Greetings all, new member and virgin forum user here, so I'm not sure I'm posting properly. Please let me know of any issues with my post.
I've been using The Google to search for what seems to be a rare phenomenon with the ZX-14R, and found that back in February, 2016, member doznkoz on this forum had the exact same issue with his 2015 ZX that I now have with my 2015 ZX. My cooling fans seem to be "melting", and I'm baffled by this. I think the fans may have started degrading quite a while ago because I recall years ago, sitting at a red light on a warm-ish day when the fans kicked on; I noticed the vibration was more than I'd felt in the past. The bike has never overheated, so I never really worried about it until I saw the condition the fans were in.
I've already purchased replacement fans from eBay and am ready to install them, but until I know what caused the original fans' "material redistribution", I won't be confident that the same thing won't happen to the replacement fans.
Theories that I've run through my head:
? Fan material is defective. I think this is unlikely because there would be a lot more reports of this happening.
? Parking and shutting down the engine while the fans are running (the fans don't continue to run with the ignition switch off), causes "heat soak" and the fans soften and sag, so the next time the fans spool up, the re-shaped fans hit their mounting brackets. I think this scenario is also unlikely as this would happen to virtually every ZX-14R out there. NOTE: Just for giggles, I took a heat gun and held it very close at a single area of a fan for several minutes to see if the material softened up at all - it did not, not even a little.
? There is an exhaust leak (or, possibly, more than one) that happens to blow enough hot exhaust on both fans to soften the material enough for it to sag or expand upon spinning. Of my three theories, I would guess this one is the most possible. I'm not very knowledgeable about the nuances of hunting for exhaust leaks, but I don't hear any unusual noise and can't feel an obvious leak from around the header
I'm trying to attached photos of the fans, but am failing miserably; I'll keep trying.
I'm hoping that one of the members here has first-hand experience with this problem, or has possibly heard of the root cause and the solution.
I'd appreciate any insights anyone may have.