KLR650 Only Thread......

Im pretty lucky I didn't damage my engine from over filling the oil. I drained it out, refilled and put the 2.5qts back in. Cleaned the airbox and air filter very well and cleaned the swingarm, rear brake rotor and tire as much as I could. I took it for a ride today and it was its old self. Dodged a bullet and learned my lesson

Glad everything turned out well! Keep an eye on the airbox, you might recoat everything behind it as it seeps out the last of the oil.

ordered my doohickey kit from him and got it pretty much the next day, i'm in Sacramento and hes in the LA area that does not mean much but looks like he is shipping items asap.

Due to the well documented burning of millions of litres of oil on the 08 model, I have today finished dismantling my top end.

The cams look great, as does most everything else, except:

one of the valve lifters didn't want to come out.
The piston has a nice big lump of carbon / burnt oil on it, and the underneath of the head / combustion area is BLACK. SO much burnt oil.
The spark plug was almost indistinguishable from the head, so much grey ashy crap built up on it.

The bike only has 27,000 KMs on it.

I'm ordering a Schnitz 685 piston kit and getting the cylinder bored to match obviously.

What else should I consider replacing while I have it apart?

I'm thinking of getting the head cleaned professionally while I get the cylinder done. Thinking maybe I'll replace all the valves / seals etc. Thoughts anyone?

Anything else?

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It's amazing it still runs, check out the spark plug!

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I'm liking the lower centre of gravity...

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Roughly 16000 miles on my new-to-me '04.
Came with a fresh oil change (top of sight glass with bike level) when I picked it up from the dealer, and there is no perceptible change in level now, after 1000 miles with several 1+ hour, 5500-6000RPM slab flaggings.

I'd trust anything found on those "other" KLR forums before I trust anything here on this forum, any day, every day Just my general observation, but there's not many members here actively trying to improve the KLR as a whole.

And if you did read, there's plenty of Gen1 bikes that burn oil. It's the nature of older engines, especially those who roll 4000rpm+ daily, they tend to drink a little bit of their own blood as they get older.

My 04 burns only a little bit of oil between oil changes, as in from the top of the sight glass to about 1/8" below the sight glass.

As is with everything, your oil consumption may vary. Some engines burn it, some don't, plain and simple. Just because MY engine burns it doesn't mean YOUR engine will.

Mine burns about a quart every 500 miles when slabbing it, yes it needs a rebuild badly.

I'd suggest www.eaglemike.com for the 685 kit. He just updated/improved his whole line of big bore kits. I've installed a couple doz kits on the KLR and his new 685 has improved rings and even lighter weight piston. I was amazed at the difference with vibration compared to previous kits. Also, EM only supplies OEM gaskets. Schnitz is aftermarket gaskets and I never had best of luck with their base gaskets. If you already ordered Schnitz just substitute their base gasket for the OEM from your local dealer.

As for the head...generally just a quick lapping of the valve seats along with an overall clean up is all thats needed. I can generally get less than 5% leakage when done. Replacement valve guides are inexpensive and a good practice but I've found the OEM guides to be pretty robust even in long term oil burning engines. Its the valve seats that take a beating. Just make sure whoever laps the seats goes easy...only takes a little to clean them up.

I went to 685 at 10k miles. It was not a great oil burner, but since I had a rear counterbalancer bearing going out and had to split the motor I went 685 too. The motor now has 50K miles and is going great! The valves and seals are original. Only time I needed to adjust the valves was at 2K miles - they are still in tolerance 48 K miles later.

Certainly have the head cleaned - or clean it your self and check in the ports to see if the valves have excessive carbon on their underside. If they are not too bad, you dont need to have it taken all apart. If they do, then you will have to have everything ground, seated valves adjusted and then in a few K miles the valve tolerances checked again. I presume that you checked the valve gaps before you took the head off?

There is no need to change jetting in the carb. It is fine at stock settings. Schnitz have the original assembly suggestions that Cary posted.

What you absolutely must do as the 1st step is check the ring gaps before you think of any assembly. Whomever is doing the boring might do this for you- but still check them. Also follow the post boring cleaning suggestions.

I recently cleaned up a used head which was carboned up (not as bad as yours tho!). A friend gave me a spray can of Yamaha de-carboning stuff. Couldn't believe how it softened the hard carbon deposits up - made it much easier to refresh the head assembly. I disassembled the head for inspection and found the valve guides in good condition. Suspect your head won't need anything other than de-carboning.

oh dear

so now I have to decide on eagle mike 692 or schnitz 685...

guess there's some more research right there....

cheers for the comments on valves....

and yeah the guide by cary on the schnitz website is very good. made the job really easy.

I have new sprockets and chain I want to install today. I don't have the right tools to break the front counter sprocket nut.off. Not the right one to put the new chain together. Here's to hoping I can find someone with the tools so I can get this stuff on my sexy beast

Everyone to their own. Each has its own personality.

A large number on this site have migrated here from the 'other' sites for a variety of good reasons. Reasons are many but also because they have, 'been there, done that'. Not actively trying to improve the KLR as a whole...? That is a wide generalization. Less tribal knowlege and endless repetition of the same issues here.

Many of the 'knowlegable' ones stay on those sites for economic reasons.

Not to concern yourself. EMike was very involved in all of the development stages of the 685 with Cary of Schnitz. In fact when Cary passed, all of Cary's technical notes were sent (Willed) to Mike. EMike is one of the very best to deal with. Either company is excellent to deal with.

Eagle Mike is the God of the KLR world in my opinion. Next time I am in LA I am going to find him and shake his hand and buy him a beer!

Certainly, your literary preference must be respected, XpressCS!

Only one question: Why are YOU here, with, as you say, such more trustworthy and superior knowledge and information available elsewhere?

Just wonderin'!



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As to excessive oil consumption by KLRs, one must agree with your premise: High-mileage engines generally consume more oil than lower-mileage machines. However, an anomaly occurred in KLRdom with the release of the 2008 models; at that point in time, even some brand-new KLR650s used excessive oil, according to their owners (if I remember correctly).

Men say further refining of piston-and-ring manufacture and design, post-Generation 2, has staunched effectively this low-mileage excessive oil consumption syndrome on later models.

What do the "other forums" say about some early Generation 2 KLR650s' oil consumption history? Excessive, in some cases, or--the same as for previous models, from 1987-2007?

A great person with exceptional business ethics. An excellent and thorough engineer too. Enjoyed many long technical discussions with him. Another is Bill Watt - of T-Bob fame. Bill and Mike worked together on the T-bob and Mike does the milling for it.

His shop is in San Diego, you missed by 100 miles or so.


Mike really is an extra-cool guy. Generous and helpful to a fault.
The Oracle of all KLR mechanical knowledge, for sure.

Thats an understatement!

Entertainment value dear Watson! And Shiny Things draw my attention.

I don't pay attention to the 2nd gen bikes, they're fugly :dllama But I do know the 08 models had a particular issue. Most gen1 owners switch to the 685 kit to cure their oil thirsty engines.

More specifically in El Cajon. He is now within reasonable driving distance of me now, er that of which my butt can handle on the KLR