kokusan reliability

Cant vouch for the 'Berg units, but just had my 2K-3 fail in my 04 300- 11,000 kms/2 years service. I expected better but electricals are always an unknown.
Just like the SEMs, some will probaly experience exceptional service life while others experience failures.

the early kokusans had some kind of problems which included overheating and then failure. these were the '04s that came out late in '03. the aussies and the brits got them first. by the time the 'septics' got them i believe it was cured.

information isn't available on how and why. rumours were that the katooms run the ignitions in oil so they run cooler-me thinks it's the opposite or they got the story wrong.

it was most definately cured quickly whatever it was though.

regards

Taffy

My 04 FE450 (Aus spec) CDI unit failed on the weekend... Only the weakest of weak spark could occasionally be coaxed out of the plug when diagnosing the problem. A reasonable assumption for its failure would be the exposed wire core of one of the wires of the CDI loom (blue/white trace from the TPS) that I subsequently found shorting out against the frame... Oops.

How did the wires become exposed in the 1st place you ask? Well, about 5cm from the actual CDI unit (where the loom kicks in 90deg to line up with the CDI plug) where the loom is cable tied to the frame, the protective sheath for the loom finishes. This leaves the only protection of the loom from rubbing against the frame to the insulation of the wires themself.

No further diagnosis was performed for tracking down the actual cause of failure - simply another CDI was plugged in and the bike fired up (I have 4 day ride this w/e so didnt have the time!). But it does seem strange that shorting the wire from the TPS would kill the CDI (its just a signal in I assume) - especially considering that the wire looks like it has been rubbing/exposed for quite a while. Granted Im not sure how long the paint has been rubbed off the frame to actually allow the wire to short circuit.

Im now wondering if the exposed wires were just coincidence and the actual failure was due to this early build issue referred to above. I wonder if I should contact Husaberg Aus about it?

$350 later Im back in business... (better than SEM costs I guess)


adam

Yep - its not a SEM (I meant that I was happy that the Kokusan associated costs are much better than SEM stuff - luckily!)

The ODO says about 25hrs (i'm the 2nd owner) but I can tell thats its done quite a few more than that. How many extra? Im not to sure. I just replaced the original chain and sprocket so thats the only indication of total life that I can go on.

Adam