I changed the fluids in my 650 and noticed a copper look to the front end fluid. I let the dealer do the first ten hour service on it so I'm curious if they put some kind of special fluid in it, or if they changed it at all and maybe that's the fluid from the factory. The look reminds me of mixed water and differential fluid but there isn't any water in there. There appeared to be lots of small, and I mean small, metalic flakes in the fluid. The engine oil and rear diff fluids looked fine. I repleced the front end and engine fluids with Castrol GTX 10W40. I used Kawasaki final drive fluid in the rear made for the wet brake operation. I'm not hearing any noise in the front end but I did have problems with it not going into 4WD; that has since been fixed. I'm curious if anyone else has seen the same color fluid in their 650 front end. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

Exactly the same problem I'm having. I've talked to the dealer and I'm going to take it back for inspection. I am also experiencing a groaning noise when engaging the diff lock. I work at a refinery, so I took a sample of the waste diff fluid in. They said it was contaminated with over 5% metal filings. I check the parts diagram and talked with a mech there is no bronze bushing in the front end. I believe it is something to do with the clutch pack.

 

I get that groaning noise too from the front diff. But I get it when in 4x4 and I take off from slow or stopped. It doesn't matter if the diff lock is engaged or not, I still get the noise.