September 14th, 2007

September 14th, 2007

I called and spoke to [the dealership owner] at [the dealership] in [town and state]. He told me that he would do the warranty work for me. He told me that he could pick it up the following Tuesday, and that they would probably begin looking at the scooter that afternoon. I told him I would email some more information to him the next day, including what I had done and observed with the scooter so far. This email is as follows:

[dealership owner],
Thanks A LOT for your offer to fix the bike! At this point I really have no alternative other alternative than this, or taking a head-first dive into fixing the issue myself- thus [apparently] voiding any further warranty work.

I'll give you my contact info first, with times best to reach me. I'm all over the place, so I'll give as much info as I know on when to contact me. Down below that is some other notes on the bike, and some other stuff you might be interested in when you get a chance to read all of it. Let me know as soon as you can what you think, and we'll go from there. Email is always a good option, especially if you're around it often enough and you copy me on both email addresses I give you.

Home:
S[edited out]

My problem-
I bought the bike Saturday before Labor Day. Leo told me that the bike was prepped, and he drove it from time to time just to "keep things oiled up." Trailered it home, checked it over and everything looked good. Took a ride about 80 miles. Hilly around here, nothing too severe, and nothing that makes me have to "lug" the engine- which from my air-cooled VW days I learned can kill an engine quick. I was being fairly conservative during break-in, but did get it up to 50 for very short bursts.

In the next days following, I put around 600 miles on the scoot banging around towns, back roads, and a few main roads- of course no "highways." The whole time I had been taking casual looks at the temp gauge- as I do with any new vehicle- to get an idea where the thing should run when everything is the way it should be. The gauge ran somewhere between half and beginning of the red zone the whole way.

On my first ride back from work, though, I was almost home when I heard a quiet and quick hiss, and had a small stream of coolant coming from the reservoir lid, down the rear of the fairing, and onto the foot platform. This was about 2 miles from home, going up a hill about 1/2 to 3/4 throttle and moving nicely. I got home, looked at the res lid, and decided it must have heated up enough to raise the level, and going up hill just let a little coolant leak through the ill-fitting rubber lid. No big deal I thought- the temp was a little higher than normal, but that day was the warmest I'd ridden as well, so it seemed to make sense.

The next day and days following it got worse- to the point it is now- where every time I hit the throttle quickly to 1/2 or more of its range- coolant will fill the res tank, pop the lid, and pour out onto the floor. I believe overall the problem has gotten worse from the point it started.

Knowing the dealer I bought from wasn't too KEEN on seeing the bike, and being unable to reach him, I started looking around. The tank level upon my last "test it out" ride was down below "good" range, but had started out at the max fill level.

So far, I really have done everything a consumer can do- but without a detailed warranty explanation I don't think I can go further. I was able to put another 300 or so miles on the bike just taking it easy on the flat roads nearby, doing so watching for any sign of a more serious problem. The water pump works well, the thermostat is working, the fan cycles the way it should (or that logically makes sense,) and I'm not losing coolant anywhere but the reservoir lid.

I took off the front fairing a few times now, to properly refill the coolant. Each time, I burped the system by quick throttle bursts, adjusting the level as needed. (It has taken as long as 20 minutes at times until I was satisfied there was no way I'd get more coolant in the bike, and that all the air was purged from the system.)

The throttle issue is painfully evident without the radiator cap on. If, from idle, I "goose" the throttle to about 1/2, I lose about 6 oz of coolant. If I GRADUALLY increase the throttle, (to the point where I'd make myself a new garage door if the thing came off the center stand and towards the back wall,) it seems like the coolant "foams" rather than "surges" out.

On the quick bursts, I can best see steam (or smoke) coming from the radiator with the cap off. Some people have suggested I looked at this specifically, to indicate a head gasket leak. Through all of my troubleshooting, I'm fairly convinced this is the issue. Like I said, though, I'd surely be delving into warranty voiding repairs, and run the risk that this wouldn't fix the problem.

Anyhow- I can't tell whether or not this is steam- violently coming from something very hot very quickly- or if it is some exhaust or air introduced by the head or some other area. (Everything smells the same: like a new bike.)
I have NO white smoke from the exhaust. I have no moisture from the exhaust. (Cardboard placed just behind it showed no evidence of it, anyhow.) The spark plug looks like a model of "what should be," just slightly gas moistened. No white fluffies, no brown, no carbon, and no oil.

The bike now has 950 some KM on it, the last 300 of which I had to drive REAL gingerly and stop if it started to rise. My latest garage testing appears to show that the problem is getting worse, but it might just be my imagination.

I am a Manufacturing Engineer where I work full time- the kind that wears jeans instead of Khakis. I've fixed nearly every vehicle I've owned, and restored a number as well. I'm no stranger to broken screws, seized parts, and machine work. (I design and build tooling here at work for various tasks. I have experience on vertical milling machines, lathes and other shop equipment; and can do precision measurement of nearly any geometric feature. I am also certified to ANSI Y-14.5 for dimensioning and tolerance interpretation on mechanical prints.) I have every confidence that I could tear the engine down, lay the pieces on the floor, measure them to within half a ten-thousandth of an inch, and put it all back together. I've just been very frustrated with the simple decision: go for warranty repair, or void it to complete the repair myself, risking something else may be wrong. You've heard this kind of thing before, I'm sure.

As far as your offer to pick up the bike- that would be great. We can discuss the details once you digest what is in this huge email. In the meantime, I'll give you a break from it and wait to hear what you have to say! I do have access to a trailer, but if I could save myself one trip up there it'd be great.

As always- I'm willing to do my own work and spend my own time doing it- I just don't want to void the warranty in any way, and do not have a technical reference to follow in order to convince someone I'm doing it right. If there's something you want me to try- I cannot tell you how happy it would make me to try it. Save you all the effort you're so graciously offering to put forth, and it will buy me some time. Just an alternative in case you have any ideas along that line of thought!

Thanks again! I'm off to lunch for an hour!