Kawasaki Locked up Engine

A young man of 18 years of age whom I work with bought an 83 Kawasaki KZ 440ltd yesterday as his first ever motorcycle and I picked it for him and took it to my place as I'll be giving him my motorcycle knowledge and guidance during the rebuild. The bike is in rough shape and the engine was locked up. He got it for $140 which was more than I would have given for it but his zest to get a motorcycle made him over pay for this particular motorcycle. Well today I sprayed a boat load of kroil into the cylinder and let it sit awhile. I then put a wrench on the crankshaft and started rocking it back and forth, then all of a sudden it let loose and the kroil I put in was flying out of the spark plug holes all over me. All i could do was laugh and be happy that it actually moved. Still going to do a complete rebuild of the engine but at least it moves now.

 

Well, look at it this way.....you just helped a younger, dumber version of YOU..and me too for that matter!

DO NOT attempt to adjust the cam chain tension! Chances are, it's okay...and even if it's a bit loose it's much better to have a noisy chain than it will be to rebuild the entire engine because if any attempt is made to adjust it, it will crumble!

jeff

 

Not adjusting the cam chain tension leads to valves hitting pistons when the chain jumps time.
Adjusting the cam chain tension properly prevents that.
If the chain (or tensioner, or guides) crumbled during adjustment, then it would have failed anyway and should have already been replaced.
Never put off maintainance.

 

I would absolutely agree on a new bike that keeping things in adjustment is paramount to good running and I'm not sure how many of this model you've worked on but I've found that very much like the CB400F, once "set", the tensioner on the Kaw 440 does not react well to adjustment but again like the CB, will last forever if left alone & unless you've got serious miles about 30K, it shouldn't be loose...besides, you might want to think about replacing pistons on anything that high in mileage before they decide to frag on their own....but it's your bike, so do as you choose....

jeff

 

This motor will be gone through and see what kind of shape it's in. We haven't started on it as of yet because of other projects that I've got going on in my shop and a vacation to the beach approaching real soon but when I get back it's getting open heart surgery. I don't want to skip something and have it fail on the young man. This is his first bike and build and we will take our time and do it correctly. I'm not a guru or expert by any means but it's not my first rodeo either. I appreciate any input and advice.