broken a-13

[David/Diane McMunn]

Help! My A-13 with 3400 miles just developed an horrendous metallic clacking after briefly losing power. There was no prior warning and the bike ran fine. It is not locked up and turns over easily. I let it idle for a few seconds, but then shut it off and coasted into work (thank God for small favors!). I've pulled the valve cover, and the cam chain and valve gear seem fine. The centrifical compression release seems to be functioning normally. I first thought this was the problem - compression being released while running. Any thoughts on this? I then pulled the left side cover to assess the condition of the balancer system. Don't have the flywheel off yet, but everything I can see seems OK. Frankly, the noise seemed loudest from the right side - haven't pulled that yet. I've drained the oil and found nothing on the magnetic drain plug. Also, the plug is a nice light tan color, and the top of the piston, that I can see, looks fine. It appears to have decent compression while turning over by hand, however I can feel air blowing out the left side cover hole while turning over by hand. This does not seem right, as if compression is going by the piston and into the crankcase, which could only mean a holed piston. Any thoughts here? Actually, I'm hoping to find something loose on the clutch side that can be repaired without tearing down the entire engine. My worst fear is that the bottom end has come apart and trashed the crank. Is this unheard of? The other sad thing here is that the warranty ran out in May, under the previous owner. Any thoughts on Kawasaki covering a catastrophic failure? I love the bike, but my faith in it has obviously been shaken. Any input from the list is greatly appreciated, and I will try to acknowledge all responses. Thanks in advance. Dave