HELP!! Keep blowing gasket, losing all oil/water.

[TINKRD]

need help!!!

i purchased a new 2007 Outlaw 525 IRS last friday. get it home, drive it 20 yards. park it 5 mins. go to start it and stall it out b/c i'm not used to the clutch yet.

go to start it and the battery wont turn over like its dead. look down and oil is POURING out. its coming from the gasket of (what i assume is the equivalent of the oil pan on a car) the cover where you fill the oil.

i was PISSED. brand new bike. take it to dealer and raise hell. manager wont let me return the bike b/c he says i've already taken delivery.....

fast forward to today. get a call from teh manager saying the bike is ready. says they replaced the gasket and the radiator cap. says they think the system "over pressurized" and it blew the gasket.

get home, unload and go riding. ride for about an hour. stalled it a few times (normal for a newbie)

come home park it for 20 mins. go riding again. from a dead stop go to accelerate and it stalls out. I go to start it and the battery wont turn over, like its dead again. look down and the EXACT same thing has happened. OIL pouring out :mad:

call the sales manger and he says to bring it back tomorrow and he'll call Polaris.



WTF?!!?

does anyone have any insight on what could be wrong? i mentioned me stalling it out b/c that seems to be the common factor between last time and this time.

stall the bike, go to start battery wont turn over, oil POURS out from gasket.

i'm about to contact my lawyer and get details on what i can do to get a refund or another bike. i need to sk my lawyer about the Lemon Law.

i'm happy this happened in front of my house both times. if i had been out on a trail i would have been royaled screwed!!

[GE4x4]

Sounds like the dealer has put to much oil in it. The oil level cold should be at the bottom of the glass. I've seen brand new Outlaws at a dealer with the glass full just sitting there. Not good for the engine.

[TINKRD]

hmm... i'll run that by them. now that i think of it. i do remember seeing the oil window full.

[OutlawBill]

sounds like too much oil and the stalling is cause by a lean carb JD jet kit and richer pilot jet

[TINKRD]

Originally posted by OutlawBill
sounds like too much oil and the stalling is cause by a lean carb JD jet kit and richer pilot jet

when i go WOT at a lower RPM the bike does stumble for a second then comes alive. are these symptoms of what you're saying??

i dont know crap when it comes to carbs.

[OutlawBill]

Originally posted by TINKRD
when i go WOT at a lower RPM the bike does stumble for a second then comes alive. are these symptoms of what you're saying??

i dont know crap when it comes to carbs.
yes and when you are going full throttle and let off the gas and it stalls all so

[TINKRD]

Originally posted by OutlawBill
yes and when you are going full throttle and let off the gas and it stalls all so

thanks for the info. i relayed this to the sales manager and todl them to have a tech check it out.

this is the last chance this dealer gets. if something else happens after this its going to a different kawasaki dealership for warranty work.

[TINKRD]

also could this be the reason for the "dead battery" symptom...

a member from a different forum suggested this...



I have to agree with the vent line suggestion by SSJEFF. If the breather hose to the crank case is plugged or kinked the piston can raise the pressure in the crank case every time it travels down. As the engine gets hot that pressure goes through the roof and the piston is forcing the air and the oil out through the path of least resistance. That would be the number 1 thing to check for IMO, right behind proper amount of oil being put in (aka over filling).


here's my hypothesis.

if there is too much pressure built up, could this cause the "dead battery" symptom.

if there was too much pressure the battery couldnt turn the starter over. that would be the reason why it seems like the battery dies when this happens.

this morning they fired it right up, no hesitation at all....

[TINKRD]

found this in an article..


2) After a little more ride time most riders find the transmission notchy and very hard to put in neutral.

The transmission is notchy but most riders real complaint is that they have a terrible time getting the Outlaw 525 into neutral. We have found that both the notchiness and the ability to put it in neutral has gotten better with time but is still a minor issue for us. We also discovered that the tranny on our Outlaw 525 had been over-filled right from the factory when it was brand new. The oil level should be near the bottom of the sight window but our was right at the top. After removing a significant amount of oil from our tranny we found that it worked much better.

[XSR03Preddy]

I would think that to much oil is the problem. This would cause a hard to start problem. When you try to crank it, the piston is tring to push the oil out. Hint pushing out the gasket!! The dealer is responsible for taking care of your warranty, and repairs. I would push them till they get it right. Also, if there is that much oil in it, and you have run the engine much, chances are you may have more problems.

[TINKRD]

still dont ahve the bike back. this will be my 3rd week of "owning" this bike and i've had it in my possession for a total of 2 hrs.

[450Rchaser]

I work at a Cadillac Dealer and this is what we would call a lemon and Polaris should "BUY IT BACK" Run that by your dealer. Its not the dealers choice to buy it back but they could possible get Polaris to. Its worth a shot.

[montycarlo]

Originally posted by 450Rchaser
I work at a Cadillac Dealer and this is what we would call a lemon and Polaris should "BUY IT BACK" Run that by your dealer. Its not the dealers choice to buy it back but they could possible get Polaris to. Its worth a shot.

Lemon law varies from state to state so look into it, but don't inquire at the dealer!!! It would qualify as a lemon in Iowa (24 days out of service or/and 4th repair failed) also, assuming lemon law applies to ATV's.

[TINKRD]

Originally posted by montycarlo
Lemon law varies from state to state so look into it, but don't inquire at the dealer!!! It would qualify as a lemon in Iowa (24 days out of service or/and 4th repair failed) also, assuming lemon law applies to ATV's.

lemon law in texas does apply to ATV's. i havent found how many times the same problem has to be fixed though. I believe its 3.

[TINKRD]

well after them having the bike for 7 days i get the call to come pick it up. they said they replaced the clutch case cover, orings, dowl pins and a new gasket. i drive in and when i'm about 10 min's from them the sales manager calls me and says it did the exact same thing to them while they were test riding it. they're supposed to call polaris again today. its been 18 days, the same problem has happened 3 times and i still have no bike.

i told them i wanted to be in the conference call w/ the tech and polaris. i work 5 min's frmo the bike shop. the tech still isn't there yet and the sales manager says he wont be till 2pm now.

[somewon]

That sucks. I will say that at least your dealer seems to have some commitment to fixing the problem. My dealer let my quad sit in a storage unit for three months before they did anything.

[XSR03Preddy]

Yeah, that sucks. Did you ask about over filling the oil?

There is noway I would have let them keep it 3months. period!:macho

[TINKRD]

they said they didnt over fill it.

my dealer isn't impressing me at all. give then situation i expect them to make things right and go above and beyond. they're not. all they're doing is callin Polaris, giving them the symtoms and having their tech guess at what could be wrong.....


i've submited a disputer w/ both Polaris and the bank. so we'll see where that leads me.

[TINKRD]

Well I still don’t have my bike back. After going up to the dealership and basically telling them I’m not going anywhere until I know what specifically is being done to repair my bike, I was finally able to get some info.
The service manager was showing me the notes on the system the dealer uses to contact Polaris. I asked him to print that out for my records and he did.

Here’s the chronological run down:

Bike purchased Friday, 8/1. Bike returned Friday, 8/1 for blown clutch cover gasket.

Monday 8/4- Dealer contacts Polaris, advised of gasket. Ordered replacement.

I get the bike back Thursday, 8/7. Ride for 1 hr. gasket lets go again. Take the bike back 9am on Friday 8/8.

Friday 8/8-
- Dealer calls Polaris, states gasket blew again.
- Polaris advises dealer to inspect clutch cover for warping and inspect mounting surface.

(That was on 8/8. The following week I was told that they are waiting on parts from Polaris. I was called on 8/16 and told the bike blew the gasket again while they were test riding it. But the notes states the dealer called Polaris on 8/12 to tell them the gasket blew again. So did they bike really blow the gasket earlier that week and the dealership never told me??? What I think really happened is the bike sat from 8/8 at 9am all the way to 8/12 before the dealer did anything. )

Tues 8/12
- Dealer calls Polaris, states gasket blew again.
- Polaris says to verify where it is blowing out and inspect the case. Check for flaws; make sure oil level is properly set. If too high will generate extra heat and pressure…

Wed 8/13
– Dealer called to get clutch cover/gasket sent out express.
– Polaris says to identify problem before just replacing parts.

Thurs 8/14
-Dealer states identified a defect in clutch cover.
-Polaris sends parts next day delivery.


Monday 8/18
-Dealer calls Polaris to tell them gasket blew out again.
-Polaris says confirmed with dealer what components were replaced and exactly which seal was leaking. Gasket and clutch cover case were replaced and is leaking oil but will not blow it out. With this info as long as there is not excessive crank case pressure, it would have to be a warped case. There is nothing else that would cause to leak from here.

Tuesday 8/19
- Dealer calls Polaris and dealer thinks issue may have been too high of oil level creating excessive pressure. Discovered intake boot was cracked and doesn’t want to give back to consumer till it’s replaced.
- Polaris says- shows it will be in stock early sept. Will adjust warranty to compensate after bike is repaired.



Now the service manager said they’re over nighting the boot to them and its going to be there tomorrow. Even though the notes say its on back order till Sept. Dealership told me that its called a drop order or something and that Polaris will go to its assembly line and pull that part off a new bike and send it to them.


So there’s the truth. Black and white. Its either going to b/c of too much oil or the case is warped. I PRAY that is was just b/c of too much oil. I told the service manager that 2 weeks ago. He says he filled it up a ¼ of the way up the view finder window cold. He says after looking at Polaris’s site that its supposed to be at the very bottom of the window cold.

So we’ll see….

[somewon]

My adivce is when you get it back to run it as hard as you can. Forget the break in period at this point, if something has been damaged or weakened by all the probelms you've been having you want to know about it ASAP!

Believe me, you can push a brand new motor a lot harder than people want to believe. The break in period is only the time it takes for all the parts to match wear points.

[TheOutlaw]

I highly doubt that it is too much oil at this point. I have run mine at 1/4 glass cold and when I first bought it it was considerably higher than that and I haven't had any motor related problems. I wish I had a clue as to what actually WOULD cause the problem.

[TINKRD]

well i got the bike back today. they said they test rode it 5 times and beat the crap out of it. no issues. i rode it before i loaded it in the truck and purposely stalled it 5 times in a row. no oil pouring out...

so far so good. its in the back of the truck and i'm going to go riding when i get home. i pray too much oil was the issue.

[somewon]

So how did everything come out??

[TINKRD]

. i rode the piss out of it sunday for about 5 hrs. all i well so far. i honestly think its got too little oil in it now. when i picked the biked up you could BARELY see the oil in the view window when the motor was hot. now that i've riden it for a few hours you can't see it at all. i'm going to swing by another shop and have them check it out real quick. i'm NEVER going back to carrollton Kawasaki. it was a compelte nightmare!!!!

Polaris's resolution was to add an extra month to my warranty.

the bike still stumbles a little bit when i got WOT from a low RPM and sometimes will stall going from WOT to 0 throttle. someone told me it need to be jetted differently. so i'll address that. i'm just happy to have it back and be riding finally

[somewon]

Yep, that's just a standard issue lean condition. Get the JD jet kit, and everything should be smooth sailing.