Check your bike after dealer service
Elite HDF Member
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 4,722
Likes: 5
From: Biddeford, Maine
RE: Check your bike after dealer service
Or...............never ever bring the bike back to the dealer for anything, ever.
That is the safest idea of all..........buy the service manual and do the work yourself, that way you know what is done and you know it is done.
My bike has never and will never been back to the dealer for any kind of service.
Steve
That is the safest idea of all..........buy the service manual and do the work yourself, that way you know what is done and you know it is done.
My bike has never and will never been back to the dealer for any kind of service.
Steve
Ultimate HDF Member
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 7,498
Likes: 19
From: East Alton, IL
RE: Check your bike after dealer service
ORIGINAL: maineultraclassic
Or...............never ever bring the bike back to the dealer for anything, ever.
That is the safest idea of all..........buy the service manual and do the work yourself, that way you know what is done and you know it is done.
My bike has never and will never been back to the dealer for any kind of service.
Steve
Or...............never ever bring the bike back to the dealer for anything, ever.
That is the safest idea of all..........buy the service manual and do the work yourself, that way you know what is done and you know it is done.
My bike has never and will never been back to the dealer for any kind of service.
Steve
Elite HDF Member
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 4,722
Likes: 5
From: Biddeford, Maine
RE: Check your bike after dealer service
ORIGINAL: Jim Dawson
Obviously out of warranty, huh?
ORIGINAL: maineultraclassic
Or...............never ever bring the bike back to the dealer for anything, ever.
That is the safest idea of all..........buy the service manual and do the work yourself, that way you know what is done and you know it is done.
My bike has never and will never been back to the dealer for any kind of service.
Steve
Or...............never ever bring the bike back to the dealer for anything, ever.
That is the safest idea of all..........buy the service manual and do the work yourself, that way you know what is done and you know it is done.
My bike has never and will never been back to the dealer for any kind of service.
Steve
I don't trust anyone working on my bike.............for what they hire and pay at the dealerships, it's just not worth the risk of putting my investment in their hands.
Steve
Elite HDF Member
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 3,673
Likes: 606
From:
RE: Check your bike after dealer service
ORIGINAL: sd1209
I bought an 08 Ultra a couple of months ago and recently took it in to the dealer for the 1K service.......I have owned a number of HD's over the years and usually do the rtn service myself but decided to let the dealer do the first one.....
About a hundred miles after the 1K service I noticed some very small drips of oil on the garage floor....Looking around I noticed it was oily around the drain plug.....I found that I could loosen it with my fingers, it obviously was never tightened, only finger tight.......The crankcase was down about 3/4 of a quart so no damage was done......
Called the dealer and spoke to the service mgr....He was concerned and I believe he took appropriate action ref the mechanic........
The reason I bring this up is I (and maybe you) get too complacent sometimes regarding service from dealers, etc.....From now on I will always double check all the service done.......
I am not identifying the dealer here in San Diego because I have had good service done in the past from them on a number of occasions and I think this was just out of the ordinary.....And I believe they corrected the problem .......
Just be careful, you might want to check the work from any dealer, regardless of past good history with them......
Steve
08
I bought an 08 Ultra a couple of months ago and recently took it in to the dealer for the 1K service.......I have owned a number of HD's over the years and usually do the rtn service myself but decided to let the dealer do the first one.....
About a hundred miles after the 1K service I noticed some very small drips of oil on the garage floor....Looking around I noticed it was oily around the drain plug.....I found that I could loosen it with my fingers, it obviously was never tightened, only finger tight.......The crankcase was down about 3/4 of a quart so no damage was done......
Called the dealer and spoke to the service mgr....He was concerned and I believe he took appropriate action ref the mechanic........
The reason I bring this up is I (and maybe you) get too complacent sometimes regarding service from dealers, etc.....From now on I will always double check all the service done.......
I am not identifying the dealer here in San Diego because I have had good service done in the past from them on a number of occasions and I think this was just out of the ordinary.....And I believe they corrected the problem .......
Just be careful, you might want to check the work from any dealer, regardless of past good history with them......
Steve
08
Road Master
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 914
Likes: 1
From: Republic of Texas
RE: Check your bike after dealer service
ORIGINAL: dawg
do your own service and no one to blame[8D]
do your own service and no one to blame[8D]
HD techs don't just sign on at the dealer and start wrenching next day. They generally have lots of training before getting turned loose to do the really heavy jobs.
Any amateur wrench who thinks he can just get out the trusty Craftsman tools and overhaul his hog is inevitably going to have the pleasure of doing a lot of stuff several times to finally get it right, if he ever does, as he works his way up the learning curve.
Some of us just don't want to futz around with all that - if it's done at the dealer, it might cost a little more, but it'll be done to factory specs, and if it's not, they'll do it again till it is. That's worth something to me.
Road Captain
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 552
Likes: 50
From:
RE: Check your bike after dealer service
. . . and that's all well and good so long as any mistakes they make don't compromise your safety.
If they don't tighten the oil drain plug in your Chevy, worst thing that could happen is that you run out of oil and seize your engine. Money will fix that.
Suppose the drain plug falls out of your motorcycle, slicks up the back tire, and you slide into traffic. "Sorry" and fixing the bike doesn't help one bit.
You are rolling the dice if you let anyone else work on your motorcycle. There are lots of "mission critical" fasteners on it. If you absolutely must let a shop work on it, then the original poster's advice is very sound.
My dealer's mechanics may be very good. I'll never know because they'll never touch my motorcycle.
If they don't tighten the oil drain plug in your Chevy, worst thing that could happen is that you run out of oil and seize your engine. Money will fix that.
Suppose the drain plug falls out of your motorcycle, slicks up the back tire, and you slide into traffic. "Sorry" and fixing the bike doesn't help one bit.
You are rolling the dice if you let anyone else work on your motorcycle. There are lots of "mission critical" fasteners on it. If you absolutely must let a shop work on it, then the original poster's advice is very sound.
My dealer's mechanics may be very good. I'll never know because they'll never touch my motorcycle.
Road Master
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 1,200
Likes: 1
From:
RE: Check your bike after dealer service
Great post - to the point. I triple agree - check before riding off.
My experiences, after riding home (like 25 miles), found spark plugs were loose (were not even torqued) - was amazed it even ran. Had tire changed: got home, found belt VERY loose (I mean like an inch of play).
Don't get me wrong, but I think there are more great mechanics out there than not - I just tink they put the lower paid (and probably least experienced) mechanics on the "routine" jobs.
I had my bike in the shop like 12 times in two years -- would say that ten of the 12 times, I had to fix something myself or take the bike back because they didn't fix it right the first time.
My experiences, after riding home (like 25 miles), found spark plugs were loose (were not even torqued) - was amazed it even ran. Had tire changed: got home, found belt VERY loose (I mean like an inch of play).
Don't get me wrong, but I think there are more great mechanics out there than not - I just tink they put the lower paid (and probably least experienced) mechanics on the "routine" jobs.
I had my bike in the shop like 12 times in two years -- would say that ten of the 12 times, I had to fix something myself or take the bike back because they didn't fix it right the first time.
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Tourer
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 264
Likes: 38
From: S. California
RE: Check your bike after dealer service
My own work is pretty good but I still double or triple check myself. Probably wouldn't still be triple checking if I wasn't still finding screw-ups at the double. Thats whyI don't charge myself anything. Nada. I work for free 
[ most recent screw-up = replacing power window regulator in driver door of Tahoe >>> let the winding cable in the new part come unsprung from its spring and it took me four hours to get it back together correctly. Almost had to buy a second replacement. ]
[ most recent screw-up = replacing power window regulator in driver door of Tahoe >>> let the winding cable in the new part come unsprung from its spring and it took me four hours to get it back together correctly. Almost had to buy a second replacement. ]