I have KLE that is nicely looked after (at ~21000km). By looking after, I mean an oil (and filter) change every 5000 km, and nothing more really. Spark plugs were changed at some point (~13000 km) and brake pads are replaced twice so far, but these have nothing to do with my story. I am the second owner and I bought this bike with ~5000km on the clock. It is a 2006, registered at 2007, it had been sitting in a shed for a whole year when I bought it at 2009.

I have used the original overpriced oil filter for the first change, the K&N standard (from M&P) for the second, and HiFlo from WeMoto for the last change.

The oil lamp went on suddenly when cruising at 70 kmh or so.

No noise, engine running perfectly, but both lights (temp and oil) on.

So I pulled over, checked the oil, checked the fan, and waited for a while.

The lights did not go off.

So I rode home, very slowly, not revving more than 3000 rpm.

Next day I came back with the authorized Kawasaki guy, he says its probably the sensor, so I rode all the way to his garage, slowly, not revving more than 5000 rpm.

Turns out its not the sensor but the pump itself, the rotor is scratched and its not pushing oil as it should. No oil pressure. Nada.

Now, this is a sh*tload of money that I have to pay for an oil pump and new gaskets and all sorts of things that I was convinced that I wouldn't have to worry about until I hit 75000 km or something. So I am wondering if there is anyone here that has encountered anything like this before?

The Kawasaki guy says he never saw a KLE come back before 75.000, but they don't replace my oil pump out of warranty neither. Do you think it could have been because of the HiFlo oil filter? The Kawasaki guy says it is sh*t, but it should not cause such a failure. After all, there is another filter before the oil pump.

Repairs cost about 300€ with original parts, and 200€ with used spares. I think it is ridiculous that they ask for 100€ for a used oil pump. I found some oil pumps in eBay from England and Germany, they are cheap (~30€) but they won't ship to Turkey.

Would anyone be willing to help me out with this one? A spare oil pump lying around or something? I only need the rotor, the 2 parts that grind against each other, part no 16154 according to this catalog. I believe it is the same in every model of KLE.

OEM Motorparts - Kawasaki - KLE 500 - 2006 - Oil pump