Well, I hoped it would never happen to me, but it did!
And not only did it happen, it happened WAY sooner than I ever expected!
My 2008 FLHTCUSE3 had to have one of the heads replaced due to a snapped off spark plug!!
This happened durring the bike's first service, and the mechanic told me that I should be grateful that the MOCO was covering the repair expense!
WTFO!! :zwtf:GRATEFUL, I oughta kick the living
out of the mechanic who put the damned thing together! My local dealer said that since it was the FIRST service, the factory mechanic either cross threaded the plug, or just torqued the hell out of it. As such, the liability lies on the MOCO. No F()cking Sheit I say! He went on to tell me that had this been the 2nd or 3rd service, that the MOCO would have tried to wiggle their way out of paying, by claiming it was the dealer that screwed it up during the last service.
Anyway, I asked if I could see White Lightning, and the mechanic took me into the shop and showed me the old head with the rest of the plug stuck in the hole. It was snapped clean off, flush at the base. Does anybody know how much torque it takes to do that? While there, I noticed they had BOTH heads off the bike. Thus I asked why both heads, and he said that the MOCO wanted the head gaskets replaced on both cylinders. This sounds like the MOCO is having the dealership perform preventive maintenance (i.e. leaking head gaskets) and thereby avoiding another expensive repair at a later date, as it has to be cheaper to pay for the extra labor now, vs. doing it all twice! I will ask the mechanic, AGAIN, to provide me the part number they used for the head gaskets, it seems that is the question everyone wants answered in the forum. When I first asked, he couldn't remember, but he said he thought it was revision F. I will find out for sure, as long as they haven't shreaded all of the evidence.
Now about the head, I speculated that it overheated to seize like that, and my budy said it had to be cross threaded. I think if it were cross threaded, the plug would have just stripped out in the aluminum and spun in place. I am betting it was either welded in place from heat, or the dealership's mechanic had tried taking it off by twisting it clockwise until it snapped off. The only bad thing about my heat theory is that during the break in period, we had 60 degree and colder weather. Any thoughts?
Oh, I almost forgot, when I dropped the bike off for the service, I told the mechanic it was making tapping noises from the top end, and that they should check the rocker boxes for clearance. Sure as Sheit, they were tapping the ceiling. The mechanic explained that the covers have some play to push forward and back when not tightened, and the trick is to center them. If they are a little off center, the rockers tap the covers. I have no idea what is true. He said they clearanced the covers by milling them out some.
Now I am completely paranoid, since I also bought a 2008 FXDSE2 this year. I just had her in for the first service too. No issues to report on this one, expcept a little bit of top end noise now and then. The noise is harder to localize while ridiing on the Dyna vs. the E-Glide. The fairing of the E-Glide allows you to hear more, as it keeps the wind noises down.
If it wasn't for the fun factor of these bikes, I would have probably bought a metric!
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Topic: First Service of CVO = New Head (Read 1238 times)