Dealer *caused* a fault they can't fix

losinj1

In September 2018, I took my 10-year-old motorbike to a dealer to have a fault fixed, and it came back with a different and unusual one which, so far, they haven't been able to fix.  The bike was new when I bought it (from another dealer in the same franchise).  Are there any rights I could exercise to insist on any kind of a resolution?

The dealer needed to replace a cylinder because the barrel was scored and it was losing compression, but ever since there has been a recurring oil leak around this cylinder's base gasket.  Currently the bike is back with them - for the third time.  In addition to the 7 months it took them to initially replace the scored cylinder, the bike has spent a total of 8 months with them just for the oil leak.

Even so I've had a good relationship with the dealer for servicing over the years, and they seem committed to fixing the problem, but it requires me to have the patience of a saint.  This seems to be half-expected, given the time it's evidently taken to consult the parent company, bring the company's technical expert out to inspect the bike and authorise new parts, etc., and also contend with parts not arriving and a summer shutdown at the factory (in Italy).  The dealer is not local but has collected and delivered the bike each time, so the only cost to me thus far has been normal ownership costs i.e. 15 months' "wasted" insurance and road tax, plus a loss of enjoyment in not being able to use the bike.

MinuteNoodles

It is a 10 year old bike, I'd be surprised if the manufacturer even carries many spare parts any more, let alone major components like an engine block or barrel, either of which may be needed to fix the problem.
I'd say the dealer has already gone well beyond what they'd reasonably be expected to do. Often in cases like this there is a fix but as it tends to come with a four figure price worth much more than the vehicle which nobody want's to pay all other avenues get explored first.
What are you wanting from this, compensation? 

AdrianC

How bad is the oil leak? Bad enough to render it unusable?

I'm very (pleasantly) surprised that the manufacturer is providing such strong backup to such an old vehicle -  but I would presume there's a strong independent sector for this particular marque (which?), so I'd be looking outside the dealer chain. Things like this are far more likely to be encountered by indies, since this is the kind of work that happens more as vehicles age, and older vehicles simply don't get maintained inside the chain usually...

I'm with Noodles, in suspecting that the block has been scored or damaged when the barrel was changed. Perhaps it was simply impossible to avoid. But the "proper" manufacturer fix may well be simply to change the block casting. There may well be other fixes possible by people not subject to manufacturer constraints...

facade

Sounds like a guzzi.

Some of them do suffer from base of cylinder leaks despite multiple re-torquing of the head bolts, even after applying various ungents e.g. Stag, Hylomar, silicone.

The advice is to check the breather system, oil feed line to the rockers, and on the old ones the distributor, and if none of those are the culprit it is block porosity.

onlyfoolsandparking

It's a 10 year old bike I'd be surprised if the manufacturer DIDN'T carry spares, at 10 year old it's hardly a classic is it? Having owned a number of classics one which was built 76 and one built 77 I didn't have any problems sourcing parts and was able to effect any repairs including engine rebuilds.

It would help if we knew what bike model we're talking about here, Ducati? Aprilia?

AdrianC

onlyfoolsandparking said:

It's a 10 year old bike I'd be surprised if the manufacturer DIDN'T carry spares

I wouldn't.

While I don't know about bikes particularly, I know that there's basically a "gentleman's agreement" between car manufacturers that all parts are available for three years, and major parts for ten. After that, all bets are off - and I know of a lot of supply problems with lower-volume models once production ends.

onlyfoolsandparking

AdrianC said:

onlyfoolsandparking said:

It's a 10 year old bike I'd be surprised if the manufacturer DIDN'T carry spares

I wouldn't.

While I don't know about bikes particularly, I know that there's basically a "gentleman's agreement" between car manufacturers that all parts are available for three years, and major parts for ten. After that, all bets are off - and I know of a lot of supply problems with lower-volume models once production ends.

Well you could well be correct, I can only go off my many years experience with bikes and how 'biking' in general works. It's big with the 'hobby' and 'enthusiast' sector and I see many good working bikes that are well over 10 years old, the parts in order to maintain these bikes must come from somewhere? As previously stated having owned a number of classics I never struggled obtaining parts even bringing parts in from USA and Japan was relatively straightforward although it was sometimes a minor irritation getting stung with import duty.

I do know that main dealers are not the 'go to' place for older bikes but I'm struggling to see how the OP and dealer are struggling with a bike which is still relatively young in biking terms. Definitely more info required in order to give clearer advice.

Lomast

Bear in mind independents and hobbyists can fit whatever brand of parts they like whereas main dealers will only fit genuine oem parts and it's these parts that may not be available

AdrianC

Lomast said:

Bear in mind independents and hobbyists can fit whatever brand of parts they like whereas main dealers will only fit genuine oem parts and it's these parts that may not be available

Also, dealers can't modify parts or use external services to modify/repair them - they can only replace with new.

Something like this, there may be a resolution developed where the block can be sleeved or a seal added.

onlyfoolsandparking

Again until OP comes back with more info we're shooting in the dark, I remember one of my classics needing new pistons, couldn't find any and I scoured the planet lol. Eventually i managed to get a full set buying one here and there BUT they were oversized, solution was rebore the barrels, oversized rings, problem solved  

MinuteNoodles

onlyfoolsandparking said:

Well you could well be correct, I can only go off my many years experience with bikes and how 'biking' in general works. It's big with the 'hobby' and 'enthusiast' sector and I see many good working bikes that are well over 10 years old, the parts in order to maintain these bikes must come from somewhere? As previously stated having owned a number of classics I never struggled obtaining parts even bringing parts in from USA and Japan was relatively straightforward although it was sometimes a minor irritation getting stung with import duty.

Genuine parts bought from the manufacturers or dealership network or either "new old stock" bought from a third party vendor who bought up all the stock about to be binned by the aforementioned or OEM quality third party manufactured stuff? When I was restoring my Capri in 2007 I was still able to find unused genuine parts such as highly sought after passenger door mirrors but they weren't coming from Ford, they were coming from Ebay sellers who happened to have stumbled upon a limited supply of bits from a Ford dealership having a clearout so were new condition unopened original parts aka "new old stock".