I just got back from the dealer, I took my wifes 2005 XL883L in becase it is leaking oil from the front cylinder base gasket. The bike is 10 months old and has 2400 miles, so it is well within the warranty period. I assumed this was a no brainer and it would be covered under the warranty, boy was I wrong! Have you ever heard that Harley uses the terms weepage, seepage and leakage and that if it is not leaving oil on the floor that it is acceptable to weep or seep and they won't cover it under warranty? The dealer basicially said it wasn't leaking bad enough to be covered! I called Harley customer service while I was at the dealer, on my dime of course (no 800 number) and after talking with them and the tech guy the dealer is going to clean it and drive it for 30 miles to see how bad it is and then decide if it will be covered or not. Needless to say I am not very happy with this situation, it is obvious there is a leak at the gasket. I have read the Harley warranty and I cant seem to find any mention of oil weeping or seeping not being covered. I was just wondering if anyone else has experienced this problem with a warranty before, I'm sure we aren't the first ones. Thanks for letting me vent

 

Tell them to fix the damn bike. Take them thier warranty sheet. If that don't have a lawyer call them and ask them what is the problem. It upsets me when I hear these types of thing it get under my skin.

 

James, you can believe this isn't over. I'll wait and see what the dealer comes back with in the next few days. The dealer actually told me that they have a lot of base gasket leaks, since my wifes bike has a natural finished engine it's just more noticable than a black engine. Mt point with them it it is a leak, it's not up to them to decide what is bad enough to fix, it's a manufacture defect, plain and simple and it's only gong to get worse with time. I really have the feeling they want to wait until it's out of warranty and then I can have it fixed out of my pocket. I'll just wait and see what happens fpr now.

 

Will,

Look on the forum and under you family of bike to see if this is a common problem. Secondly go to the New area and introduce your self to everybody.

 

I thought there was some kind of service bulletin for this stuff? Might want to find it and print it out for them. Not exactly sure but i remember something about it.

 

I subscribe to several Harley boards and have read a bunch of posts about bad service at the local dealers. Where I live in So. Cal. there are about 6 or 7 dealers close enough to cause competition between each other. I have NEVER had a problem with any of the 4 bikes wife and I have owned receintly. When I found a drip-drop under wifes '04 nightrain the service guy didn't say a word about seepage, weepage, leakage, or any other 'age, he said he would fix it....period. Local dealers can do a lot to destroy the reputation of the mother company.

Stay on the bastards, don't let them BS you with their double talk.

 

I took my Heritage in for the 5k service and they repaired a leaking primary gasket. It wasn't leaking bad enough for me to notice...much less leave drops of fluid on the ground.

 

Thanks for the replies, it just irritates me that I should have to go through all of this when it is obvious that there is a problem. I think it's more of a "Motor Company" problem than the dealer at this point. The tech representative from Harley is the one who told them to do a 30 mile test drive to determine if it was weeping/seeping or leaking bad enough. I had an issue with this particular dealer a few years ago when they forgot to tighten the pinch bolts on the front axle bracket of my Heritage after a tire change. Luckily the weight of the forks on the axle kept the wheel from departing the bike at 70 MPH. They had the best deal when I bought the wifes bike, so I figured I would take it there for warranty work, maybe that wasn't a good idea. I'll just have to wait and see. It sure would be nice if Harley could take some of their profits and have a 1-800 number for customer service though.

 

Wilinfla man I wish dealers were all like mine - I went through the worst of headaches with a preious bike - keep a cool head and the bike will get fixed the dealer is WRONG any oil past any gasket is a leak

 

Take them phuckers to task, they should have many lawsuits already with the bad motor mounts, oil consumption on the 05's, clatter on the TC's, and just plain shoddy workmanship, Wiilie G should be really proud of all the people he has screwed out of warrentee as a normal condition. first thing he should do is get rid of all the lying cheating service managers.[:@][:-][:-]