Well, I was really hoping for a nicer report on the 1994 Kawasaki Zx-11 I bought this spring. First the report, then if you don't have a heart attack, you can read the story afterwards.
Here's the story as I know it.
I bought this bike in May, it had 30000 miles on it but had been taken pretty good care of all it's life. The guy I bought it from had not driven it for two, maybe three, years, so it sat in his garage unused. I suspect it was not stored in any specific manner, just parked. The oil that was in the bike for that period was changed before I drove it, but the motor did run for a few minutes during the buying process on that crappy oil. The oil sample above is on oil I had put in the motor right after the purchase (I rolled the bike with the engine NOT running to a shop right next door from the location I bought the bike). It seems likely that due to lack of use and proper storage, the cylinders rusted pretty good. Then with the new oil I drove the bike, and the rings scraped the cylinders clean (I hope!) You bet your butt I'll be doing short change intervals for a while and having Terry read them for me. Butler labs did the analysis for me, thanks to Scot for his time and great memory.
The weird thing is this bike runs beautifully, and I did not rev the engine past 7000 rpm on the oil that got sampled.
Terry, if you are reading this, I will be paying for your services as soon as I can.
Here's the story as I know it.
I bought this bike in May, it had 30000 miles on it but had been taken pretty good care of all it's life. The guy I bought it from had not driven it for two, maybe three, years, so it sat in his garage unused. I suspect it was not stored in any specific manner, just parked. The oil that was in the bike for that period was changed before I drove it, but the motor did run for a few minutes during the buying process on that crappy oil. The oil sample above is on oil I had put in the motor right after the purchase (I rolled the bike with the engine NOT running to a shop right next door from the location I bought the bike). It seems likely that due to lack of use and proper storage, the cylinders rusted pretty good. Then with the new oil I drove the bike, and the rings scraped the cylinders clean (I hope!) You bet your butt I'll be doing short change intervals for a while and having Terry read them for me. Butler labs did the analysis for me, thanks to Scot for his time and great memory.
The weird thing is this bike runs beautifully, and I did not rev the engine past 7000 rpm on the oil that got sampled.
