I got a call from the guy that the guy I sold my old RS to sold it to (does that make sense?) Basically I sold the bike to a guy who in turn sold it to another guy and the new owner called me. Anyway, he took it in for the trans recall - which is strange b/c I called when I had it and it was already done. He said he picked the bike up and it wasn't running right. They determined the bike was running on one cylinder. He took it back and they could not find the issue so he then took it to a different shop. First of all how can a dealer take in a good running bike, do a recall, and then let it go out the door not running right AND then when the customer brings it back just give up on it?????? He got my number from the guy I sold it to to see if I had ever had any issues with it or if I ever did any performance stuff to the engine. This bike always ran fantastic for me and the guy I sold it to. Man what has happened to customer service!!!!!!

Pitiful! That dealer has NO recourse, but to make him right!!! And what's this about doing a recall on a bike that had already had the recall done??? That's a factory record-keeping mistake, if anything, as they wouldn't pick up the tab on a second job, if the vin was already on record.

Questcap wrote:
Pitiful! That dealer has NO recourse, but to make him right!!! And what's this about doing a recall on a bike that had already had the recall done??? That's a factory record-keeping mistake, if anything, as they wouldn't pick up the tab on a second job, if the vin was already on record.

I know it happens. The last RS I had (not the one in question here) I took it in for the recall after calling Yamaha Customer Service. I had a question about the bike so I called the previous owner (I bought it at auction so I never actually met the guy, but I looked his number up from his name & address on the title) he told me the recall was done just a few months before I bought it. I would rather them have not done it twice - to me that is just unnecessary and, like this guy, if you catch a mechanic having a bad day can do more harm than good.

I called Yamaha the other day to make sure a recall had already been done on a 950. I was surprised when the Rep said he sure appreciated me calling in to make sure because it had in fact already been done.

The dealer might be surprised when Yamaha doesn't pay for the second time.

It's sad though because every motorcycle tech wants to be a Harley tech. And that's because they're all basically the same and easy to learn. The bikes based on the Road Star type engine are too but then the metric tech is also supposed to know how to fix the sport bikes and everything else the manufacturers throw out and change every year. The good ones usually aren't paid enough and end up leaving and the ones left are frustrated and usually don't get adequate training.

It's hard for dealers to find people with the right aptitude who really want to learn and stay with it.

Hope he gets it fixed okay.

I had a yamaha outboard 4 stroke once that I bought brand new....I took it to mechanic who was qualified and opening a new shop...he performed a recall for me. The next year, I was living in a different town so I took it to the certified mechanic there and the recall showed up as still needing to be done. the first mechanic did the work...but didn't process his warranty billing correctly and therefore...mine didn't get taken off the list at the factory...it happens..





Questcap wrote:
Pitiful! That dealer has NO recourse, but to make him right!!! And what's this about doing a recall on a bike that had already had the recall done??? That's a factory record-keeping mistake, if anything, as they wouldn't pick up the tab on a second job, if the vin was already on record.

i do not want to high-jack the post, but i have to disagree taxasscott.
about the tech needing to know every bike,when i was having the elect issue i went to mmi met with 2 of the yamaha instrutors. their idea was the same one even asked his class, what do we do with this type of issue? answer start changing out parts start with c.d.i. then stator ect.the issue was a fuse blade,but the techs are being schooled just to r&r parts not to fix issues.

mkayx wrote:
i do not want to high-jack the post, but i have to disagree taxasscott.
about the tech needing to know every bike,when i was having the elect issue i went to mmi met with 2 of the yamaha instrutors. their idea was the same one even asked his class, what do we do with this type of issue? answer start changing out parts start with c.d.i. then stator ect.the issue was a fuse blade,but the techs are being schooled just to r&r parts not to fix issues.

Yeah the days of actually diagnosing something seem to be gone. It is time consuming so when a tech is throwing parts that are paid for by the dealer and not coming out of his pocket it just works out that way. I do a lot of repair work for people and don't have that security - If I buy a part for a customers bike and it doesn't fix the issue it is on me. So I spend a lot of time on diagnostics. It is hard to put a price on diagnostics though. For example - I have a Polaris ATV in the shop right now that would not start. After checking compression, spark, pulling carb to make sure it was clean (twice), pulling petcock and cleaning it, pulling reed valve to check it, I ended up having a bike with a choke cable issue. How much can I charge a guy to replace a choke cable when I have about 5 hours in diagnosing it to be just the choke cable? These are the frustrating ones. Luckily they don't come around very often!

I think ya should buy it back from the guy that bought it from the guy ya sold it to!!!! for half what ya sold it for!!! and fix it and sell it again, making more money ,from a different guy!!! who will sell it to another guy after he rods the H'''' out of it and blames the guy he bought it from

mkayx wrote:
i do not want to high-jack the post, but i have to disagree taxasscott.
about the tech needing to know every bike,when i was having the elect issue i went to mmi met with 2 of the yamaha instrutors. their idea was the same one even asked his class, what do we do with this type of issue? answer start changing out parts start with c.d.i. then stator ect.the issue was a fuse blade,but the techs are being schooled just to r&r parts not to fix issues.

That's a far cry from the way I was taught at GM back in '72 and in the '80's at Ford. Proper diagnostics was drummed into us. I'm doing what I can where I work now (part time) because the owner wants his service department reputation back. My specialty is the Road Star so I'll just have to see if I can apply what I've learned over the years to everything else.

Tex, fortunately, all the basics you learned back then apply. I went to the Indiana Voc Tech school in LaFayette for awhile, back in the late '70's; really just to kill some time while my new bride finished a degree at Purdue, and the one thing I came away with was that I actually knew way more than I ever even realized that I knew!

And it all still applies today!