WHAT? For a "seized bike with a broken crank"??? That's about 10x too much.
They quoted the guy @$3k for repairs.
Sounds like a "stupid tax" to me.
OK, you've got my service tech rant going. It's all your fault.
ALL dealership service centers suck, cars and bikes both, but at least I can fix my bike myself and the routine stuff like fluid & filter changes are a breeze compared to a car. I've had the local Yamaha dealer tech argue that the service manual is wrong about how to check the oil. Am I going to trust him with my bikes? Hell no. I've had the Suzuki dealership mount tires backward and just stick on a random weight when the tire happened to balance perfectly w/o any weights. They installed the throttle upside down on my V-Strom and couldn't put the fairing back together properly. Am I going to trust them again with my bikes? Hell no.
I had a Camaro with ABS brakes where no one could either fix it or even wanted to work on it. "That's ABS and you need expensive special tools and it's too much of a liability issue." The OBD-II said it was a left front wheel sensor and the dealer tech argued and argued that couldn't be it. I didn't have the tools or the ability to do it myself. Eventually it totally packed up and put me into a guardrail. Fuck dat car shite.
I swore I'd never get anything with ABS and here I now have an '07 FJR. Go figure.
My personal best fix-it story was a GS550EF I got for $200 from a car dealership where it was a trade-in and had sat for so long the rings were frozen. I put a spoonful of oil in it and compression came back so I knew the valves were good. I put another $200 in it for rings, a hone, gaskets, carb cleaning, etc and it was a very nice commuter bike.
My worst was a couple of friends that got a GS1100GL with the engine in a box, not too far from the post above. They wanted to fix it up like I did the 550 and make a profit on it. They put the top end back on and it would run, but not stay in gear. They pulled the oil pan and ball bearings dropped out, which is the international sign for "very very bad news"
Turned out that a main tranny bearing spit out its balls, which wedged between a couple of gears, shearing off most of the teeth and putting spiderweb fractures along the length of both shafts. Nice. Plus the carbs were majorly dicked over, with little sweeties like the o-ring seals missing from the idle jet screws. And the stator and regulator would take each other out until they were replaced as a set. Plus the starter motor fragged one morning, as in I took the end off and POURED the winding forms out. Plus... never mind, I don't want to relive any more of that nightmare. Ugh.
Now, the major problem is the unrealistic time quotes that are given, and the nearly $100/hr rates that make even those quotes hurt too much. So it ends up that the tech has to make
everything a rush job and can't spend the time and care on things that he should. I understand getting stuff done in a timely fashion. I can't forgive skimping on the head torque-up procedure so you can get the thing back out the door or because the dealership won't buy a torque angle wrench.
This is just like the software industry where you GOTTA have SOMETHING done in a ridiculous timeframe, and they're surprised when they get "something" and it's buggy as hell or doesn't even work at all.
