2000 Kawasaki KLR650 Engine cooling Problems

“I own a 2000 Kawasaki klr 650 dual sport motorcycle which I purchased new. I have kept up with scheduled maintenance as required. The idler shaft lever and idler shaft spring were both broken. There were 3 broken engine parts inside the crankcase which can cause the engine to lock up. The dealership was made aware of this problem.”

“I own a 2000 Kawasaki 650 klr dual sport motorcycle (I am the original owner), I have kept up with scheduled maintenance...the same part(s) failed twice within the engine, causing metal part fragments to get circulated within engine casing damaging engine parts , which could have LED to dangerous failure of motor while riding... The parts that failed were the idler shaft lever and idler shaft spring first incident occurred november/2002 second incident occurred june/2003.”

“I have only owned this 2000 Kawasaki KLR650 for a few months now and had 8766 miles at the time! I had read on the internet that the idler shaft lever(Kawasaki part no. 13168-1436) and spring(Kawasaki part no. 92144-1860) put in every KLR650 since 1996 were prone to failure. Due to poor quality steel and poor manufacturing! Which can cause the timing chain to seize, which results in the engine seizing, and if this were to happen while riding would cause the rear wheel to seize. Which would cause damage, injury, possibly an accident and death! …”

“The classic Kawasaki klr 650 balance shaft tensioner failure. 2000 model year motorcycle maintained as per factory recommendations broke a balance shaft system. Occurred at low speed so it was not dangerous as if it happened at speed. That was the first failure. Recently I found it was cracked during service of the water pump. Installed the 3rd adjuster at that point. Recently I found aftermarket parts to prevent future failures as this is actually a very common problem on these motorcycles as the get high in miles. At this point I have had 2 failures of a part that is a very well known about. …”

“This involves engine part #13168-1436 (lever, idler shaft) in the adjustment mechanism of the engine's balancer tensioner system. I have removed a failed lever, idler shaft from my KLR650 engine. I have also assisted in the inspection of this part in other KLR650 engines and have found other instances of failure. In my experience, this component has two modes of failure: weld separation, and breakage of the toroidal-shaped section that mates with #39115-1077 (shaft-idler). …”