I would like to know why everybody say that the kdx is reliable. Compare to which bike it 's reliable? Would a CR250 be as durable as a kdx. I had the bike only for one year and i ride only during the summer. (snow canada). At the end of the summer i was surprised to find that the motor had to be rebuilt. The piston and ring were out the usable range mentioned in the book. ring between 0.85mm and 0.90mm and the the piston 68.70 and 68.75.
This is a 220r year 2000. Before I bought the bike i had it inspect buy a mechanic at a kawasaki dealer and he told me that the motor showed almost no sign of wear. How many hours can you ride the bike before you have to rebuild the top end? Seeing all of you guys changing front fork for a kx one make me want to do it. The stock fork is just to smooth for big jump.
A lot of factors determine how long a top end will last. If you "only ride during the summer", but ride all day every day, you got off lucky only needing to do the top end once. You don't say what kind of oil you use, or what ratio, but that could be a factor if you don't ride a lot of hours. Another thing is dirt in the motor, what do you use on your filter? Is it a K&N by chance?
Mike
Life's tough, it's even tougher if you're stupid.
'04 KDX220
pete23quebec wrote:I Before I bought the bike i had it inspect buy a mechanic at a kawasaki dealer and he told me that the motor showed almost no sign of wear.
How did this mechanic "inspect" the bike? Did he do a compression test? Did he pull the jug an measure the cylinder and ring gap?
As Mike said, there are many factors that affect top end life. Replacing the top end is a maintenance item not a relaiabily factor, just like changing the oil, or chain and sprocket, or tires, or....
Robb
*Sold* but not forgotten '03 KDX220R
'02 KX250
PW80 for the Gman
XR50R with Zuk yellow plastic and pink starlet stikers...soon to be Katiebugs ride.
AMA
Off Camber M/C
BRC
AZOHVC
As far as I know... the KDX's reliability or longevity has never been in question. Other 2 strokes should look to the KDX as a mark to shoot for. I have personally known many KDX's go for several years without a topend.
*** Administrator //*** ****'95 KDX 200/****
"People ate cows a thousand years ago for the same reason we eat them now. Cause they are easy to catch.We're not savages,we're just lazy. A cheetah could taste like chocolate heroin. But will never know. Those bastards are fast!!! "
I believe that my '99 220 is getting it's first top end right now. It had the stock original piston...really crappy looking casting, but no sign of imminent failure. Still had lots of compression, was noisy, but the best available info indicated high risk with the stock piston, so I decided not to put it off any longer. KIPS was still free-moving as far as I can tell.
thanks for your answers. The oil I use is Spectro 2-cycle injection/premix lubricant 32/1 ratio and for the filter it's k&n. I ride about 80hrs during last summer( got the bike in june, stop in november and 6 weeks without touching it. injured) When the mechanic inspected the bike he told me that the compression was good but never wrote a number on the bill and at that time I didn't knew what good compression was. Maybe 120 pounds was good for him. I also found a lot of carbon inside on the top end, on the piston and in the kips valve. The bike fouled about 10 spark plugs during the summer( ngkb8es ). I went to the dealer to get it jet properly. It's was better but still too rich and fouled 2 or 3 plugs after for about 6 weeks. Maybe there were to much carbon in it so it was impossible to jet it properly and to find the real compression level. Anyway, I decided to learn everything by myself during the winter with the books and previous post on the site lololol. I still haven't got my new piston yet. I posted 1 picture of the previous piston one and the kips valve when I opened the motor in the gallery. I'm not sure, but i think this might be a lot of carbon.
well, I never tried one, but I have heard lots of reports of K&N filters letting fine dust through. If that's true, I would say there's your problem. Also, I wouldn't trust an oil meant for injectors too. I would stick with one that works for tons of people running similar bikes on premix-only oil. My recommendation would be to go with a dual foam filter like a Twinair or a UNI (some people hate UNIs but I had one on my ancient KDX175 and thoght it worked well). Also use real (sticky) filter oil, like Maxxima or No-Toil. Don't use No-Toil if you let your bike sit for a longtime between rides.
Good luck,
Mike
Life's tough, it's even tougher if you're stupid.
'04 KDX220
I would say their real reliable I have a 97 KDX 200 and am just now putting a new piston and ring in it, not because I had to just because I didn't want to go riding the next time and have it loose compression. I have never had to touch the bike it has always ran great.
Generally considered one of the most reliable 2-stokes...including longevity. I really think this is due to the trail riding nature/application of the KDX itself. Any modern, plated 2-stroke top-end will last a long time if kept in the idle-midrange during most of it's life. Ride a KDX in the sand every day, and it will last just as long if not less than a 250. It's still a bulltproof machine for the most part, and I'd have to say more bulltproof than most MX rides...Wide ratio trans helps the motor's life too.
hey your top end looks exactly like mine did before i cleaned it. I am 16 so if i can do it so can you. I took the kips apart and cleaned everything, very easy. No more slugde. I also bought a new weisco piston kit from rockymountainmc.com. Not bad price. I would suggest you do that. Also im going to switch to 42:1 so that im not using so much oil. Buy a new piston. Mine is an 01 and had the stock piston in it.
Pete.... that is really excessive!
I haven't seen one that bad... even jetted badly. Your getting a ton of blow-by.
Ditch that K&N and use some 100% synthetic 2 stroke oil of your choice after you do the topend.
WOW....
*** Administrator //*** ****'95 KDX 200/****
"People ate cows a thousand years ago for the same reason we eat them now. Cause they are easy to catch.We're not savages,we're just lazy. A cheetah could taste like chocolate heroin. But will never know. Those bastards are fast!!! "
I wonder what fuel your running or what fuel they had ran before you got the bike, what octane? I've understood that the higher the octane fuel you run the more carbon buildup you'll get. The carbon is a byproduct of the octane additive the fuel manufacturers put in the fuel during the rendering process. Has anyone else heard of this with high octane fuel?
I know when I was dragracing, a fella told me about the relationship on running high octane gas and the buildup of carbon around the valves and on the piston. I never tore down an engine that ran high octane gas but since he'd been racing for several years and ran engines that required high octane racing fuels I took his word for it. I always built engines that ran on pump gas. Hence my lack of experience with the higher octane racing fuels.
I have tore 2 stroke small engines apart that had excessive carbon like that and usually it was from excessive oil/fuel ratios and used like 91 octane pump gas. But I wonder about the octane idea though. Maybe a combo of the two, excessive octane and oil in the fuel? Just an idea to throw out there.
