Well, I guess that warranty finally pays for itself.

[Hatter]

Ok, so, a few weeks ago, I was riding home from a friend's house, it was late, no traffic, and I was on a nice 4 mile straight.

I decide that it is time to take it to top end and see what she's got.

So I get her up to WOT in high gear, and all in the world was perfect!

For about 10 seconds.

She lost power, went into a dead miss, and started blowing smoke and OIL out of the exhaust.

I took it to the dealership I bought it from, they tore it down, and checked it out.
It seems that I burned a hole through the #3 piston.

Luckily, she is still under warranty. The dealership finally heard back from Japan, and they are going to fix it. They are going to bore her out, oversize pistons, and new bearings on the bottom. That's what warranty will pay for.

The service department wants to redo the heads while they're off, but that will be on my dime.

What should I expect to pay for a top end job at a dealership?

 

[satariel666]

Whay new bearings? That usually means "quick fix" when the crank was spuned.

 

[Hatter]

I am assuming that they will replace the bearings.

 

[jfeagins]

My guess is the Stealership may be looking for ways to "pad up" their end of any expense they may incur between what time they'll have in the rebuild -vs- the actual amount of $$$ Japan will be reimbursing them to do the job.

What would be wrong with the heads anyway? If there are any damages up there, it too, should be covered under the same warranty, and for the same reason they're putting in the new bore and pistons.

 

[Fire-medic]

yeah, unless you have smoking on start-up (usually valve seals) you don't need a valve job, unless you have 36K+ mi on it. I bet Sean would agree you can probably leave the top alone. They're fishing for extra income on the job.

 

[RaWarrior]

Yep...the head job is the dealer trying to make some "instant money" off the job. Dealers generally hate doing warranty work, since it usually takes weeks/months for them to be reimbursed from the parent company. Sometimes they don't get the full amount back, if the parent deems there's too much labor for that repair, they'll only pay a "flat labor rate", which is how long they deem the job should take at a lower-than-average labor rate. Dealers typically lose money on warranty work...why it never gets done quickly, goes straight to the back of the line behind the "paying" customers.

Ask to see the heads. If they're damaged, insist that be covered under the warranty as well, no reason why it shouldn't.


Wonder what made it burn up? I've held mine WOT at 140mph for a couple minutes at a time and it never missed a beat.

 

[wood1]

Wouldn't the holed piston suggest that you are running too lean at WOT? Probably do it again if that's not addressed.

I too wouldn't bother with doing the heads. If you were going to do that I would send them to Sean while they are ordering parts etc. Although, seems to me I remember reading that the heads are pretty good as is unless you do some other internal changes (compression change, stroked engine).

Anyone?

 

[wood1]

bah...

 

[SpecOps13]

Hatter, sorry to hear you had trouble but happy to hear you're covered Bro.

 

[one2dmax]

Heads are fine I am sure. 100K miles are minimum normal time they will last. Sounds like a similar incident to Scott Sharps engine failure in his 2006 but his siezed up the rings and at the bore out.

If we did it we'd bore out larger then the stock and use better pistons and the cost would be about the same.

Sean

 

[Hatter]

Sean, if all this was on my dime, you would already have the bike there !

The bike has 30,000+ extremely hard miles on it. Driving it back and forth to work, rarely a day went by it didn't see 100+.

The carbs have never been touched, still at stock settings.

Thanks, Dave. I was luckly, warranty runs out in November!

 

[Hatter]

Well I went up to the dealership over the weekend, and talked to the service dept.

The service manager was the only one wanting to do the heads. Even the tech said it didn't need it, and he didn't want to do it anyway.

So I told them not to do the heads. Warranted parts should be here tomorrow 8/14/11 and I should be able to pick it up next weekend, I hope.

 

[one2dmax]

Very cool. The heads should in no way need rebuilt yet. If it had a spun bearing though I suggest you view the block yourself for any thrust surface damage.

Sean

 

[SpecOps13]

Fingers Crossed for you Hatter....

 

[mattness]

it was made to be ridden bro enjoy it