The cylinder can crack when the sleeve is installed.

Ron

 

initially i didnt have the milky color oil symptoms, it was more of losing coolant and losing significant amount of oil. coolant would travel to the reservoir but not back to the radiator. but last Friday when i started the bike i started to see an obvious milky color oil at the engine oil window thats when i decided to load the bike up the truck and send it to the shop to open up the top end.

im not really sure if i got a defective cylinder head from Bill or it happened during the time i was breaking it in.

in hindsight, i would probably have gone with the Stock 300cc upgrade which would have been safer but reading around i was informed the BB kit from Bill is pretty reliable but too bad my luck aint so good.

anyway, i will be collecting back the bike tomorrow and i really want to put it into action as it has been lying around figuring out the problem for too long. i reckon the stock 249cc bore would still perform better with the TM33/34 pumper carb right? i was previously using the FI setup for the Asian market but i wasnt sure the difference from the power gain from the big bore and the pumper carb, i'll find out tomorrow though.

 

https://www.kawasakiforums.com/forum...ck-bore-41373/

That's quite unfortunate you drew the bad luck card.

 

Got the KLX up and running again with the stock bore I hope the problems with the bike is behind me now. Got a reply from Bill, he says this is the first time he has problems with the sleeves, requested me to send it back to him to check what went wrong, he needs to remove the sleeve to check. he says he will bore a new cylinder for me along with new piston rings and gaskets.

But as i mentioned yesterday, i dont think the big bore upgrade is the right option for me since i live half way across the world from USA and i use the bike to commute, i cant afford for the bike to be idle for too long. Once i get confirmation from Bill about the cylinder head, i will start a new thread to sell off the big bore at a lower price.

I was quite satisfied with the stock bore paired with the TM33/34 carb, it still had better pick up than the stock FI but minus the ummph of the big bore. i might go with the kawasaki big bore upgrade. i saw a thread in here about that but i cant seem to find that. anyone got that link?

Ok i found it, its not from this forum, someone who did the upgrade did a write up on it. but i know TNC have the 300 installed on his bike. the link is : http://dpippin.com/klx/index_files/Page1666.htm

 

As far as I know, the 300 kit is more expensive than the 351 kit

 

But glad to hear your bike is already back up and running as a 250! At this point, if I were in your position, I'd just leave the bore stock, change to 13/45 gearing, and be happy lol! Good on Bill if he stands behind his product and sends you a new kit! I've been having some oil consumption recently, after switching to synthetic oil...which ticks me off but I've come to the conclusion that as long as it doesn't increase significantly, it shouldn't be a detriment to the engine's longevity, as long as I keep an eye on the level and top off as needed. I believe this is probably due to valve stem seals though, and not related to the piston rings or any of that. I'm pretty sure the previous owner had let the bike sit quite a lot, and I think this can cause some hardening of the valve stem seals which can reduce their sealing ability, there-by letting some oil seep into the combustion chamber. The synthetic oil would get through any seal imperfections easier than conventional oil. That's my theory anyway. As of right now, with mostly low speed, high RPM, hard off-road miles, it's burning about 1 ML per mile. I haven't tested yet, but I speculate that 60 mph highway cruising would yield about 1/2 to 1/3 that much oil consumption per mile. This isn't horrible, based on my experiences with my other bikes, and what I know. But it sure isn't great, either. Anyway I'm not going back into my motor unless it gets worse. Other than that, the bike has performed absolutely flawlessly and has no other problems at all. I've been having so much fun HAULING *** up all the biggest hills I can find, with plenty of power to spare!

 

The 300 kit is more expensive because it uses a new cylinder head whereas the 331/351 kits uses a stock cylinder bored to fit the right piston. However because im located in South East Asia, the transportation cost has to be considered and also the time taken, i would not recommend it to anyone in this region to go with the 331/351 kit, it just takes too long to get things done if something goes wrong and that person have to be dependent on a supply chain that is way too far. For example i ordered the custom gaskets it takes more than 2 weeks to reach, then when i open up the head, there was problem with the sleeve and i have to send it back for inspection and it will easily be more than a month until i get the head back here. i just spent $50 yesterday just to send the cylinder head back to Bill to inspect.

Anyway, i rode about 100 miles yesterday on the stock bore but with the TM33/34 pumper carb and i am quite happy with the performance. The bike is no longer giving me problems and im happy with it. Only complaint is that i still need a bit more power gain for overtaking heavy vehicles. The 300 kit upgrade might do the trick but i need to sell the 331 kit first to get funds for that upgrade.

kj7687, losing engine oil at the rate of 1ml/mile is quite a lot. maybe synthetic oil is not suitable, try 15-50W semi synthetic oil.

 

It is kind of a lot, but I feel it's still useable at that rate; I can still do an all day dual sport ride without worrying about the oil getting too low (as long as I make sure it's full beforehand). I know the oil I'm using is a good oil though, and would rather not have to switch to something else to "patch" the oil consumption. It's pretty frustrating to me since everything with the bike has been going so well other than that. But at this point I think I can't sweat it too much. There are no other problems with the bike, no power loss or coolant consumption, no smoke from the pipe at any time, etc. If it gets worse than it is, then I may have to do something. Otherwise, I think I'll just check the oil daily and add as needed. It's possible the consumption may even decrease. If it's the rings, then it may get better after some more miles are put on the big bore. I thought I did a pretty damn good job of breaking the thing in for 600 miles, but maybe it's not perfect, and may yet have a little more to go... If it is just the valve stem seals, I don't think it should really get worse than it is. I guess at this point I don't have much choice. I don't feel like I can justify pulling the top end apart unless it gets worse, especially since it COULD get better. I've got too much else in my life right now to be able to spend any more time screwing around with the KLX. I've already got over 40 hours of work into that project lol! On a somewhat positive note, my DR200 has been using up oil at a similar rate for several thousand miles (conventional oil there), and hasn't had any other issues at all. Anyway I guess I'm starting to go into loop mode here haha... It just seems like when you think you have everything figured out, that's when you get hit with something. That's life, I guess. I'm not going to stress about it for now.

 

Thats what i had to do when i had my problem as well, i had to make sure the engine oil level is high before going for a ride, after the ride, the oil level is at the minimum and had to top up quite a bit of oil each time that happens, it drove me crazy. at least you dont have the losing coolant problem so it's not so bad.

in life we all take risks, it makes it more interesting, there were a few people who advised me against installing a big bore kit but i still went ahead with it, i know after what i went through i probably wasted quite a lot of money but at the same time, i feel i know more about how an engine is assembled and the function of each components.

i will stick with the stock bore for a while until i can find a buyer for the kit i sent back to Bill for inspection, i might even ask him to try sell it for me. Once sold, i will look into installing the KLX300 kit.

Good luck with your bike

 

Just to update, now that i have the stock bore back on, the bike is not giving me problems which i had before. I recently did a 1200 mile ride and enjoyed it very much. it is good to have a trouble free bike. however, i do have some concerns which i hope someone can advise me on.

firstly i am not sure about the jetting of the bike, the set up was done by the tech and i am unsure that when he switched from the 331 Big Bore to the stock bore if he did any adjustment to the jetting. when i collected the bike he was still filling coolant and engine oil. when the bike could start, i just rode it off, so i am not sure if there were any changes to the jetting.

during my ride, i notice a few things :

1) I got around 50MPG while on highway use, going flat out on the throttle (cruising around 125km/h or 77mph at 7000RPM). When on smaller roads with more turns, i get around 55MPG. Are these gas mileage considered normal for the KLX with my riding style?

2) While going flat out on the highway, it was a struggle to go higher than 7000RPM, i changed the gear setting to 15/39T from stock gearing of 14/42T, is this normal or is there problems with the jetting? When i was on stock bore, stock gearing and using the fuel injection, i could rev up to 9000RPM easily but now, i could probably pull 8000RPM on a downhill and with some tailwind. Is the limitation of the RPM caused by the change of a taller gearing or i need to fine tune the main jet?

Looking forward to your advise