from what i understand that spark plug looks like its runnin lean.... mine was a more brownish color than that....

 

Ok first of all I showed the mechanic the plug and he said it was perfect, I guess the picture didn't really show it in the best way. So I pulled into the shop on Saturday morning and I had the mechanic and the parts guy come out and listen as I started the bike up. The mechanic is a really cool guy about 35 or so and he races, of which I got to see him race today and he is a really good rider. Anyway before I started it up I asked him if they really checked the valves when I had it in for the jetting work and they remembered it and said the valves were right in line. OK so I pull the choke out and start it and let it run for maybe 10 seconds then I pushed the choke back in and everyone there looked at me like wow that's a loud noise, and the mechanic said it sounded like a valve. So I said how long will I have to leave the bike for, thinking it would a week or so because they are always really busy, and the parts guy says, you can pick it up around 2:00. I almost fell out of the bed of the truck. I mean diagnosed and fixed all in the same half of the day? Well that sounded too good to be true.......and it was. When I showed up to pick up the bike I walked out to the shop part of the building and Joe (yea I know him by name now looked at me and says something like "it looks like you get to use the factory warranty on this one". Well to make a too long of a story shorter, it turns out that the noise was actually coming from the cam shaft decompression actuator. I even got to wiggle it around and it was loose. He said that I probably could have gone forever with the noise, but why not get Kawasaki to replace it in case I just got a bad one. The shop said some Honda engines in the past had an issue with the same thing and when they went to order the replacement part they were back ordered everywhere. So that's it for me, I had to leave my baby in the shop all alone, and I spent $30.00 in fuel, and will do it again when they call me, oh well you play you pay right? So it looks like I am getting a whole new camshaft. I just hope it doesn't happen in another 3,000 miles, because even with a 5 year parts and labor warranty this will get old real quick.[&:]

 

Looks like Bad Bear's intuition was right-on. I think that's what he thought it could be above. But does that require a whole new camshaft? I thought the compression release just fixed to the end of the shaft - why replace the whole camshaft?

Oh well - glad they got it figured out for you and it appears your bike is not a hypochondriac after all

 

If you look at the picture you can see that the decompression device is actually pressed on kind of like a rivet, so I don't think you can really replace that part unless you have the right tools and specs.

 

Deej, do you have any way to record the sound on this and post it? I'd like to hear what it sounds like. Duane

 

bit late its already fixed

 

at least someone had a good dealer experience. I dropped my bike off on last wednesday, yet to hear anything about it... they better call today

 

Keep bugging them EMS - the squeaky wheel gets the grease

 

you better believe im gonna keep buggin them...

 

Well not fixed yet, but yes too late to record the sound, and besides I know it gonna be hard to believe but I don't have the technology to record anything and get it on the Internet. Unless the Blackberry has a sound card.