My bike is a 2004 FLHTC with approximately 60K miles on it.
88ci, completely stock except for K&N air filter and Kuryakyn(sp?) tow kit.
I purchased the bike last Sept. with about 30k miles. And Yes I did get a One year extended warranty...
I do my own fluid changes and minor servicing, I don't have a garage or equipment to do anything else.... yet...
Anyways, I know it's running lean and I will address that this spring with a carb cleaning and adjusting.
I decided to remove the chrome this week and spend some time cleaning and polishing, because as we all know, polished chrome = +10%HP...
I removed the heat shields from the pipes and saw that I havea HUGEcrack in the exhaust!!!!!Located at the "Y" coming off the rear cylinder. (pictures below)Needless to say I'm not a happy camper. So being the AR type person I am, I decided to break out the "fine tooth comb" and see what else I could find. Thankfully the back 2/3 of the bike seems to be in decent condition.... other than having mismatched bolt/torx heads...So I moved on to the front end/fairing..... The forks and front end look good, just need a good cleaning/polishing so I removed the outer shell of the fairing....[>:]I have four mounting points inside that are BROKEN!!!![sm=headbang.gif] (pictures below) Now as far as I know, from what the dealer told me and my own inspections, this bike has never been wrecked, everything is straight, nothing that I can tell has been replaced/repaired so WTF is up with the broken mounts!?!?!? I realize that harleys vibrate but OMG!!!!

Now I know there aremechanics who read this forum and who have dealt with warranty issues before, so I guess my questions would be directed towards them because honestly, I can't afford to go to the dealership and pay for them to tell me it's not covered, which they will do and have done to me.

1. The exhaust crack worries me. I know what can happen, not only to the pipes but to the jug itself,if it's left unresolved. And I know this SHOULD be covered, but will it actually be? I won't be riding much till it's fixed....[sm=boohoo.gif]

2. The fairing mounts I could fix/replace myself, but I think this problem SHOULD be covered as well, but is it?




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I can't see the fairing mounts that well but if you're confident you can repair them that's a good thing.

Y pipes do crack - different places on different bikes. No big deal. Believe me, getting the heat shields off (and back on) are over half the battle. Take the pipe off and get it welded. Also look closely at the bottom joint, that's the other notorious place. If you're totally NOT OK with that, you can buy a true dual conversion for about 175. plus shipping that will eliminate the Y pipe alltogether and let you keep the rest of the exhaust intact. (front pipe, mufflers, etc.)

I never asked for any warranty service after the dealer screwed up the timing and cost me an engine in '74. I do all my own work. And from what I've heard over the years - take one in for warranty service and it gets parked in the back of the line and you do without your ride till they get tired of having you call in fussing about being without, or until they get "in the mood" to fix it. Just what I've heard - I'm sure they're not all like that.

 

i have my old exhaust pipe from an 03 RK if ya want..pm me

 

Thanks for the feedback guys... but I figure if I'm gonna pay for the warranty I'm gonna get some use out of it.. 2003, If the dealership won't do anything about the crack I'll probably be giving you a holler and making a road trip.

Thanks again