KOD,
You should be sleeping.

 

Haynes, that rock tumbling sound could be the crank bearing on the CVT side. Maybe the mech is right, and has done all the homework and stethoscoping that he is supposed to do.

I think valvetrain would make a very consistent noise. A rod bearing or piston pin would be more consistent. The crank bearings are ball bearings, and might make that sound.

 

I went to bed shortly after that post. BTW you "ant got" no room to talk. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

You might try listening to the motor noise thru a long screwdriver. Put the tip near where you think the noise is, and your ear on the handle. A top end noise will be a "slower" noise, as the cams turn 1/2 speed the crank does. Now, go listen, before you fall asleep. LOL

 

I stopped to see the mechanic after work today. I had my 2 yr old son with me and he wouldn't behave so my time was severely limited (not to mention the poopey diaper). The mechanic started the quad with the drive pulley off for me. Definitely coming from that area. Sounds like a rock tumbling and irregular, now much loader with the pulley off. He is waiting to hear from Kawasaki to see if the warrenty is going to cover it. He is sure it will. If they try to get out of it, all h*ll will break loose. Hope they don't try the old "its a wear item" story with me.

 

Haynes, if it is internal engine, and they see no signs of abuse, they should cover it. You will be out a quad for a few weeks, though.

 

Kawasaki says it will cover the repair. At least thats what I thought the mechanic said. He is hard to understand with that tongue piercing in!!!

 

I have seen this exact same problem before. When I picked up my V-Force at the dealer, they started it up and sounded like a rock in the CVT area. We pulled off the housing and nothing. We cranked it over and it was still clanking. Luckily they had another green one.

I talked to the mechanic about 2 months after that and he said a piece of aluminium was bouncing around inside the motor. The thing is that it affected performance drastically so this might not be the same problem as yours.

 

Well after 6 weeks the engine is torn apart finally. Bearing is bad. Also the rear piston lower portion was broken off!!! Saw this with my own eyes. Very strange. The mechanic doesn't understand how this happened. The spark plug on that rear piston was always black, color never changed with jetting changes, could this be why? Kawasaki is replacing the bearing, the rear piston and rings. Should have my Prairie back by next weekend. Any comments or suggestions? NYROC is this the gremlin you were talking about when we discussed my jetting problems awhile back with the rear plug being black dispite the many jetting changes I tried?

 

HMMMM-------Rear cyl.'s plug was always black. Stuck choke? Is THIS unit included in the recall? Was it fixed? I would look closely at that carb. Was the carb running so rich, that it "washed down" the r-cyl.? Was your oil ever fuel contaminated?