2008 STX-15F Fuel Tank Recall

t.zelazny · 08-20-2009, 08:08 PM

Anyone know whats up with this recall? Is it as serious as the recall letter makes it out to be? The letter says its only on some units, did Kawasaki get a bad bunch of tanks from their supplier?

Gary T. · 08-21-2009, 02:58 AM

From what I understand, the tank can crack and leak fuel in the hull. The fumes can ignite and then you go BOOM!

I guess Kawasaki used two brands of tanks, the brand affected is BMS Foley. If you open the storage compartment and look at the top of the tank near the front between the hold down straps you should see the brand and the lot number for the tank. I have two ski's. One has a lot number 01??? and the other has 02???. The one with the 01 has to be replaced the one with 02 is OK.

My ski goes in next week. I'm a little worried because to change the tank you have to remove the engine. I just hope everything goes smooth and the ski is just as reliable as before.

Gary T.

rotortiller · 08-21-2009, 07:18 AM

One tank has a flexible fuel filler neck and one has it intregrated into the tank. The latter is the bad one. The 2008s had the good tank and some of the 2009s had the bad tank. At least that is my understanding of the racall. Most tanks were replaced before the units were sold.

RT

rotortiller · 08-21-2009, 10:40 PM

I checked further after conveying the information from Greenhulk.net in the above post. That information is not accurate. The affected tank I have has the soft rubber tank to filler adapter neck tube. Information at Kawasaki.com is sparce for details of what exactly is wrong and tank inspection details. I'm riding until I can get it fixed. The good news is the engine removal is straight forward provided they don't mess with the engine mounts at the hull. Kawasaki say 4.5 hours to do the job, I'm thinking about doing it myself to avoid a dealer screws up. All they have to do is mess up the ecu through poor maintenance practise only to blame the customer.I appoligize for passing along poor information obtained from Greenhulk.net. Link to recall below.

http://www.scotiabladerunners.ca/JS09-02.pdf

Gary T. · 08-22-2009, 12:03 AM

I wanted to post a correction about the lot numbers. I have one ski with lot number 02??? which is affected, and one ski with lot number 08??? that is not affected. I guess somewhere between 02000 and 08000 they figured out the problem. Sorry I can't narrow down the lot numbers better. I'll see what I can find out this weekend.

rotortiller · 08-22-2009, 11:31 AM

Mine looks like 08008, there are other numbers kinda of hard to read directly under the Foley MN and above the 08008. I found this in the lower or most forward embedded block.

RT

t.zelazny · 08-23-2009, 10:06 AM

Thanks RT & Gary T. You guys are right, the stamped in numbers are hard to read. I had to shine a shop light at different angles just to read the numbers. In my case, the number is 12108 and you can just barely make out the BM F. I have the flexible filler tube. I tried to call Kawasaki customer service Friday but they apparently are closed till this Monday.

What is even stranger or purely coincidental is I had to replace my fuel tank filler, Kawi part number 59231-3716. Last week when I went to gas up, I could not get the gas cap off and really had to use all my strength to twist it off . I probably have a tendency to tighten it too tight and the tank was pretty empty and it was very hot out. The threads split and I ordered a new one. Anyway when I went to the dealer to pick up the part, I asked him about the recall and he said he could tell by the VIN number which models were affected. Unfortunately I did not have it on me. If he could tell, shouldn't Kawasaki know also? Or are they just worried that they can't be entirely sure what assembly worker puts in what tank regardless of VIN number.

I'm going to call Kawasaki again on Monday, I don't want to bring it to the dealer and lose it for a week if I don't have to.

Thanks again for your help.

Tom

thomslik · 08-24-2009, 05:59 PM

I called Kawasaki and was given the following info about the recall.

The affected BMS manufactured tanks are lot numbers with the first three digits 010 through 033 and 121 though 130, all with the last two digits 08.

The Acrotech manufactured tanks are all OK.

This makes one of my skis OK and the other needs a tank replacement.

OpenSkyz · 08-28-2009, 12:48 AM

Actually all failures have come from the last portion of that first range, but Kawi is doing the right thing and replacing all the tanks that BMS used the alternate material that has displayed failure.

rotortiller · 08-28-2009, 11:58 AM

And that is one of several reason why I bought a new Kawasaki instead of a Seadoo. They don't mess around with **** that doesn't work to an acceptable standard and they doo look after legitimate claims.

rt