Why would my used 2016 with only 7k miles Final Gear Oil be black?
Thanks for any insights.

Maybe someone put the wrong oil in it?  I wouldn't worry about it.  Just drain it and put the right lube into it.  Then if you are still worried, check it every now and then, or dump it after a few thousand and refill again (to get rid of whatever was left of the old stuff).

Or it's never been changed.

Black colored final drive oil is not much of a concern.  If you drained it and there was a large amount of metallic flakes in the used oil, that may indicate a problem.

I like to change mine, as well as flush the brake and clutch fluid, every time I change the engine oil.

+1

Why would my used 2016 with only 7k miles Final Gear Oil be black?
Thanks for any insights.

I guess the bigger question is, was the lube changed prior to you doing it this time?
If not, or it is a mystery, than what you are seeing as we mostly all did on the first, and even second change....
from the factory, at assembly, I believe they coat the ring and pinion with Moly Paste, ( it IS Black, and has a silvery sheen to it) as an inspection means (they used to use a white lead paint/paste in ancient times, automitively), to see the contact pattern of the mating teeth, for correctly shimming the clearances.
It also adds an extremely good 'break in protection" to those fresh gears for the first 600 miles... Mine was quite black, sort of, and slightly 'metallic', but correct (that Moly creates that appearance when mixed with gear lube) when changed at 600 miles, and also quite dark at 2k miles, but after a few changes its "lube colored" and normal grayish (never had any high metal chip worries)  like it should be.. I bought my bike new, with zero miles, and did my own maintenance.

don't sweat it, change it, and do it again in 2k more...

and DON'T turn the rear wheel when filling it...

Yeah, that would be pretty bad if it was never changed yet.  I didn't change mine for the first time, I had the dealer do the first service at 900 miles (oil, filter, rear drive oil, etc),  so I don't know what color it was.   The second rear oil change I performed myself at 9,653 miles and it came out very grey, not black.  I used Redline 75w90 synthetic GL5+ gear oil.  The third time, I also did myself, at 21,500 miles and it was just slightly grey.  Used same brand oil again.   Now I am at around 36,000 miles so it is time to do it again.

The manual calls for replacement at 600 miles then at every 7,500 miles (same as engine oil).  I usually stretch such intervals by at least 50% more when using synthetics.

sounds right about the same as my observations...
Just bought a fresh bottle of Lube (the other 2 bottles I have have gone missing into the void of my garage..), and planned on doing it, and my first switch to Synthetic Motor oil, (Castrol m/c specific, racing stuff), with filter, today...

but as schtuff always happens, I have to work on 'de flea-ing' our house, as we had a major breakout that went un noticed... and poor dog, (inside 99% of her life) is not comfey.. neither am I or my wife... freaking fleas... man... what a p.i.t.a.
so another 2 days down the tubes...Dog shampoo'd, bloody mess she was... complete 'rip the house apart, vacuume, wash, wash and sterilize couch cushions, bedding, floors, clothes, bedding,  vacuume again, spray poison everywhere a flea or an egg could be..... (except on dog... she has Frontline on her, NOW..)

then back to the bike...

as for frequency, I do rear drive every rear tire swap, and pretty much oil and filter also, I don't get more than 6k out of a tire anyways.

now with the Synth lubes, I plan on doubling the intervals...

As Rich (Man of Blues) already said, the factory OEM lube is dark in color in the first place. I believe it is graphite in the lube, he thinks it is Moly lube but no matter, both are black and Kawasaki absolutely uses one of them.

I would just agree with the other folks generally- do not worry about it. Change the rear drive lube and it should stay quite clear (honey colored actually) from now on. The final drives on these bikes, essentially the same internal parts as the C-10, have shown themselves to be very rugged and reliable other than the occasional seal failure, which is NOT a catastrophic failure, easily fixed and has no impact on final drive life.

As an aside, Kawasaki wanted to get some bevel gear ass'ys as well as final drives from 'the field', and I was chosen as one of four people due to having a high mileage bike at the time (I had 44K Miles in less than two years).  Kawasaki took the original ass'ys off our bikes and replaced them with new ones so that the O.E. versions could be sent back to Japan for inspection. I actually took a look at both of the ass'ys that came off my bike and they could not have looked any better; a perfect gear contact pattern, polished but not worn in the least (visually); I would have guessed they both had less than 3K miles on them but know they had nearly 50K miles of use. So again, these are typical Kawasaki rugged, robust parts, not likely to break under normal or even abusive use IMO.

Brian

Why would my used 2016 with only 7k miles Final Gear Oil be black?
Thanks for any insights.

As Rich (Man of Blues) already said, the factory OEM lube is dark in color in the first place. I believe it is graphite in the lube, he thinks it is Moly lube but no matter, both are black and Kawasaki absolutely uses one of them.

that's kind of interesting, and I'm now curious myself, and want to pull a 'filler' cap off in a dealership, and see what really is in them now...

When I mentioned "Moly Grease", I mentioned that iirc they just apply that to the ring and pinion teeth only, to use as a spot check on gear mesh/contact patch... I never really thought they would use a "Moly Lube" (fluid lubricant) in the gearcase to fill it tho, Knowing Kaw, and their propensity for "frugal", I don't think they went to great "lube expense"...( it would be a wise move tho, on their part, on the intro bikes back in '08, be we could only wish..) ...but a lube that contained graphite may be the other option I never considered... I just figured the discoloration, in my case, was resultant from the assembly grease that washed off into the normal gear lube during break in. Now I'll check, next time I see a dealer...

good food for thought Brian, thanks.

I just figured the discoloration, in my case, was resultant from the assembly grease that washed off into the normal gear lube during break in.

That is what I would have believed, also.  It is also consistent with the "greyness" observation that seems to get less with each subsequent change.

I changed my final drive oil at 600 miles and remember it being a grayish color, with a metallic sheen. I attributed the metallic sheen to break-in use and certainly didn't worry about it.

More recently at 3500 miles I changed it again (the interval, though low miles, was about 3 years) and found it slightly grayish, but certainly not black. Metallic sheen was largely gone, though still somewhat evident. No flakes or evidence of metallic shavings.