How Angry Should I Be?

[muchADEW]

I'm a new rider and a new owner of a 1996 GS500e. I had the bike for about two weeks when it started having some problems sputtering in the lower gears, requiring me to rev the engine hard to get started in 1st. So I took it to the shop (Coleman's Powersports in Falls Church, Va.). No surprise, they diagnosed it as the carbs and suggested a cleaning. Also, since the bike was new to me and it had nearly 4,000 miles on it, they suggested and I accepted the 4k checkup. That was on Wednesday, Sept. 22. They said it would be done "early next week," meaning (to me) Monday, Sept. 27, or Tuesday, Sept. 28.

It's Tuesday, Oct. 5. I still don't have my bike back. I've called twice (once on Wednesday, Sept. 29 -- they needed a float bowl and it hadn't come in yet; and once on Monday, Oct. 4, when they guy said it would be ready "maybe Tuesday, but most likely Wednesday ... or Thursday"). 

Am I wrong to think this is ridiculous?  Since I'm a new rider, my only point of reference is getting my car fixed, and it's never taken an auto shop this long. Is this typical? Is the fall a busy time of year? Is there any explanation for this?

I am beyond frustrated about the situation.  It's starting to get cooler, and each day I feel like my time to ride is slipping away. Meanwhile, I'm taking cabs back and forth to school (at $12 a pop), when I could be using 15 cents in gas to get there. Further, this past weekend was absolutely stunning, and I had planned on taking a long ride (my FIRST long ride) on Saturday. I'd like my first learning experience with the bike to be riding it, not learning how to winterize it. I'm literally getting so antsy to ride that I've considered renting a bike from Eagle Rider just to get out there.

What do all you veterans think? Should I say anything? If so, what? Should I not and just bring it to another shop if it needs it? 

[Twism86]

Sometime parts can take awhile to come in. If they are waiting on a part not much you can do. If they are just being slow and not keeping you up to date be sure to let them know that this is completely unacceptable and that they went against their original time estimate. Dont pay more for the service due to the increased time it took. Maybe they should throw in a free oil change? Tell them that would alleviate some ill feelings about the bike taking so long and make you consider using them again in the future.

Next time, do the repairs yourself. Pick up some tools and service manual.

[reload]

i would be irritated that they weren't giving you any updates.

that's why i always try to do the work myself. hate dealing with shops

[muchADEW]

Yeah, my frustration would have been abated by a phone call or two telling my why there's a holdup.

I plan on learning how to do these things, but I wanted the bike back quickly so I could ride more this fall. So much for that ...

[ragecage23]

Pretty much agree with everyone on here, my dad had an '80 something gs550L that needed carbs, well he waited a good 2 months before he finally gave up.

[Big Rich]

Cleaning the carbs yourself (uninterrupted) would take a couple hours tops. Oh well, hindsight and all.

I've seen this too often - poor times from a bike shop. Granted, they cant run to AutoZone to get parts, but the time window is huge. Call them everyday and ask for updates or stop down there and ask to see the bike.

A friend of mine took his bike to a shop during their "slow season" to get his carbs cleaned and they ended up pulling the motor out of the frame and rebuilding the top end without permission. When he found out what they were doing, he actually had to get a lawyer (luckily it was a relative) to get his bike back without paying a $1500 bill.

[seamax]

wow it would have been cheaper and faster to send your carbs to buddha to get it clean or even rejetted. live and learn. 

[lilwoody]

wow it would have been cheaper and faster to send your carbs to buddha to get it clean or even rejetted. live and learn. 

This would be correct. The first thing I would have done though was drain the tank, fill it up and put in 1/2 a can of Sea Foam and have seen what happened but that's me. This has worked for me in the past with slightly gummed up motors. The last place I would take a GS500 would be a dealership . 90% of them are nothing short of very arrogant thieves. The rest are just polite thieves. This has been my observations and lessons I have learned over the years . Good luck

[chrisd]

You might want to do a quick web search of that particular dealer. I did recently and was shocked to see just how bad the feedback is!

[the mole]

And why would it need a float bowl? That's not something that wears out, did they lose it or did the mechanic drop it and then stand on it? I'd ask for the old one if they claim to have replaced it, and get them to show you what's 'wrong' with it.

[ragecage23]

And why would it need a float bowl? That's not something that wears out, did they lose it or did the mechanic drop it and then stand on it? I'd ask for the old one if they claim to have replaced it, and get them to show you what's 'wrong' with it.

Good point

[adidasguy]

Isn't it law that requires they give you your old parts when they replace parts? Then its up to you if you want to take them home or have them deal with the old parts. If not federal law, I do know that is the law in some states due to dishonest shops.

[muchADEW]

Cleaning the carbs yourself (uninterrupted) would take a couple hours tops. Oh well, hindsight and all.

I've seen this too often - poor times from a bike shop. Granted, they cant run to AutoZone to get parts, but the time window is huge. Call them everyday and ask for updates or stop down there and ask to see the bike.

A friend of mine took his bike to a shop during their "slow season" to get his carbs cleaned and they ended up pulling the motor out of the frame and rebuilding the top end without permission. When he found out what they were doing, he actually had to get a lawyer (luckily it was a relative) to get his bike back without paying a $1500 bill.

Well, Big Rich, you were almost right.

An update: After my call on Monday -- in which they said it would be done maybe Tuesday, most likely Wednesday and maybe Thursday -- I called this evening (Wednesday) at 5 p.m. to get another status update. I'm glad I called.

Why?

Because the service writer went over the bill with me. $800+. WTF!?!? To get the carbs cleaned and a 4K mile maintenance? My original estimate was for $282 plus parts. She says I approved this when another service writer called to tell me about the extra parts & cost. THEY NEVER CALLED ME. Apparently, another service writer just marked down in their computer system that he had called me and OKed the parts & extra expenses. Flat out lie. I called them four times for status updates -- not once did they say, "Hey, we're going to need extra parts, and they will cost about $$$."

Then I asked what the parts they had ordered were. Besides some obvious ones -- O-rings and the like, which I can understand, b/c it's a 14-year old bike -- they also said needles, parts for the float, etc.

Here's the best part. I asked, "Ok, so we can figure this out later -- when's the bike gonna be done?" The service writer says, "Let me go check with the tech."

After waiting 10 minutes on the phone, she finally came back and said "Friday, at the earliest. We haven't started on it yet."

14 f%$king days and they had even cracked the damn thing open yet. Unbelievable. They had all the parts in house the previous Wednesday -- apparently it was just sitting there and they were staring at it, hoping it would get better on its own.

So, here's the question: If they hadn't even opened the darn thing up yet, HOW DID THEY KNOW WHAT PARTS IT NEEDED? Another lie.

Thankfully, b/c they hadn't even started yet, I told them not to touch the bike. I went and picked it up tonight and drove it home. It still stutters in the low end -- i had to run it with the choke on all the way home, keeping the RPMs at around 3k just to make sure I didn't stall out at the stop lights.

Just to be clear, this is Coleman's Powersports in Falls Church, Va. Don't ever go there. EVER. 

To add to my misery, I smell something awful on the way home and I can see smoke in the beam from my headlight. I park the bike in the parking garage, and notice that oil is just leaking out from the left side, near the black round thing that says Suzuki on it.

So now I'm up a creek without a paddle. I guess I either find a reputable shop to service it (based on previous comments above, this is unlikely), or I learn how to do this stuff myself. Problem is, I live in DC and I have no place to do it (no garage or the like). I park it in a friends parking space in an underground garage at his apartment building, but you're not allowed to wrench on things in there (nor would I want to, b/c he's doing me a favor by letting me use the space for free, and I don't want to be throwing parts all over the place, etc. I already feel bad enough that I'm leaking oil all over his spot). Another problem -- as you could probably guess from the "oil is just leaking out from the left side, near the black round thing that says Suzuki on it" comment -- is that I'm not great with this type of stuff. Sure, I can do simple things with my car -- oil changes, even changed the disc brakes with a friend's help -- but I look at the manual and I see Greek. 

I think God is trying to tell me I'm not supposed to own a bike ...


Well, off to find out why oil is leaking ... and how to clean carbs ... and etc, etc, etc.

[The Cable Guy]

Mine had a similar issue, it's now dead. Wherever you take it to next, ask for a compression check. My 3k+ or die was due to bad compression. A lot of techs overlook that and immediately think it's the carbs.

[Big Rich]

Glad to hear you got the scoot back man. We have a shop near me that is bad, but not nearly that bad.

And even if the manual is Greek, dont hesitate to ask questions here. You will have all winter to get her fixed up.

[lilwoody]

Simplest thing to do is the drain The gas and try the Sea foam. The oil leak may be fixed or slowed by just tightening the bolts, just don't over tighten. Then work on it from there. You have just learned a valuable lesson, it's not worth taking a 1500 dollar bike to a dealership where they will try to charge you 1/2 of what the bike is worth to lie, cheat, steal and belittle you. Then they probably won't fix the damn thing anyway.

[muchADEW]

Simplest thing to do is the drain The gas and try the Sea foam. The oil leak may be fixed or slowed by just tightening the bolts, just don't over tighten. Then work on it from there. You have just learned a valuable lesson, it's not worth taking a 1500 dollar bike to a dealership where they will try to charge you 1/2 of what the bike is worth to lie, cheat, steal and belittle you. Then they probably won't fix the damn thing anyway.

lilwoody, I had planned on the seafoam & tightening bolts thing. I'll also probably just change the oil & filter (and o-ring) to see if that stops it.

Big Rich, I def. plan on asking lots of questions. Here's the first: How do I drain the gas tank?

[Big Rich]

Keep in mind that i dont actually own a GS500 (I know, then what am i doing here?). But set the petcock to "on", undo the main fuel line, and hook up a spare hose to the outlet. Run the hose to a gas can, and set the petcock to "prime".

[The Buddha]

Oil leak from left side prolly is chain lube. BTW if you drag it over to charlotte NC, I'll be happy to tell ya what you should do.

BTW I am near about doubled over with pain in my ribs, so may just tell you if you did it in the next few weeks. Wait till I can stand upright and I may toss some wrenches your way and see what we can do.

96 bike should not need O rings - not a given. I also have seen floats leak when Idiot mechanics crank the drain bolts too tight, but no worries, I got plenty of bowls laying about. Oh I also have seen a cracked one when someone pushed the carbs down to remove them off the bike, and that big bolt that is sitting on the top rear side of the motor cracked it. But all in all, it takes a moron to get a metal float bowl that has held up for 15 years to suddenly leak.

Cool.
Buddha.

[danielarms76]

I recon you should be furious.First of all your workshop should have to;d you that half the time when it comes to carb probs, its best just to throw away and replace with reco second hand part.i all so can not understand why you would needa float bowl.i think someones taking you for a ride champ, and its not on a bike.   P.S. good place to p[ind parts in australia is (findapart.com)