How's it going, I have an 08 ZX14. Since i have had my bike I have been having some issues. First i was having a lot of overheating problems. I fixed that by puting in a new fan that i can control and adding engine ice to the coolant system. After those quick fixes i had no more issues with the over heating. I started to meet other ZX14 riders and the first thing they asked me was how I like the bike and then they asked me if it blew up yet. I didn't know what they were talking about so they said that them and 2 of their friends who have ZX14's in years ranging from 06-07 had their engines just blow up. Not like Kaboom mind you but more along the lines of rod and valve break downs. They said for each of them that it happened around 7,000 miles. I was like wow i hope that doesn't happen to me. I figured that since i had an 08 that all the new gremlins that usually pop up from a new production line of bikes had been worked out by now. But noooo low and behold I was riding down the highway when all of a sudden i started hearing and feeling a knocking sound coming from my engine. Luckily i was close to a bike shop my friend owns and the first thing he said was ooh sounds like a warranty to me. He said that it sounded like a rod or a valve sound and that he hopes i still was under warraty. Luckily for me i am. It's crazy though that a bike less than a year old with only 5,500 miles should break down. Now i am stuck without my baby with all these Busa riders talking smack about the 14's and the Kawasaki dealer i took my bike to for repair has had it for 3 weeks now and are apparently waiting on back ordered parts say that when the parts do come in that they have to put my bike back into rotation. I have only owned Kawi's from 600 to 1000's and have never had any issues with them no matter how hard i rode them. I get a 14 which is built for power and it breaks down on me, what's up with that. Has anyone else had their ZX14 break down on them for no reason? If so let me know, maybe Kawasaki should know about this. I'm sure they know already it's just that usually people are probably outside their warranty window so they don't have to pay. I feel they think it's cheaper to fix the warranty bikes then to recall the shotty engine parts. Maybe they were in too much of a rush to put out the biggest sportbike on the street then to test it properly. What do you think? They are a big corporation with money to fix the warranty bikes but the repair man told me that if i had to pay out of pocket i would of forked over upwards of 5,000 dollars US. Now i dont know about you but i dont know many people who have that kind of cash to spend, especially in this recession. So i think Kawasaki should man up and let the owners of the ZX14's know that there may be engine problems down the road and that they will take care of it. Or at least give us more than a year warranty. I mean now i have a 13,000 dollar bike I can't ride because of shotty craftmanship by the manufacturer. I just want to ride! Any thoughts?

Wow. I've never heard anything like this before, and I've been hanging around ZX-14 forums for quite some time now. I'm sure you'll hear from others more experienced than I, but everything I hear about the bike, the design, the manufacturing quality is just top notch.

Did yours have dealer service at the proper intervals? Are you using stock oil filter and oil, or some other brand? Do you keep the front wheel on the ground most of the time? (I've heard that you can do damage with long continuous wheelies.) -bg

my alternator fried at 240 miles, but was covered under warranty.

i don't expect any major engine problems based on what i've heard from other owners. sounds kinda fishy to me, but maybe that's the smell of ahi, hey brah?

i bent a connecting rod at 10k. in my 06.

but, i rode her hard.. Real hard.

"Yer killing me, Larry!"

New or Used?Did these other two guys go to the SAME Dealer(shop) as you(where you bought the bike?).3 zx14's,3 engine failures at approx.7,000 miles?Hmmmmm... (dumb question perhaps,but did you have enough oil in it at the time she started makin noise?)Could be something VERY simple(like maybe an oil pump?)Hope ya get er fixed quick-sorry to hear about this bro.Take care there.

* Last updated by: blue07 on 5/12/2009 @ 10:47 PM *

Two ZX-14s in my garage. One with typical mods and 6800 miles. No problems ever. One with turbo and 13k+ miles. No problems ever.

11,000 miles on my '06 and it ticks on like a Rolex, zero problems. I have personally heard of three cases of bad number 3 rod bearing out of the 11,000 '06/'07s imported into this country. Sorry to hear you got a bad one.

Kruz

Dude. I am sorry about your bike. Also... Paragraphs. That 'enter' key will not break if you use it.

+1 to enter key use :)

I've been humming and hawing about buying the extended warrarnty (its something like ~$1100 for a total of 4 years) and to be honest, the issues of the engine mount problems of the 06/07 and this issue has me thinkin about shelling out the extra cash for the extended warranty (hopefully i'll never need it).

Thanks for the replies,
The info that i received from u guys really helped out. The other guys went to diffrent shops than me but had the same problem. I'm just happy it is under warranty and getting fixed. I am going to by a few year extension though just to be safe. I think it's worth it to do that. I cant wait to get back to stompin on some Busa ass!!!:)
Laterz!:)

6000 miles and runs better today than the day i bought it, have never heard of no problems like this from anyone else, unless they were drag racers, and they weren't worried about the warranty any how...

about the extended wrranty i just received mine, going to start another thread on x-tended warranty info.

Hope you are riding again soon ZX14DRE808, living in hawaii being broke down anytime is a BAD time isn't it, But don't blame it on KHI or the mighty ZX14. These bikes are really exceptionally well built pieces of machinery!

r u guys riding on one tire a lot?? maybe starving the engine of oil...?

I'm just over 7000 miles. No problems yet. Thanks for the warning though. I'll keep mindful of it. I hear people talk about the #3 rod going but only read one or two posts (now make that 3?) from guys who actually had it happen. Seems to have happened under loads that were very extreme (turbo, 1/2 mile long wheelies, etc.) even for a ZX-14.

Nightmare I paid $850.00 for the extended warranty on my 08, covered till 2013, that was thru Pro am in Calgary... well worth it I think!!

* Last updated by: Fuzz4141 on 5/13/2009 @ 8:10 PM *

Mine was the #3 rod that bent.

But like i said, mine has been rode hard. She put up with me for 6k miles before giving up (i got her with 4k on the clock)

4 yr extended warranty - $390 US only, except FL.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Kawasaki-4-yr-extended-warranty-Good-Times-Protection_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trkparmsZQ7c301Q3a1Q7c293Q3a1Q7c294Q3a30QQ_trksidZp4634Q2ec0Q2em14Q2el1262QQhashZitem5881251ff4QQitemZ380123815924QQptZMotorcyclesQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

Machines fail - sometimes when they're new sometimes when they've run for a while... Some are built better than others and they don't fail as often but even so there are going to be unexpected failures.

I'm really sorry to hear about the issues w/ your bike, but I believe it's an anomaly - I've been on every ZX-14 forum I can find and read everything I can find and I don't see any thing to indicate this is anything but an exceptional failure.

My bike only has 2K miles, so I guess I cannot speak from experience but I'm not worried a bit about issues - in fact I wish I'd spent my extended warrantee money on mods cause I'm just not worried about real issues.

Good luck getting 'er fixed - be patient it'll be worth it.

-Dennis

Thanks again for the replies. Yeah i guess i cant blame Kawi. I just had to vent. It did seem fishy to me though because of the other guys i know who had this happen to them. I am still gonna buy an extended warranty because if i had to pay this out of pocket my bike would be down longer than it is now. I mean i'm a soldier not a baller:). I can't wait to ride again the weather has been soooo nice over here! I do love my BusaKilla and admit i am a rider not a cruiser. I believe in riding my 14 like i did my 10. Hopefully this is the last time i have this problem, because there is nothing i hate more then being stuck at home while all my boys are out burning up the streets. Can't wait!! ROK 4 Life!!!
Mahalo and Aloha,
DRE'

I guess Im not the only that has has some engine problems. I have a 08 with about 8400 miles, I just got mine back from the dealer it was there about 3 weeks all together. The #4 piston broke n 3 pieces around the wrist pin. At first I thought the noise was the cam chain tensioner gone bad but it didnt have the other symptoms as that. They listend to the noise and agreed the was something wrong. It was all covered under warranty. They told me that it was the first time they have had that happen on the 14. I was really surprised that it happend it dont abuse my bike but it does get ridden hard. Its always been serviced and taken care of. I have a ext warranty so if anything happens again Im not to worried. I still love my bike.

O rings!!! The only thing keeping me from my baby is O rings!!! My bike has been in the shop for over 3 weeks now and apparently the manufacturer for the O rings that go on my bike is behind on making O rings. What great news!!! Does anyone know if it is possible that maybe there are some other O rings that can fit my bike? I'm sure that out there somewhere in this world there are some that will work just as good or even better than the stock O rings that go on a 14. Hopefully this shop will get their head out of their okole' and fix my baby. Laterz

What orings do you need?? If you have a part number maybe we can locate some here stateside that a dealer has in stock. Not sure if its a stocking item but it wont hurt to check around. Let me know, I have a dealer across the street from me at work.

There are lots of places you can find and order Kawasaki parts:

kawasakipartshouse.com

powersedge.com

motogrid.com

bikebandit.com

You can do a Google search on "kawasaki zx-14 parts" to find more.

Happy hunting... -bg

Aloha Bra, Howzit? post a part number and I can see if my dealer has any in stock I'm going there later to day....

I have over 16 K on mine with no problems. I ride hard and take exceptional care of this one after several unfortunate turns of events with it's predicessors. However I did notice after my last oil change, that she has developed an exaggerated top end noise upon start-up. I originally attributed it to changing to synthetic blend. It has gotten more pronounced and I was actually searching our threads to see if anyone had info. Guess a trip to the dealer is in order just to be on the safe side. I really dont want the downtime since she's all I have after giving my girl her walking papers after " either the bikes go or I do" . I really like my 14 in green dont you ? My next chick will have her own bike!