As some of you may know I bought a new gs500f 22 days ago, it has now been in the shop for 15 and counting. The dealer now said I have a blown head gasket and tried to blame me for it. They then said they called suzuki and suzuki said "we will fix it THIS time"". They "overnighted" the gasket to the shop on friday and it is now wednesday and I still have not heard from them and quite frankly I am tired of dealing with them so I called Suzuki USA Tonight. Suzukis rep said that there is no way I should have blown a head gasket in 200 miles no matter how I rode the bike, he was also suprised that they dealership actually thought it wouldn't be covered under warranty. He apologized for the dealership stating "we called suzuki and they said they would fix it THIS time". He also said according to his records, the dealer has never even contacted Suzuki about my bike at all for the head gasket warranty or any other reason so he apologized for that. Suzuki is now calling the dealership to see what is taking so long to fix my bike and to see why they have been so rude and to tell them that it is unacceptable that I bought a brand new bike and can't even ride it. He is supposed to tell them to make sure the bike is in absolute brand new condition before they even think about giving it back to me and tell them they need to get things sorted out before it turns into a legal issue. I only need another 14 days in the shop after tomorrow within the first year of ownership to file under the lemon law in my state. Sorry for the long post but just thought I would share my exciting experience with my new bike so far,aside from riding it once every 2 weeks. Dealers are evil people. :mad:
Sorry for the bad luck dude. Good thing is that once you finally get it back you should never have to take it back to the sorry dealer. The GS is a solid workhorse and with routine maintenance and no major wreckage it should never need to go back to the dealer. Do tell how the dealer reacted to the call once you see them again ;)
The suzuki rep is supposed to give me a call back tonight so if he does I will let you all know what he says.
man thats shaZam!, the gs is generly bullet proof, i doubt that even in the hardest riding you could have blown a head gasket in that short a time, well i hope it all works out :thumb:
Have a friend that is good at the whole 'legalese' type presentation to call your dealer. Coupled with the grief that Suzuki USA already gave them, they will probably shape up FAST.
You have done the right thing by going to Suzuki direct. The gasket must have been defective or it was an assembly error. Make sure they check the head and block faces for any distortion. I think you have a very good case to demand some compensation for the inconvenience as it obvious the dealer has lied to you.
Yeah Sledge said it all. You deffinately did the right thing by calling Suzuki. It must have been an assembly error of some sort.
The only worry I have is that the shop may not do a thorough job replacing the gasket and checking for other damage (as Sledge said, a warped deck).
Good luck, I hope all turns out well. I couldn't imagine the frustration you must be going through! Sounds like you got the ball rolling by calling Suzuki.
-Turd.
Well Suzuki has not called back and their customer service line is closed for the night so I guess I will be giving them a call again tomorrow which will be day 16 in the shop.Bad part is I have to work all day tomorrow so I won't be able to get the bike back anyways. Guess that gives them an extra day with it.
I posted yesterday about this exact same situation. My experience was quite a bit different from yours. My dealer knew it could not have been my fault and he made sure that Suzuki even sent me a new exhaust because there was some slight discoloration on the old one from the oil. He told me when he talked to them that they are aware of this problem, so you and I aren't the only ones this has happened to. I hope they get it sorted out soon, because the tech at my dealer told me it could have been a potentially deadly problem. It was pushing so much oil out that the back tire could have been coated and a wreck would have been imminent.
Keep on that dealer. My dealer said Suzuki had no problem fixing it under warranty since they knew I could not have caused it in 260 miles and it's not an isolated incident.
Good luck and let us know how it turns out! :thumb:
Well it is good to hear that I'm not alone. I love the bike but it would be a lot better if I could ride it. I don't think I will be going back to the dealer after this one unless the same thing happens. I'm tired of dealing with them. But hopefully my bike will be good as new. How is your bike running nowadays shark?
Quote from: 06GSowner on July 12, 2006, 05:04:04 PM
Well it is good to hear that I'm not alone. I love the bike but it would be a lot better if I could ride it. I don't think I will be going back to the dealer after this one unless the same thing happens. I'm tired of dealing with them. But hopefully my bike will be good as new. How is your bike running nowadays shark?
It's not, yet. I just took it in yesterday. And one of the techs at the shop quit yesterday, so they're a bit backed up. I'm guessing I won't get it back for a week or two, but the tech I dealt with told me it will be like new. And I trust him after my dealings with him yesterday.
I'll let you know when I get it back.
Out of curiosity, what dealership is this that's giving you the BS?
I live in the SF bay area and had some issues with dealers too.
I live in Ohio. The dealership is ASK Powersports. They have 3 locations in my area and are supposedly one of the best dealers around and family owned. What a bunch of BS. The techs are a bunch of kids who look younger than me(20) and a few older guys. Maybe i'm the only one who has had a bad experience with them or maybe i'm the only one who feels the need to complain.
i am glad corp is taking care of the problem, but like you said, a few more days in the shop and what they have to give you a new one right?
30 days in the shop within the 1st year of ownership and under 18,000 miles gets me a new bike. Thursday will be day 16 in the shop. Might as well warm up the phone for the attorney here in a few months at the rate i'm going. :icon_rolleyes:
well, its not so bad. think of the new biger bike you will get at a great price. :icon_lol:
Bad thing is. I haven't learned to ride this bike, let alone a bigger bike haha. Oh well who needs to take it safe right :dunno_white:
its seems they dont care does it? o well hopefully when you get it back you can ride it your sick of it.
And bhere I thought that our crappy dealer was bad, but I've never heard of them pulling that kind of BS. Just your typical ineptness....
couple qoutes from my dealers webpage askpowersports.com
1. We pride ourselves on customer service
2. We have factory trained technicians at all locations
:flipoff:
Quote from: Turd Ferguson on July 12, 2006, 03:36:10 PM
The only worry I have is that the shop may not do a thorough job replacing the gasket and checking for other damage (as Sledge said, a warped deck).
this is why you MUST document EVERYTHING now. all your phone calls, who you talked to and what they said and when. promises they made, etc...10 months down the line if something happens and they trace it to this problem or a related problem you'll have backup against them, if it comes up.
sucks to have a bad experience like that. I hate it when they make it sound like they're doing you a favor...THIS time...my ass.
keep us posted.
Any new's?
Just got off work. Never did hear back from Suzuki. They are closed for today already so I can't give them a call back. I did call the dealer around 6 tonight, they close at 8. The tech said "We're working on it right now but won't be able to get it out for a test drive tonight because it just started raining again, but I will get it out first thing in the morning for the test ride as long as it is dry." . I guess we will see what has happened by early afternoon tomorrow. I wonder if Suzuki actually contacted them? Well I can at least hope to have my bike back for a ride tomorrow after work.
Yes, but he asked for the new's. It was probably the most random apostrophe I'd ever seen, so I thought it deserved some attention.
good stuff man, ride on. well at least tomarrow night any way
I'm not getting too excited about tomorrow night. The dealer misses every deadline he gives me so might as well not get my hopes up yet. Will be nice to get back on it though. Hell I will probably have to re-learn everything from my first few days since it has been so long :laugh:
Quote from: 06GSowner on July 13, 2006, 08:00:28 PM
I'm not getting too excited about tomorrow night. The dealer misses every deadline he gives me so might as well not get my hopes up yet. Will be nice to get back on it though. Hell I will probably have to re-learn everything from my first few days since it has been so long :laugh:
Did you take a picture of it so you know what bike to pick up?
Yea I have a few pictures saved on my computer, was going to print and take them to the dealership just to be sure! I think it only has 2 wheels.....
Sorry man I'm not the best typist. ( sp ) and yes english is my second language.
I think what Unnamed REALLY meant is that we're happy to have people of all nationalities and creeds, and it's so adorable the little quirks people bring to GSTwin with their uniqueness! He's just too bashful to say it that way.... :thumb: :kiss3: :icon_mrgreen:
suzuki is good about following up dealers.. i had a similar issue which the dealer didnt take responsiblity, suzuki gave them a beatdown..
needless to say that dealer is no longer around.
i must say suzuki stands behind its product..
Quote from: pandy on July 13, 2006, 09:22:57 PM
I think what Unnamed REALLY meant is that we're happy to have people of all nationalities and creeds, and it's so adorable the little quirks people bring to GSTwin with their uniqueness! He's just too bashful to say it that way.... :thumb: :kiss3: :icon_mrgreen:
Exactly... thats why we keep Pandy around to translate! :thumb:
I'm good at reading between the lines and into peoples' hearts.... ;) :laugh: :thumb:
Quote from: pandy on July 14, 2006, 08:25:31 AM
I'm good at reading between the lines and into peoples' hearts.... ;) :laugh: :thumb:
:thumb: :bowdown: :kiss3:
Head gasket now fixed, but the bike is "hanging up at 3000rpm". What does that mean? They are "hoping it will be done tomorrow".
Mean they have to adjust the idle screw. :)
Or there's an air leak somewhere, I think, will do that.
Well we are now up to 18 days in the shop and they don't think that it will be fixed today so as of monday it will be 20 days in the shop. Monday will also mark the 30th day I have technically "owned" the bike even though I havent even seen it since the 1st of this month. :mad: :2guns: Suzuki and this dealer are not making friends with me.
here comes the new bike, here comes the new bike (wedding song)
I submitted my case electronically to a lemon law attorney. The lemon law in my state also says
"First, did the manufacturer live up to the warranty for the life of the warranty? In other words did they fix every defect within a reasonable amount of time? Did they fix every defect within a reasonable number of chances? If the answer is "no" to either question, then you have a lemon."
I don't think 15 days in the shop is a reasonable ammount of time even if you consider the July 4th Holiday time off. We shall see what the law office says about the case.
Just got off the phone with the dealer. Says the head gasket is fixed but there is something wrong with the carbs now. He said "When you rev the bike up high it's fine but when it comes back down it hangs on at around 3000 rpm's for 4-5 seconds". I don't know what causes this since I know nothing about bikes yet. So they are working on that problem now. They said it will hopefully be done Monday morning. Im gettin a little tired of the "hopefully it will be done on our next working day" shaZam!.
there open monday?
all shops i know of are closed sun and monday
Quote from: rangerbrown on July 15, 2006, 11:38:08 AM
here comes the new bike, here comes the new bike (wedding song)
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: Your a clown shoe.... :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
They starved your bike the whole time that it has been there...... Now it is Lean. :mad:
Yes they are open monday, only closed on sundays. How difficult should it be for them to fix the bike if it is lean? Is that hurting the bike at all?
No not really Suzuki makes them like that for emisson. Its not hurting the bike but but for the bike to perform better its better if it not lean... You would never notice it at first until you jet it. You know what lean means right? in reference to the bike.
No I don't know what lean means. Im assuming something to do with the carbs and fuel. I have never owned anything with carbs before this and I havent had this in my hands long enough to know anything about it haha. So what is this lean? :dunno_white: and why are the gs500's made to run this way? On a possitive note the dealer did say the bike is running beautifully other than the hanging up at 3000 rpm issue :laugh:
Quote from: 06GSowner on July 15, 2006, 01:26:12 PM
No I don't know what lean means. Im assuming something to do with the carbs and fuel. I have never owned anything with carbs before this and I havent had this in my hands long enough to know anything about it haha. So what is this lean? :dunno_white: and why are the gs500's made to run this way? On a possitive note the dealer did say the bike is running beautifully other than the hanging up at 3000 rpm issue :laugh:
Do a seacrh... when done reading this.... Lean is when ratio to air is to great during the combustion stage. If have to much gas or not enough air, you are running rich. It being lean could be from an Air leak.... i hope they check for that stuff at the stealership... I hope this helped. I would still do a search. I do drink alot and i could have given you false information inavertedly. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
Sucking air ... but they suck at working on bikes, so You're shafted ... and no your bike will stay as chain drive O0 ...
Cool.
Srinath.
that 'hanging' sounds like how the bike IS from the factory. Mine did that, as well as many others here. they're made to run lean at certain rpms in order to comply with emissions testing (which is done at those certain rpms, coincidentally). they all come lean for that reason. the carbs need to be rejetted. that part is the only thing they need to know. do a search here for 01+ rejetting and/or my site for information on what main, secondary and pilot jet sizes they should replace.
Sunday night......lets see if my bike gets done on monday morning.... :icon_twisted:
hell you may get a free jet job if they figure it out
No bike today......Might be done tomorrow though :dunno_white: .....think ive heard that before. They said today I had a vacuum leak somehwere. Then he called Suzuki and they found out the had some hoses or wires connected wrong and thats what was making it seem like a vacuum leak. So now they have a step by step diagram going over all the hoses and wiring and redoing it. Suzuki is also making them clean out the carbs and do something else before they can give me back the bike. He said if they don't get it fixed by re-doing the hoses/wiring , the Suzuki rep for the dealer will be in on Thursday........ 21 days in the shop and counting. Not bad for a new bike. :mad:
Idon't know how you are keeping your cool, I would have taken day's off of work and camped in front of their store with a sign saying how many days my NEW bike has been in the shop. And would have demaned a new one by now.
On a plus side 9 more day's till you are allowed a new bike.
yea i'll make sure suzuki knows how long this takes when it is over, that will be a pleasant call. Maybe the bike will be better than new since they had to do the carbs and whatever else.
i would want one any way. this seems liek there are only going to be problems down the road, after the waranty runs out.
+1 Rangerbrown
If at all possible complain to the suzuki rep while he is there, tell him you don't feel you should be stuck with a bike that has been in the shop for x many days, and you wan't a new one.
tues night. i only hope that he is out riding the bike at this point
As messed up as it would be I'm hoping for the 30 days for you. Tell them you still want the bike and They might buy it for you...
Ditto on the new bike. As soon as you start taking things apart on ANYTHING... It's not gonna be the same anymore.
DEMAND a new bike.
Well wednesday is here and the bike is done after 22 days total(i think unless i lost track somewhere).....we will see how things go when I ride it tonight(unless something else comes up and I don't get to go pick it up). Guess I won't be seeing the Suzuki Rep on thursday. All Suzuki has told me is that "It's not their policy to exchange bikes, but they would make sure it got fixed".
its the state law not what they want to do. be sure to tell them that on thurs
i see no reason why you should have had to go with out a bike to ride or even have to pay this months payment for that matter.
i can see how you have been so, well what the word... well cooler than me about this.
stick it to them that amount of time without your ride not good :mad:
got the bike back. seems to be running a little better than when I first had it, could be just because i havent been on it in so long though. They said they installed a thicker rubber head gasket because the Suzuki stock one is paper thin. Suzuki paid them a whole $108 parts and labor for the entire repair. Any person paying for that would have had labor charges coming out their ass. Oh well , let's hope the bike runs great for the rest of it's life.
Quote from: 06GSowner on July 19, 2006, 01:41:34 PMThey said they installed a thicker rubber head gasket because the Suzuki stock one is paper thin.
What? :cookoo: My advice to you is find another dealership; these guys are either liars or totally incompetent.
-M
Yeah.. a RUBBER head gasket? That's a new one on me.
Suzuki paid them $108 for parts and labor? I bet book time is at least four hours for that kind of job, and Suzuki is obligated to pay the dealer whatever book time is. I'm pretty sure the dealer wasn't billing labor at $25 per hour with an $8 head gasket. :cookoo:
their computer system showed that suzuki paid 1 hours worth of labor at $66 an hour. New question, the bike acts like it wants to stall when I first start it(feels like it to me anyways). Even if i put full choke it idles at like 1K. Would a twist of that idle screw fix this problem?
Try holding the throttle open just a crack. If that clears it up, then adjust the idle screw (probably 1/8th of a turn).
Sorry to hear of all your problems. Hope they actually fixed it. That dealer is a crooked one. What's their name, again? We want to avoid them. Get the mechanic's name? He could get fired and it would be good to know where he goes (so that we can avoid him in the future!).
yea if i open the throttle for awhile and start riding it clears up and idles fine. Guess I will try adjusting that screw when the motor cools down. They have me sealing the head gasket by riding it then letting it cool down then riding it and letting it cool down.....is this normal? I'm trying to replace the tach/speedo lights to colored ones while i'm waiting for the bike to cool....not working out real well though :laugh:. BTW Dealerships name is ASK Powersports. 3 locations in central Ohio. Tech who always spoke to me was Austin. Not sure if he was the one who worked on it or not. But he is the only one I ever got to talk to.
Sounds like normal break-in, but that's usually for the cylinders. But, this maybe to make sure that it wont leak again, by heat-cycling the gasket and mating surface, to make sure it doesn't warp. Keep an eye on it. Or, more like an ear and maybe a hand, to listen for a compression leak again, or hover your hand around the compression gasket to feel for air leaking past.
You have an '06, which has the whole fairing covering the engine, which may interfere with your hand being able to feel for air leaks.
Quote from: 06GSowner on July 19, 2006, 04:52:20 PM
yea if i open the throttle for awhile and start riding it clears up and idles fine. Guess I will try adjusting that screw when the motor cools down. They have me sealing the head gasket by riding it then letting it cool down then riding it and letting it cool down.....is this normal? I'm trying to replace the tach/speedo lights to colored ones while i'm waiting for the bike to cool....not working out real well though :laugh:. BTW Dealerships name is ASK Powersports. 3 locations in central Ohio. Tech who always spoke to me was Austin. Not sure if he was the one who worked on it or not. But he is the only one I ever got to talk to.
It take about five minutes for the GS to get warmed up , then that sputtering and low RPM hesitation goes away. Your GS should already be tuned for running at a normal operating temperature, and I've always found the best results tuning the carbs or adjusting the idle when the engine is warm to hot.
well when i first got the bike if i turned the choke full on, it warmed up at like 3 - 4000 rpms. Now with full on choke it stalls out unless i give it a little throttle. Bike was almost outta gas at the dealer apparantly because they started it and it was fine, let it warm up for bout 5 minutes fine, I get to the first red light out of the parking lot, it wanted to stall. I figured they didn't put gas in it so I switched it to reserve and went to the gas station and everything was fine. I rode the bike home from the dealer,about 45 minutes. I let it "cool" for about 2 hours(to heat cycle the new head gasket). I figured the bike is still basically "warmed up" even though it had cooled down to about outside temperature. But when I started her up, she wanted to stall again till I gave some throttle. Maybe this is normal I don't know. It is just doing something different then my first 200 miles on it. :dunno_white: On a side note I got all of my warning stickers off and installed blue lights for the tach and speedo. :)
That could be a few different things... fouled plugs, bad carbs, etc. Call Suzuki and tell them that you want a new bike. Check the lemon laws in your state. I would also tell them that you want a new bike from a different dealership.
P.S. Dealerships are bottom feeders... there is a shop around here that did shitty work on a guys bike and then called the manufacturer and lied to them (telling them that the owner had been stunting the bike) in order to try and void his warranty.
Hook in with a local rider messageboard and try to find honest shops or mechanics in your area.
well right now it is cooling down till around 11, then im gonna take it out on one last ride for the night. we will see how it ends up starting and warming up for this ride.
Well guys thanks for all the help and support. I believe I finally have my bike running nicely. I adjusted the idle screw a little. I think that the choke not working correctly was my fault not knowing how to use it properly. It has been about 95 degrees here for the past week so I probably don't need much choke right? I think the choke was just thinking the bike was warmed up already therefore I didn't need it so it was stalling the bike. Seems to be ok at the moment. Heres to happy riding to u and I for the rest of my new GS' lifetime. :cheers:
yea in the moning here is SC its about 78 or so. i use the choke to start it, and then take it off. by the time i am off my dirt road, its nice and warm