I am back .. Just missed teh 14 and the track a bunch, so when I found out that my bike spent a cold winter up north and came out of it with something wrong, Drastically wrong, owner and I reached an amical resolution and I brought the bike back home. Neither of us considered that I still had water wetter in the bike when it went north, which may have contributed to teh problem. I have not opened it up yet to find what is wrong but water into the radiator soon fills the crankcase...fast.. so will just have to open it up and see .. All exterior lines are good obviously and teh lines in teh oil cooler are good so into the motor we will go cause I dont think Barsleak will fix this one :)

* Last updated by: chrly on 10/14/2025 @ 7:40 PM *

First off welcome back chrly!! The oil cooler would be a good place to check and could be easily tested either on or off the bike. Plug one hose outlet and pressurize the other to a maximum of 15-20 psi. The second place I'd look would be the water pump which is easily removed and is shaft driven from within the motor. Looking at the parts listing the housing is o-ring sealed to the crankcase and if it froze it could push the inner seals outward allowing the coolant into the motor. If you find the oil cooler failed I believe I have 2 which have to be removed for the turbo installation. Happy to know you've been reunited cause it feels so good...

Great info Rick, just what I was looking for and thanks for the welcome. now all I gotta do is get my butt down there and get to work. I pulled the oil cooler off and checked it and it was fine but I have not pulled the water pump I will do that. Probably tomorrow. It’s great to have the green thing back in the garage !

* Last updated by: chrly on 10/15/2025 @ 8:29 AM *

I saw a post yesterday on FB of a cylinder head that had popped a freeze plug out. It was located in the top under the cams. I asked the poster if it was a 14 head but have not heard back yet, it sure looked like one. I looked in the parts diagrams and the cylinder head lists 4 92066-**** 18x10 plugs which look to be freeze plugs with no thread or pitch listed as is typical for any bolt or nut. This should be easily seen with the cam cover removed. That's not an easy task but I just checked my valve lash and it's not too crazy. I'm interested to know what failed myself...

I still haven't received a reply and looking closer at the throttle body boots this may be a Busa head though I expect the 14 head is similar with the 4 plugs listed. You can see the oil/water mix and how the water would run through as quick as it's poured in.

* Last updated by: Fordtech58 on 10/17/2025 @ 9:04 AM *

I am helping my son move for a couple of days so it’ll be Monday probably before I can get after this thing. I am also very very curious as to what happened.

Start it up with the radi cap removed, water topped off, now start it. You see bubbles, it's a blown or eaten away head gasket ring.

The ring is the crimped steel ring around the piston's diameter. This will get so red hot, deteriorates as it hot's the paper away and burns it at the water jacket and there is one way to find a leak into the crankcase. That, or pressurize each cylinder to find who is leaking.

That water wetter is pink in color> It will eat/rot the aluminum tubes it feed into/out of. Tore down a race engine and ate the hose nipple the hose slides onto. Puked pink liquid and dried out all over the hose and water pump housing.

Hub . Water goes thru radiator to crankcase almost as fast as I pour it in the radiator.

Well it's the dreaded pull engine and teardown I guess.

Yep kinda pointing in that direction... Funny tho. with oil in and no water , I started it up and idled for less than 5 seconds but no unusual noises ?? Reall curious as to what happened that would let the water run thru as fast as it does. It would be nice if I was a mechanic but I will just have to wait for shop to get time . Racing is done for the year anyway.

That's why I suspect the cylinder head freeze plugs. They're listed as 18x10 meaning they'd have an 18mm diameter and a 10mm wall where they're pressed into the head. If that's what's found they may be replaceable with the engine in the chassis, cams removed and engine pivoted lower on the rear mount with all others removed.

On the optimistic side, I ordered plugs yesterday .

Did you ever get this resolved??

Not yet.

Well....Finally remembered to pass on the info . I have put the 14 in a corner till next year as SS only stretches so tight :)
It seems the head is cracked. As you can see in the photos ( I hope), what I assume is a crack due to freezing temps in the garage in Montana last winter. and that looks like a freeze plug to me ?
I am thinking that with the water in hte crancase, bearings are not in real good shape so I have , at this point, just set it aside until I come across a motor I can pick up .

full head shot

close up. Do you see the crack on both sides of the plug ?
I could not see any further evidence of crack expanding
I was told teh bike came out of the garage, fired up rode approximately ten miles and began loosing power, immediately shut down and trailered the bike back home .
I went a few months later and picked it up .\, brought it home and started it , listened for five seconds and shut it down . I did not hear anything unusual . Pulled teh oil drain plug and after it was empty I began filling the radiator with water . When the level in hte radiator was approximately level with where the crack is in the head, the water began pouring out of the oil drain plug .
Pulled the head and found the crack and that is kind of where I am .

* Last updated by: chrly on 9/9/2026 @ 4:10 PM *

Being that kind of weather changing effect, I'd more drain the coolant each season to avoid the expansion. Coolant might not have the chemical makeup to avoid this, i.e. diluted? Did you use the pink coolant just in case the engine blows on the track?

WOW chrly! Northern Wisconsin and Upper Michigan here and never had that happen with the bikes stored in unheated, not attached garages. I've changed coolant a few times and always found the flush water to impact the 50/50 mix significantly. I get the mix balanced after a few times draining and adding pure coolant. Four balls is what I aim for. I'd like to see five balls for confidence in the coldest days of winter but then it seems like the coolant is richer than 50/50. Go for five balls during storage and lean it out during the riding season.

A whole damn new motor! It is probable other parts of the motor are cracked if the head cracked. Save the original because I'm sure there are lots of parts that were uneffected by the deep freeze.

The bike is back with me in Northern California and wont see those temps ever again.. do not enjoy cold weather.Not positive about pink coolant ..

And agree on other parts damaged.

* Last updated by: chrly on 9/10/2026 @ 4:36 PM *

Not positive about pink coolant ..

I haven't heard of any brand of coolant having better or worse anti-freeze protection aside from how much water it's mixed with.

It seems odd that the radiator wouldn't have been damaged if the coolant froze. I would think the radiator would be a lot more vulnerable to coolant freezing than the head.

I agree that radiator or hoses should have shown problems before the block but I am not educated in that stuff. Maybe level of water made a difference ? I would have liked to have been there when the bike lost power.

I'm no expert either. The radiator is a tube that snakes back and forth so if it were low, I can see how there might be several inches for ice expansion assuming the tube was strong enough to force the expansion upward rather than cracking. Below the head, it could have still been full to the top with coolant even if the radiator was low. i just had a look at my 14R and it appears the top of the radiator is maybe even a little higher than the top of the valve cover. It's definitely higher than the underside of the head. I think the radiator would need to be severely low on coolant before coolant couldn't reach the highest points of the engine. So, I'm theorizing that the radiator could have remained undamaged if the coolant level was low but it would have had to have been extremely low before the engine had any space to allow ice expansion.

So yup, I suspect the pink coolant and the radiator would have had to have been low to have not been damaged, itself. As I understand it, there is a red watterwetter additive that probably has some effect on the anti-freeze properties of the coolant it's mixed with. The pink stuff is a batch of watterwetter coolant that replaces some or all of the standard coolant that was in the system. It would have a profound effect on the freezing point. If used full strength, it has no anti-freeze protection at all. See third to last and second to last bullet points:

Ready-to-use mixture.
Blended with deionized/purified water and WaterWetter.
Compatible with all glycol antifreeze and coolants.
Corrosion inhibitors that satisfy the same ASTM corrosion tests intended for glycol-based antifreezes.
Excellent rust and corrosion protection for modern cast-iron, aluminum, and brass systems.
Doubles the wetting ability of water.
Improves heat transfer.
Reduces cylinder-head temperatures.
Note: This product does not contain antifreeze. Use with a long-life antifreeze if freezing temperatures are to be encountered.
Freezing point: 32oF / 1oC.
Certifications: ASTM D2570, ASTM D1384.

https://www.sportbiketrackgear.com/red-line-supercool-water-wetter-1-2-gallon/?srsltid=AfmBOopqQb_Uep2LvfOkUFjMH2D9qz3rfeiFHvZheh6ySOUafgeDs-Ii

* Last updated by: Rook on 9/12/2026 @ 12:11 PM *

You might get by with replacing the head, chrly. The cams and stuff might be trasferrable, I've heard they wear to the head they were originally installed to but I also hear owners replace camshafts. It's a common mod on the Gen3 Hayabusa. If you had a batch of pure WW in there, it should prevent rust, not cause it...we would hope. So maybe all your steel engine parts that are in contact with the WW are fine. I think the head had a hairline crack that opened up from engine compression and heat. that's when it lost power and the coolant flooded the motor.

I'm faced with engine replacement or fiddle with possible damage on my Gen1. Fiddling entails a complete teardown. Spending a couple thou on a good replacement starts to look good from a time perspective. The teardown would be awfully educational though....and no risk, if the engine's cooked, I'm not going to hurt it by taking it apart.

chrly,
Keep an eye on copart for a wrecked ZX14r.

https://www.copart.com/lotSearchResults?free=true&query=2012%20Kawasaki%20zx14r&qId=a11ee5c8-e8b5-475a-8243-cd9a9da906ba-1789255166870&index=undefined

A 2013 in Las Vegas is taking bids. The current bid is $600.

DD

* Last updated by: doubleD on 9/12/2026 @ 5:24 PM *

Was given a 30yr old ST1100 sitter with a split transfer aluminum pipe a hose fits onto. How it split is still a mystery to me? It resided in Calif and no way could it have broken from freezing/expanding. Other parts were rotted out as well. So for sure yours was from the freeze.

That WW sat in a race bike sitting since the early 90's. Put a hole in a works radiator neck, leaked thru the hoses and could stain the aluminum.

Man, if I could let a water cooled bike sit for decades, I'd for sure drain the radiator, fill with distilled waterh and then drain that so the bike sits dry thru the decades. And now knowing what you went thru, I'd for sure drain the coolant until ready to repair the other problem. No chance for it to expand with little water in it to breath for expansion. Just saying knowing what little I know.