I know this isn't motocross related, or off-road, but it's still a motorcycle!

I had my 2002 Yamaha R6 in to have a new transmission installed. It was scheduled to be started on Tuesday and completed Wednesday. Well, it was completed Wednesday. Good! Then they took it for a test drive. Bad! All was fine and dandy until about a mile down the road it just died and refused to fire up again. I guess the rider pushed it back to the dealer, so they say. The rider was doing 30mph in 3rd gear. This is what I've been told. It's tough to say whether or not I'm getting lied to or not, but these are the things I was told happened.

Once the guy got it back to the shop, they proceeded to tear it apart to find out why it died. They yanked the carbs off and looking down, all 8 intake valves are bent. They removed the cover on the side to look at the chains, and the exhaust side was fine. The intake however, wasn't. The timing chain looks to have skipped a couple teeth on the intake side. They haven't tore it down any further yet to find out what else has been damaged. What can cause this to happen while he was 'putting along'?

I took the bike in there with it running very, very well. I expect to get it back the same way. They told me they didn't have to touch anything that has anything to do with the top end in order to replace the transmission, so it isn't their fault. They told me they'd find out what is wrong and work with me on it. I guess I'm pretty pissed that they started to tear shit down and never told me a thing. OK, I'm pissed about a lot more than just that, but who wouldn't be? I called Thursday afternoon to see if my bike was done or not, and that's when I found this out. It almost seems like they are/were trying to hide something. I know no matter what is found, they're going to try to place the blame on me or my motorcycle somehow and make me pay for it. It ran INCREDIBLY well when I dropped it off and I should get it back running just the same, without having to pay for it to be running.

I posted this on Motodrive and pretty much everyone agrees I should get my bike back in running condition. They tell me he was only doing 30mph in 3rd gear when it happened, but that's nearly impossible. most of us know that in order to have the chain skip like that, you have got to be railing on the throttle and maybe miss a gear or something like that. It just doesn't happen at 3000 rpm.

Any thoughts on any of this?

Here are a few of the pictures I took today of the valves.

How many miles on the bike and has it had any top end work done before? I 'm thinking if there no indication of a problem with the top end when you dropped it off, it should still run incredibly well when you pick it up with no additional charges. If not, I'd be calling Yamaha corporate.:mad:
I have spent quite a bit of time working on auto dealership equipment and some of the driving I've seen involving customers' vehicles is down right irresponsible and wreckless.:eek:

dang. was it almost new??

The bike has exactly 13,721 miles on it as it sits. From what I've seen on bikes for sale on eBay and such, that's on the low side. It has had no top end work done as far as I know. I bought it completely bone stock last July with 9,300 miles on it.

I've already called Yamaha Consumer Relations so they know what's going on. They have said that it is going to depend on what caused this to happen. The problem is that I'm not so sure I trust the dealer, or any dealer as far as I'm concerned, to be truthful in this matter since this could be very costly for them. I'm going to contact my lawyer tomorrow to see what he says. I plan on having my ducks lined up ahead of time, if at all possible.

howell said:

No, but it sure is in nice shape!

wow that sucks, the dealer should be responsible. You left it in their hands running, you should get it back in the same state.

They had to split the case to rebuild the trans. That means they had to remove the head and cyclinder. When they put it back together they didn`t have it in time. It wouldn`t take many rpms to bend the valves when they are hitting the piston.

David C said:

Actually, from what I have heard not only from them, but others as well, the top end doesn't have to be touched at all during this process.

Also, the cases are split top and bottom, not side to side like our motocross bikes.

Wow. That bites. If it did it under their care, it's their baby, I would say even if "you authorize them to do this and that..." before they do anything like some places have you sign. I would not pay them a dime until you are satisfied with the situation. That does not just happen to these bikes (says the owner of an '06 R6). And I highly doubt that the test rider would willingly admit... "yeah I was at the top of third gear, boss!" Dealers suck.

Good Lord I would be livid. That's a nice bike. Hope you can get this straightned out (no pun intentended... :().

Sorry to hear man... this is one reason why I never will take my bike to a dealership. I won't even buy oil or OEM parts from them because I dislike them so much. They may have had to take the cylinder off to work to the correct work on the transmission. When they put it back together the timing chain may have slipped. I know I have caught my timing chain slipping before on my bike when I was putting it back together. The exhaust may have been fine but if the intakes weren't timed right then it is their fault! It would barely take anything to bend your valves if they are hitting the piston. The way it seems is that they should fix your bike (what they did to it) and do your transmission for free! That would be true customer support. If they tell you that your bike will be fixed and ready to go a certain day and they don't hold up their agreement the service should be free. I would not pay for any extra fees besides the transmission but even then you shouldn't have to pay for anything. They didn't communicate with you and are beating around the bush. I feel your pain... let us know how it turns out.

I have ridden that exact bike, and can tell you they are liars.
Try and ride one at only 30 MPH in 3rd gear sometime.
The revs would be too low.
What would that be maybe 900 rpm?
I will have to try my pals tomorrow and see what 3rd gear is at say 60 MPH,a and then divide the revs in half...because i know i cannot upshift to third by just 30 MPH on it....maybe second, but it will surpass that speed like nothing in first and not even be reving hard.

30mph in third is no problem...well not on mine. You're never going to get the truth out of them regarding the test ride. It just seems too much of a coincidence this happened after the transmission was stripped and rebuilt. I would get an independent report detailing exactly the work carried out and whether this would have involved touching the timing gear in any way.

Good luck.

Bump.

Something definitely seems fishy. It was supposed to be done on Wed. They probably messed it up on Wed. ...but yet they don't call you right away after it happened to let you know something was screwed up? And on top of that, you didn't find out till you called them the day after it was supposed to be done? They may not have been in the top end, but they were still in the tranny. I would imagine being in there could cause something in the engine to move slightly and cause the timing to go goofy. It obviously took something to bust off every freakin valve like that. Have you gotten any additional info yet? Has the dealer said anything else, or offered anything else? Also, if you don't mind posting (or you can send PM), which dealership is this so we can avoid going there. Good luck.

you dont have to touch the top end to rebuild the trans on that bike, the engine splits top to bottom not sideways like most dirt bikes, you said it was runnig good when you sent it in there but did it have a bit of a ticking noise by chance? the reason i ask is my buddy had an 99 and it developed a ticking noise and when i finally checked it for him it turned out to be a bad cam chain tensioner, it was an easy fix but if he let it go any longer the cam chain would have jumped a tooth and he would have had the same problem you have. who knows what the dealer did, i've worked at quite a few and there are always a bunch of retards working at them, maybe they did take the topend off and just didnt time it right , get it back and pop off the valve cover and check the timing yourself, also check to see if they where into the top end, look for marks on the screws , fresh gaskets etc

In reality you don't have to remove the top end, but mabye they did? Mabye they took off the chain tensioner for some clearance issue and didn't reset it. Who knows what they really did if it ran fine before then they must have messed up the timing somehow. 8 valves don't bend unless the timing is off period. 30 in 3rd on a test drive he must have been lugging it or lying either way it is irrevalent. He could have been going 90 in 3rd and not caused a problem. If you are honest about the condition then they have caused a problem and you need to push this issue with them so your engine comes back as good as it went in.

Is this a shop that you have worked with in the past? How big of a shop are you talking about?

if they didnt come clean about it in the begining you are going to end up getting ****ed unless your attorney writes them a letter saying hes going to **** them. needs to be a decent attorney too. thats how it works.

acco said:

This guy is kinda right, but im curiose how big is this shop?

If the bike was in such great shape why did the transmission need to be worked on?