burninrice
Well-known member
I promised back in April that I would post my story about getting my ticker fixed. Sorry this took so long, but here goes.
I bought my '05 with too little info, as i didn't realize the ticker situation existed on models that late. Had I known, I probably would have searched around for a nice '06, even though I prefer the color and body work on mine. Unit had 5000 miles when I bought it and about 8000 it developed a tick. Typical symptoms, sounded like a table knife banging on a stainless steel sink between 3-5000 rpm and gradually the tick at idle got worse, especially on the left hand side of the bike. Put up with it all last summer and finally decided over the winter that a valve seating in crooked just isn't right and I wanted it fixed.
Spoke with Gary McCoy at U-Motors in Fargo and he said he would do the inspection and back me up when I brought the bike in. Then my wife got sick and things got delayed. Finally I brought the bike in on March 14. Let the party begin! They determined pretty much right away that the motor had a tick. I got nervous when I realized that none of the techs had worked on one of these tickers before, which was not the original impression I got from Gary. I should have paid the inspection fee and taken the bike somewhere else, but I didn't know where to go.
U-Motors called Yamaha service, explained the problem (badly) and Yamaha told them to do a valve inspection and adjust, on my dime, and see if that cured it. Well, from info on this forum, I could see where this was going already, so I called Yamaha myself. First, I spoke with a really nice gal at customer service who got the call file started, I explained that I was well aware of the ticking issue from research and that Yamaha had a history of fixing these out-of-warranty. Since the bike was out of warranty it was out of her hands and she turned me over to a guy named Chris. Now, this is where I have to be careful I don't slam the keyboard against the desk and break it in a million pieces...
The conversation with Chris started off routine enough, re-explaining the problem, the ticker issue, etc, etc. Chris' response was that Yamaha doesn't fix bikes out of warranty. I explained that I had researched this problem all winter and that Yamaha definitely had a history of fixing the units out-of-warranty and that's what I expected them to do. In the midst of this portion of the conversation I mentioned the FJR Forum and the tone of the dialog took on a decidedly more combative and rude direction. He asked me who the dealer was and said that he was going to contact them while he had me on the phone. He proceeded to call U-Motors and speak to some young service writer that had no idea what was going on with the bike. When he came back on the phone he told me, in the snottiest, rudest way possible, "I asked him one question, could this be normal wear, and his response was yes it could be", so based on that, there's nothing more I can do for you today, sir. Again, I brought up the fact that I had documented proof of at least a dozen members of this forum who had theirs fixed to which his response was "if Yamaha responded to every crack-pot whiner on some internet sight we'd be broke in a year." My response included a reminder that the FJR probably wouldn't have sold half as many units in the States if it weren't for us "crack pot whiners" and that I would, in no uncertain terms, take Yamaha to small claims court for this repair. He basically hung up the phone on me.
I waited about 20 minutes to cool down and called the gal back at YCS and explained what a rude bastard this Chris was and that if Yamaha wasn't willing to help me I wouldn't stop until I entered small claims court. I now brought up the fact that I was a Yamaha dealer for 6 years before selling out (in '02 before the FJR hit the states) and that we did upwards of $10,000 a year in off-warranty goodwill for our customers and that I was appalled at how I was being treated. Gary McCoy recommended that I not mention that I was a dealer, which in retrospect was probably a mistake. She immediately turned me over to the second in command at Yamaha service, Sean Ryan, who politely and courteously took care of everything. Weird!
What happened next is both unfortunate and equally frustrating. My bike proceeded to sit at the dealership for 6 weeks, through a litany of excuses as to why. In those six weeks, Gary McCoy was fired and the Service Manager I was working with quit. I finally got the bike back only because I got mad and raised hell. I did confirm, by stopping in a couple of times that the head did come off, etc.
The weather for the first three or four weeks after I got the bike back was so crappy that I've hardly put any miles on, but now that I've ridden it, it has a terrible (sounds like) metal vibration until the engine is completely hot and I don't think the engine is any more quiet than it was when I brought it down there! I guess I've forgotten what these things are supposed to sound like without any noise, if that's possible. Plus there is wiring that looks to be routed wrong, the radiator heat cowl was installed wrong, ACH!!!!!!! I've about had it with this thing. There is a dealer that has a nice '06 and I'm seriously thinking of trading it off.
My question to you guys is, has anyone ever heard of the intake valve guides being bad too? Yamaha paid to replace the exhaust valves/guides and with my wife getting breast cancer, etc I really couldn't afford to replace the intake side. Has anyone out there had just the exhaust valves replaced and the ticking continued? I can't believe this is happening.
Two lessons learned: do exhaustive research BEFORE you buy a bike and never, ever allow a dealer who'd never worked on a particular model that much to tackle a job like this! :angry2:
I bought my '05 with too little info, as i didn't realize the ticker situation existed on models that late. Had I known, I probably would have searched around for a nice '06, even though I prefer the color and body work on mine. Unit had 5000 miles when I bought it and about 8000 it developed a tick. Typical symptoms, sounded like a table knife banging on a stainless steel sink between 3-5000 rpm and gradually the tick at idle got worse, especially on the left hand side of the bike. Put up with it all last summer and finally decided over the winter that a valve seating in crooked just isn't right and I wanted it fixed.
Spoke with Gary McCoy at U-Motors in Fargo and he said he would do the inspection and back me up when I brought the bike in. Then my wife got sick and things got delayed. Finally I brought the bike in on March 14. Let the party begin! They determined pretty much right away that the motor had a tick. I got nervous when I realized that none of the techs had worked on one of these tickers before, which was not the original impression I got from Gary. I should have paid the inspection fee and taken the bike somewhere else, but I didn't know where to go.
U-Motors called Yamaha service, explained the problem (badly) and Yamaha told them to do a valve inspection and adjust, on my dime, and see if that cured it. Well, from info on this forum, I could see where this was going already, so I called Yamaha myself. First, I spoke with a really nice gal at customer service who got the call file started, I explained that I was well aware of the ticking issue from research and that Yamaha had a history of fixing these out-of-warranty. Since the bike was out of warranty it was out of her hands and she turned me over to a guy named Chris. Now, this is where I have to be careful I don't slam the keyboard against the desk and break it in a million pieces...
The conversation with Chris started off routine enough, re-explaining the problem, the ticker issue, etc, etc. Chris' response was that Yamaha doesn't fix bikes out of warranty. I explained that I had researched this problem all winter and that Yamaha definitely had a history of fixing the units out-of-warranty and that's what I expected them to do. In the midst of this portion of the conversation I mentioned the FJR Forum and the tone of the dialog took on a decidedly more combative and rude direction. He asked me who the dealer was and said that he was going to contact them while he had me on the phone. He proceeded to call U-Motors and speak to some young service writer that had no idea what was going on with the bike. When he came back on the phone he told me, in the snottiest, rudest way possible, "I asked him one question, could this be normal wear, and his response was yes it could be", so based on that, there's nothing more I can do for you today, sir. Again, I brought up the fact that I had documented proof of at least a dozen members of this forum who had theirs fixed to which his response was "if Yamaha responded to every crack-pot whiner on some internet sight we'd be broke in a year." My response included a reminder that the FJR probably wouldn't have sold half as many units in the States if it weren't for us "crack pot whiners" and that I would, in no uncertain terms, take Yamaha to small claims court for this repair. He basically hung up the phone on me.
I waited about 20 minutes to cool down and called the gal back at YCS and explained what a rude bastard this Chris was and that if Yamaha wasn't willing to help me I wouldn't stop until I entered small claims court. I now brought up the fact that I was a Yamaha dealer for 6 years before selling out (in '02 before the FJR hit the states) and that we did upwards of $10,000 a year in off-warranty goodwill for our customers and that I was appalled at how I was being treated. Gary McCoy recommended that I not mention that I was a dealer, which in retrospect was probably a mistake. She immediately turned me over to the second in command at Yamaha service, Sean Ryan, who politely and courteously took care of everything. Weird!
What happened next is both unfortunate and equally frustrating. My bike proceeded to sit at the dealership for 6 weeks, through a litany of excuses as to why. In those six weeks, Gary McCoy was fired and the Service Manager I was working with quit. I finally got the bike back only because I got mad and raised hell. I did confirm, by stopping in a couple of times that the head did come off, etc.
The weather for the first three or four weeks after I got the bike back was so crappy that I've hardly put any miles on, but now that I've ridden it, it has a terrible (sounds like) metal vibration until the engine is completely hot and I don't think the engine is any more quiet than it was when I brought it down there! I guess I've forgotten what these things are supposed to sound like without any noise, if that's possible. Plus there is wiring that looks to be routed wrong, the radiator heat cowl was installed wrong, ACH!!!!!!! I've about had it with this thing. There is a dealer that has a nice '06 and I'm seriously thinking of trading it off.
My question to you guys is, has anyone ever heard of the intake valve guides being bad too? Yamaha paid to replace the exhaust valves/guides and with my wife getting breast cancer, etc I really couldn't afford to replace the intake side. Has anyone out there had just the exhaust valves replaced and the ticking continued? I can't believe this is happening.
Two lessons learned: do exhaustive research BEFORE you buy a bike and never, ever allow a dealer who'd never worked on a particular model that much to tackle a job like this! :angry2:
