'08 KRL broke yesterday, let's figure it out...

9200 miles on it. Tooling along a dirt road at 35-40, & it suddenly lost compression, as if the spark plug came out. It didn't.

Looked for fluid loss from a blown head gasket. None.

Tonight I started pulling it apart to look for hopefully obvious problems.

Engine turns over just fine, but still sounds like there's no compression.

I pulled the head cover to see if the cam chain was intact. It is.

Bump the starter to check cam rotation & valve openings. They are.

Pulled the chain tensioner bolt to see if there is tension on the cam chain. There is.

At this point I'm planning on working my way down. Next step is to pull the head, then the cylinder. I'm a former BMW trained tech, so I'm not afraid of turning wrenches.

What I'm looking for here are ideas of something I haven't thought of. I know KLRs aren't much more complicated than the lawn mower engines I learned on in 9th grade shop class, but they are an animal all to their own with special circumstances.

If you have any particular insights, I'd appreciate your thoughts.

You say it sounds like no compression ... did you check compression ?

Never mind check all 4 items:

- spark
- compression
- timing
- fuel

One of them is bad. Not sure why your stripping the engine before figuring out why its not starting.

Nothing uniquely KLR, but . . . stuck valve?

Unlikely, but . . . stuck KACR (Kawasaki Automatic Compression Release)?

I was reading the KLR FAQ and it mentioned more specifically the KLX having had an issues with the KACR:

"Kawasaki Automatic Compression Release. This is a spring-loaded weight on the end of the exhaust camshaft that partially opens one of the exhaust valves at low (<600) rpm. These are a known weak point on KLX bikes, but there don't seem to be any/many recorded failures of the KLR KACR. Someone estimated that the pin on the unit gets beat 8x/second in the operating RPM range, which could be pretty hard on it. People have totally removed the mechanism with no ill effects. It may be a residual from the kickstarter option, and not really needed with electric start.

Just a thought.

Watchin and learnin

Because the only one of your four items that seems to be missing is compression.

Fuel delivery; check
Spark; check
Comp; don't have a gauge, but I'll get one tomorrow
Timing; If the cam chain jumped time, I most likely would have heard/felt piston & valves playing footsy. No such occurrence yesterday when it quit. And no ugly or odd noises when I turn it over with the starter.

I saw your earlier post about that, so I looked for it in the Clymer manual when I got home. They don't mention it. I just found it from your description, & a visual check doesn't show any problems. All valves APPEAR to be functioning properly.

I just got off the phone with Buddy Vitt (?), a long time Jap bike guru. He gave me some great advice on how to look for compression loss without a gauge, & without pulling the top end off. I'll be trying that tomorrow evening.

I also think I'll order a Kawasaki shop manual. Clymer's good, but only SO good.

Subscribed. I want to know what's going on.

I was just turning the motor by wrench to check the timing. First rotation & the cams are off, so I go for a second as the manwell describes. Almost all the way around and...FULL STOP. It's not compression cuz I pulled the plug first. I back it off a bit, then go back again. Same thing. I apply just enough muscle to be sure it's not just stiction. It's not.

It seems I do indeed have a little dance going on between the piston & a valve, but not too much for the starter motor to overcome. That would explain the tiny hammer I hear, which I mistook for compression leakage.

On the plus side, it could be a good excuse for a 685 kit.

There goes that sweet original Cota 123 I have my eye on. :-(

Ok wasn't sure. Not that im a motorcycle expert just tossing out ideas. 685 does sound like a perfect time. Hopefully nothing catastrophic happend to tje shortblock.
What would allow the cam timing to jump and still operate everything albeit out of time?

That's the $640 question isn't it?

...everything should be just fine again.

Seriously, sounds like a jumped cam-chain to me.
Ever hear of the dreaded "Doohickey" problem? That's where I'd look first.

Looks like my first hunch was spot on huh?
Glad you found the problem. Let us know how your beast wakes up after the rebuild.

Ohs Noez! Why you gotta go there? Lol

Because it seems like the most likely problem based on the O.P's descrpition and I think a likely place to look.

I might be a DR rider but, Like all my D.S. Brethern (even KTM riders)

I was actually hoping putting the R before the L would do the trick.

I did think about the doohickey, so that's why I checked the spring tension.

Now that I think about it, I may have been looking in the wrong place. I hate it when I get an idea, but can't do anything about it till I get home.

Sheared key on the rotor? Need results of the compression test. I don't know how you disable the compression release to get "full" compression. I just cut mine off on my SV.

I like these problem solving sessions.

I agree that the Doohicky / jumped chain idea sounds likely but try a few basics first. Check your valve adjustment. If the valves went way out of adjustment they could do this. The valve doesnt return all the way and the piston smacks it back up. You get some compression but without a guage you dont know how much. the valve isnt stuck, it is just late so the piston gives it a tap and sends it on its way.

Thus the obvious and fast check is valve adjustment. If not then look at cam timing and start with the doo since your going to be there anyways. Hope it turns out to be simple

That will suck as we spoke briefly about that very thing.

The more I think about it, the more I think you guys are right.

I'll be checking the valves when I get home, & I expect to find trouble. I'm also quite sure at least one of them is bent. And if so, it'll probably have been caused by a failed doo spring.

I thought that the doohickey was just for the balancer shaft drive chain and had nothing to do with valve timing.... ?