Okay, here's the update on my SERK 'issues' and dealer experience.
When I showed-up on Thursday at 1300 for my 1400 appointment, the service writer said "...I have you down for tomorrow at 1100...". I said "No, my appointment is for today at 1400 just like we agreed on and just like I wrote down after hanging the phone up. After some period of awkward silence, he could see that I warn't goin' away, and mumbled something like "... well, maybe somebody switched it around....". To which I responded "It's a good thing it's a drop-off service appointment then , isn't it?" Geeessshhh, what a way to start off. I then went over every point on my list. He ran out of writing room on the service order form. I emphasized that I was in no hurry to get the bike back and that I wanted it thoroughly checked-over. I left about 50 pages of thread print-outs from this forum on crank run-out; head gasket failure; valve train/rocker clearance; slipping cylinder liners and fast/hung-up idle. The last item was my speedo backlighting periodically going on and off but just from the 60 mph mark up through the 120 mph mark--- the upper half of the dial. Off I went not feeling very good about the whole damn thing. He told me I could call in the next several days to see where things were at.
I called late the next day and I was basically told that the bike was done, but he couldn't say for sure what if anything specific was found, and he was not at the service desk so he couldn't pull it up on the 'puter to check my service record. 5,000 mile service was done (except I didn't want the tranny oil changed-- I had Redline HD Shockproof in it.)
I asked if the owner (Dennis), the SM (Bruce), and the chief wrench (Ken) had ridden it like I was told they would. He said Dennis had taken it out and said "...it was smooth as silk." I told him that Dennis and I apparently had very different ideas as to silkiness. He said he would call me later to let me know the specifics. I said to leave the info on my answering machine if he did not reach me directly. I found a message later that night saying that the bike was ready for pick-up --- no specifics whatsoever other than my bill total being $220.00 some dollars.
I got down for it yesterday, and after a 10 minute wait at the service desk I finally was asked my business. The girl pulled up my data and gave me the total bill figure again. I asked if the speedo backlight had been fixed --- silence. Then she mumbled something about they couldn't reproduce the problem. Same for the fast idle. I asked to speak to the owner and/or the SM(who I could see sitting in his office). She said Dennis is unavailable, but offered to go talk to the SM. I gave her a few minutes with him before I invited myself into his office. He was reading over the service printout sheets. Just as I was about to start in on him, Dennis (the owner) rounded the corner with lunch in hand. I adjusted my aim accordingly.
I asked Dennis if he had ridden my bike (after kind of telling him who I was and what bike I was referring to). He said he had and that the bike had no issues wrt excessive vibration. Said he'd run it up to 80 mph and felt it was fine. He then added that my windshield ( an 18" Clearview) was too short and was causing a buffeting of my head and my back tire was making as much noise as a semi rig going down the road (tread whine). I said the back tire was the original and as far as I knew, no one outside of Dunlop made a tire for this bike. He didn't feel that the 5th and 6th gear tranny noise was an issue either. The red veil must have decended then as I kinda remember ranting about my 30 year-old Beemer being light years ahead of this state-of-the-art H-D offering in terms of smoothness, handling, and long distance ride comfort. THIRTY YEAR-OLD TECHNOLOGY! We went a few rounds of verbal jousting. I figured it best to remain civil, and regrouped and went at him from another angle. I asked him if he was aware of 110" crankshaft runout problems. He admitted he was, but they (his dealership) had yet to replace one. How about head gasket leakage? He pointed to his '08 SEEG through the window into the service area and said he was having his replaced right now. Liners slipping? He was aware of this as well, but again, had yet to replace any.
I was somewhat relieved that AT LEAST HE WAS ADMITTING THAT THE PROBLEMS EXISTED.
He said they'd take care of the speedo backlighting problem when I said that of all the different concerns I had, I felt that the one that stood the best chance of being resolved was the speedo. And as my warran-y was up next April, I wanted it addressed before then, and that this was the second time I had the bike there for the intermittent hung-up idle. He turned to his SM and asked him if my bike had the latest ECM map/flash/whatever. He said he didn't know but it would only take a few minutes to check, and off he went (lunch unfinished) to do so.
This left me alone with Dennis who was still standing where I cornered him with his lunch in his hands. He told me that he would see what if any replacement/different tires the MoCo might have when he went to 'the show' in Vegas later this month (or next month?). Said the tire people are usually there. Said that tire singing would drive him nuts if he had to listen to it for any length of time. Said I'd be better off with no windshield and a fullface helmet rather than the 18" Clearview. I said I had a brand new extra tall Road King windshield at home, but had yet to try it. I figured that as the Clearview's upper edge was high enough now that I had to stretch my head/neck up to see over it ---I was at maximum height as far as conventional wisdom goes. I said I'd try the extra tall Road King shield when I got home ---if I didn't sell the bike on the way.(cont'd)
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Topic: Dealer Eval Scheduled (Read 6118 times)