Can the 2014-earlier heads be modified to the later spec?The real cause of the leaks on this bike is pooled oil in the head after the engine is shut off. In 2015 Kawasaki finally added an oil drain back port on the left side of the head to resolve this issue.
Can the 2014-earlier heads be modified to the later spec?
No way to modify the existing head, then?Sure, if you want to order a new cylinder head and replace it.
Interesting that Kawasaki would come up with a fix and not publicize it. The leak problem has been the reason a number of riders in my area sold their C14 and decided to ride an FJ. The leak was never bad enough for me to dig in and fix until recently. I don,t like droplets on the garage floor. Sadly its almost time for me to hang up my riding boots and convert the closet into much needed pantry space.
No way to modify the existing head, then?
If I ever have the chance to get a 15-up head and I need to remove either of mine for servicing I'll look into a swap. Otherwise they'll stay as-is.Lots of manufactures just quietly fix problems in model year updates and never publicize it. I suspect it's partially because they don't want to admit that there was a problem in the first place, because this opens up a big can of worms for them. Honda and others do the same thing.
I haven't really looked into it. You'd need one of the new heads to inspect how they modified it, and then you'd have to remove your head and have it machined, if it even could be done. It would be a lot of work, I'm not sure it's worth the effort.
I do this on every bike with a valve cover gasket. FWIW, the exhaust sensor area of my '12 seemed a little oily/dirty but the gasket interface area wasn't.Probably would be cheaper to use a new valve cover gasket everytime the valve cover comes off with a light dab of rtv in the corners on the left side. IMHO.
Probably would be cheaper to use a new valve cover gasket everytime the valve cover comes off with a light dab of rtv in the corners on the left side. IMHO.