1998 Kawasaki Klr650 Recalls
No NHTSA recalls on record for the 1998 Kawasaki Klr650. That means NHTSA has no open safety campaign for this vehicle — it does not guarantee the absence of problems. Owners have filed 6 complaints with NHTSA, most often about the engine and engine cooling. Last updated July 5, 2026.
Complaints by component
What owners report
Verbatim reports filed with NHTSA, lightly edited for readability and with personal information removed.
“The chain idler shaft adjuster on my klr has broken.”
“This involves engine part #13168-1436 (lever, idler shaft) (also known as the "doohickey") , which is part of the engine's balancer chain tensioner system. While making an unrelated adjustment to the engine I removed the left side engine cover and noticed that a portion of the doohickey had broken…”
“On my 1998 kawasaki klr650 motorcycle, vin [xxx], the idler shaft lever (kawasaki part no: 13168-1436) broke, leaving no tension on the balancer chain inside the engine. This is an all-too-common problem on these bikes. Failure of the lever can result in failure of the chain. If the chain fails at…”
“I heard about a flaw of the engine balancer system of the kawasaki klr650, I assumed that my engine was okay, as it seemed to be running fine, but then gave in to my curiosity, opened the engine cases and inspected the balancer mechanisms. Sure enough, just as many other klr owners had reported,…”
“A broken idler shaft lever (doohickey) caused motor cycle to sieze.”
“Problems with fuel system on 1998 model kawasaki motorcycle.*mr at times the motorcycle experienced an erratic surge and buck as if it had no fuel. Upon opening the filler cap, the consumer noticed tank had plenty of fuel in both sections of the motorcycle, however it appeared the fuel was not…”
Recall, complaint, and investigation records from official NHTSA datasets (FLAT_RCL, FLAT_CMPL, FLAT_INV), synced weekly. Counts reflect NHTSA records for the 1998 Kawasaki Klr650 as of July 5, 2026. Complaint narratives are consumer-submitted and unverified. This page contains ads and affiliate links. Full methodology.