Loosely Translated title: Sound of tank leakage

Well, this is an interesting… It has been rumored that the whistling from the 2008 Ninja 250R comes from the vent holes getting clogged by a coating in US Spec Ninja gas tanks. This coating is supposed to be to protect the tank from the gas/ethanol mixture common in the US. ( I’m not talking about E85 — But what is commonly referred to as ‘Winter Gas’ which is now being seen year round is some parts of the US. )

So, I called some Kawasaki dealers around the US, (Yes, I get that bored…) and this is what I found out:

• Kawasaki will only replace your gas cap ONCE under warranty. So, I would wait to get this done until we find out if the cap gets redesigned before you go in for the replacement.
• Black Bikes do it the worst. Mainly due to the color causing the sun to heat the bike up faster.
• Kawasaki released an official fix for this to dealers. However, quickly told dealers to STOP doing the fix since it breaks Emissions laws in the US and is illegal to perform.

I think we’ll find out shortly as the bike becomes more popular in Europe and Asia if this is a wide spread problem on all bikes, and not just the US ones. It’s starting to seem like Kawasaki doesn’t want to pay the price to do a recall since this is not a safety issue — just an annoyance.

One of the first things that most Ninja 250R Riders notice (and freak out about) is the tendency of this motorcycle to make an odd screeching, beeping, buzzing, whining type sound.

Whats funny is that this sounds like a warning buzzer, and I have heard people think it is everything from a neutral warning, shift Warning, bad break pads or overheating warning. (Mainly because the sound happens when you’re accelerating, decelerating or breaking forcing the gas to slosh around) The truth it, it’s the gas vents for the cap, and this is a well known Kawasaki trait that has happened for generations of bikes and is nothing to worry about.