 1 cm below MAX level.
- With bike hot (fan) : the overflow tank is at MAX level
- With bike cooling down : overflow tank comes back at 1 cm below max level
MY CONCLUSION :
- With all my tests, I cannot conclude if the rad cap is bad or not : with such a small price for this part, I already oredered a BRAND NEW ONE (security !)
- I have no leakings outside the engine >> not a faulty base gasket under cylinders
- All pipes are hot when fan starts : so nothing is blocking the system.
- No bubbles coming with the engine running with rad cap removed >> seems not to be a HEAD GASKET
I must say I am afraid to say "oh it was just a small problems, everything's solved with a drain and refill". I know that 400 ZXR's are used to produce blown head gaskets with such a mileage (42 000 kms).
The bike has no white smoke at exhaust when running, but I know that perheaps a COMPRESSION TEST will be able to confirm if this is a HEAD GASKET PROBLEM or not ... what do you guys think after all my explanations ??? (sorry if I said too many things, try to be as precise as possible !!)