I have about 6 hrs on my V force now. I have only been doing some light cruising trying to get it broke-in. I noticed that around the top of the front cylinder head on the front left corner, just above and in front of the Spark plug, there seems to be some slight oil seepage coming from the seam. Dust is attracted all around this seam but moreso on the front left corner. The top portion of the head doesn't seem to have a gasket between it and the lower portion. I can see some silicone along parts of the seam.

Does anyone else notice anything like this?

 

Hey THeForce..
I haven't noticed anything like that on mine but you can bet that if I did, I'd be at the Kawa dealer that same day demanding that it be fixed. Good luck.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

I have experienced a very similar problem. Recently returned from 3 days of riding on the Hatfield McCoy trail system. Was tearing up the coal piles in the back of the Bear Wallow system and after about 10 runs up one of the steepest hills I noticed fluid on and around the base of the forward cylinder. Also noticed some staining around the seam of the cylinder head / cylinder as well (coolant perhaps?). Anyway I immediately checked my dipstick and found the oil level was barely touching the stick, so another rider donated a quart of oil and I used about half of that to get it back to the proper level. From there we took the most direct route back to the trail head and then back to where we were staying in Man, WV (we drove the ATVs over back roads to Bear Wallow from Man via a route given to us by our rental house hostess). Strangely it didn't appear that any more oil was lost after I added that 1/2 quart (even after driving about 25 miles to get the ATV back to where we were staying). There was also no puddling on the trailer where it was parked on day 3 and during the ride back home so it seemed to only happen while the engine was running and while I was going up (or down) very steep hills.

Luckily I had brought my Grizzly along too, so to be safe I enjoyed day 3 at Rockhouse on my backup quad. I'll take the VForce into the dealer Saturday to have that problem checked out, along with an issue I have with the neutral light too (it has only been working intermittently after about the 2nd tank of gas).

Seems like cylinder head bolts were not tightened properly? Anyway will let you know what I find out from the dealer...

 

I had a similiar problem with mine, except it was the rear head. It turned out to be the o-ring on the front valve cover of the rear cylinder. There was about a half inch piece of the o-ring that must have got pinched off during assembly. I isolated the problem by taking the seat off and standing the bike on end, and the seepage became readily apparent. The front cylinder area is harder to view though.

 

I took it back to the dealer yesterday. They said to watch it and see if it gets worse. It is only a slight leak. There isn't a gasket underneath the uppermost portion of the head. Only silicone. I guess I'll just have to keep an eye on it.

Thanks for the input.