Kawasaki Vulcan Nomad

Model Vulcan Nomad made by Kawasaki got 24 consumer complains as well as 1 service bulletin. Consumer complaints with reference, among others things, to electrical system and engine. Technical service bulletines regarding unknown or other.

Model 1999

Bulletins


BulletinBulletin dateReplacement BulletinItem no.SummaryAdded
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
MC980804/17/1998601985Single-book service manual on service specifications. *yc09/01/1998

Consumer Complaints


Fail datemilesoccurencesPurchase date
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
07/07/2012195291
 I was riding my 1999 kawasaki vulcan nomad at 60mph when with no warning the engine lost power and died out, good thing my hand was covering the clutch. i immediately pulled it in and coasted to the side of the road. had it towed to my house. took to mechanic and the gear for the oil pump went out causing damage to the motor. i do not understand why kawasaki will not do anything about this problem, are they waiting for a huge law suit after someone loses there life. guess they do not hold there product to the highest regards to quality or customer satisfaction. so now i am out 3200 dollars for a fault of the manufacturer, very dis satisfied and now embarrassed to say i own one. shame on you kawasaki! *tr
07/07/201219529
 I was riding my 1999 kawasaki vulcan nomad at 60mph when with no warning the engine lost power and died out, good thing my hand was covering the clutch. i immediatedly pulled it in and coasted to the side of the road. had it towed to my house. took to mechanic and the gear for the oil pump went out causing damage to the motor. i do not understand why kawasaki will not do anything about this problem, are they waiting for a huge law suit after someone loses there life. guess they do not hold there product to the highest reguards to qaulity or customer satisfaction. so now i am out 3200 dollars for a fault of the manufacturer, very dis satisfied and now embarresed to say i own one. shame on you kawasaki!
ENGINE
07/07/2012195291
 I was riding my 1999 kawasaki vulcan nomad at 60mph when with no warning the engine lost power and died out, good thing my hand was covering the clutch. i immediately pulled it in and coasted to the side of the road. had it towed to my house. took to mechanic and the gear for the oil pump went out causing damage to the motor. i do not understand why kawasaki will not do anything about this problem, are they waiting for a huge law suit after someone loses there life. guess they do not hold there product to the highest regards to quality or customer satisfaction. so now i am out 3200 dollars for a fault of the manufacturer, very dis satisfied and now embarrassed to say i own one. shame on you kawasaki! *tr
07/07/201219529
 I was riding my 1999 kawasaki vulcan nomad at 60mph when with no warning the engine lost power and died out, good thing my hand was covering the clutch. i immediatedly pulled it in and coasted to the side of the road. had it towed to my house. took to mechanic and the gear for the oil pump went out causing damage to the motor. i do not understand why kawasaki will not do anything about this problem, are they waiting for a huge law suit after someone loses there life. guess they do not hold there product to the highest reguards to qaulity or customer satisfaction. so now i am out 3200 dollars for a fault of the manufacturer, very dis satisfied and now embarresed to say i own one. shame on you kawasaki!
ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
11/11/201019256
 Tl* the contact owns a 1999 kawasaki vulcan nomad motorcycle. the ontact was driving approximately 70-75 mph when the vehicle stalled without warning. the vehicle was taken to a local mechanic who performed a diagnostic that located the failure at the plastic and metal gear. the plastic and metal gear failed and caused the oil pump to fail. the manufacturer was contacted and was made aware of the failure, but denied assistance with the repair due to vehicle age. the vehicle was not repaired. the failure and the current mileage was 19,256.
11/11/201019256
 Tl-the contact owns a 1999 kawasaki vulcan nomad motorcycle. the contact was driving approximately 70-75 mph when the vehicle stalled without warning. the vehicle was taken to a local mechanic who performed a diagnostic that located the failure at the plastic and metal gear. the plastic and metal gear failed and caused the oil pump to fail. the manufacturer was contacted and was made aware of the failure, but denied assistance with the repair due to vehicle age. the vehicle was not repaired. the failure and the current mileage was 19,256. kmj
11/11/201019256
 Tl-the contact owns a 1999 kawasaki vulcan nomad motorcycle. the contact stated while driving at approximately 70 to 75 mph the motorcycle stalled without warning. the motorcycle was taken to the local mechanic who performed a diagnosed, that located the failure at the plastic and metal gear. the plastic and metal gear failed and caused the oil pump to fail. the manufacturer was contacted and they are aware of the failure, but denied assistance with the repair due to motorcycle age. the motorcycle was not repaired. the failure and the current mileage was 19,256. li
10/05/20051
 Defective oil gear destroyed the engine on my 1999 vulcan nomad. kawasaki is willing to cover only the pump and gear of the engine but not the rest of the damage. i am going to be charged over $1,700 for their faulty gear. there was no warning, no official recall, no instructions on what to do if the gear failed. i tried to work it out with kawasaki. the local dealer is even on my side and called kawasaki motor corp to faught for me. when i tried to work it out with kawasaki motor corp tech depart, the technician stated to me that the engine damage was my fault. i should have noticed the oil light was on and their should have been a noise coming from the engine. when i road the bike, there was no light nor any noise coming from the engine except right before it turned off. once that happened i coasted off the road and had it towed back to my house. the only ones to touch the area located with the oil light was certified kawasaki mechanics. the only times the area was touched was when there was an electrical fire was under the tank right below the light. the other time was when the official kawasaki mechanics rebuilt the ignition switch/light. *nm
ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING - COOLING SYSTEM
03/18/201057000
 I have a 1999 kawasaki vulcan nomad. the gear on the oil pump striped and did damage to the engine. kawasaki know's that the gear fails. it did on my bike at 57,000 miles. it is in the kawasaki shop now and will cost around $2200 to fix. kawasaki has fixed some bikes but i was told by kawasaki that they stoped this last year. i live in arkansas and was in florida on a trip when i had the problem. i loaded it in a u-haul and brought it back home. kawasaki knowing there is a problem with this and doing nothing to fix the problem is no different that what toyota has done over the past few years.
ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING - ENGINE
06/08/200441000109/25/2001
 Lodged original complaint under subcategory 'other'. plastic (nylon) oil gear failure. mine failed at 41000 miles. most have failed at earlier mileage. failure occurrs without warning, results in sudden loss of all oil pressure, can lead to engine lock-up, and loss of control. no injuries have been reported as yet. kawasaki is aware of the problem, but are waiting for failure before replacement. failure only occurrs while riding, which always leaves the rider stranded, requiring a tow. i hope death and injury are not prerequisites to recall. *ak
09/13/20031
 1999 kawasaki nomad motorcycle lost power.*mr while driving the motorcycle's oil pressure light came on and the motorcycle lost all power. the bike was towed to the consumer's home. the consumer removed the oil filter and found deposits of nylon material. the consumer went onto a kawasaki club website and saw information that a nylon oil pump gear was used in that series bike and that it would fail below 30k miles. the dealer was notified and told the consumer that this was a factory issue. *nm
07/27/20011
 While driving, consumers motorcycle oil pump gear failed, dealer informed consumer that there was a bulletin regarding this defect, consumer is wondering why a recall has not been issued, consumer found out that parts were backordered and is requesting that the replacement gear get expedited quickly. *slc
 Motorcycle has a plastic gear meshed into a metal gear. plastic gear is subject to breaking, and will stop lubricating the engine, causing engine to fail. dealer is awareof problem. *ak
02/25/2000
 Frel engine oil pump has suspected high incident failure, causing possible injury or death. also, rear wheel loses traction because of power failure. dealer is looking into problem. sudden loss of oil pressure, causing engine valve lifters to malfunction (go flat). engine will not operate properly, and lose power suddenly. the inherent design of this motorcycle is for open highway interstate types of usage. sudden loss of power from the engine at highway speed of 75mph could end in sudden loss of engine power, resulting in a fatality or injury. especially, with suspected frequency higher than usual. *ak
POWER TRAIN
06/14/2002
 Dealer made repairs on three separate occasions within a month, but speedometer is still inoperative. consumer unable to determine proper speed. manufacturer was contacted, and informed consumer that no solution can be found at this time. feel free to provide any further information. *ak
POWER TRAIN - AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION
06/08/200441000109/20/2001
 Plastic oil gear failure results in total loss of oil pressure, which could lead to engine failure, which would result in total loss of control. mine started and warmed normally, but the oil pressure light came on less than five miles down the road. i turned the ignition off and coasted onto a side road, where a check of my oil level showed it was full but no pressure. seems to only involve 1999 and early 2000 model vulcans. well documented design flaw that kawasaki is aware of. kawasaki is repairing this after it fails, which can only happen while riding, resulting in mandatory stranding of the rider. mine failed while on vacation in michigan. my choice was to have the bike towed to a local garage and get a motel room until repaired ($225/tow, $50-60/night in a motel, (minimum 3 nights ,if they can fit you into their shop schedule; otherwise, who knows) or rent a truck, $564 (800 miles from home), fuel for 10mpg truck, $150, missing two days of vacation, priceless. rather than be a stranger in a strange land, i elected to rent the truck. at least i would be home, and the work done by my local shop. kawasaki is electing to let their customers suffer, riding potentially dangerous motorcycles, in the hope of not having to fix some of the bikes. my bike is not yet repaired, so i can not comment on the success of the fix (steel gear). the repair requires th eremoval and disassembly of the engine (min 16 hrs.). i am disappointed in kawasaki, and can only assume that the nhtsa has not received a sufficient number of reports to force a recall. and it would have to be forced as kawasaki has demonstrated that they can not be trusted to recall the bikes on their own. *ak
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
07/07/201219529
 I was riding my 1999 kawasaki vulcan nomad at 60mph when with no warning the engine lost power and died out, good thing my hand was covering the clutch. i immediatedly pulled it in and coasted to the side of the road. had it towed to my house. took to mechanic and the gear for the oil pump went out causing damage to the motor. i do not understand why kawasaki will not do anything about this problem, are they waiting for a huge law suit after someone loses there life. guess they do not hold there product to the highest reguards to qaulity or customer satisfaction. so now i am out 3200 dollars for a fault of the manufacturer, very dis satisfied and now embarresed to say i own one. shame on you kawasaki!

Car dealers selling


StateCityZipNamePhone
KYNICHOLASVILLEHAYDEN'S OUTDOOR SPORTS859-887-5679