I bouth my XL1200L on May 30, 2007. It has approximately 8500 miles on it. When I got it home the first day, it had an oil leak from the primary. After the 3rd try at replacing the gasket it was determined that the primary cover was warped. H-D replace it and that solved that problem. It had what I call a hiccup problem and eventually the bike just wouldn't start. After several tries at fixing this a service advisory was released by H-D saying that the fuel pressure guage needed a parat called a castle washer to keep it from getting sucked down into the injector body. That fixed that. I had a leak from the rear cylinder rocker box cover. And now, it's in the shop again because the front cylinder rocker box cover leaks due to flaking chrone on the edges of the cover and because it just plain old died on me a few times.

All this has been fixed under warranty. It hasn't cost a cent. However, when would any of you consider this a lemon and be talking to H-D about replacing the bike?

Thanks
Dave

 

If all as been fix under warranty at no cost to you and none of the problems havecome up again then were do you come up with the question of it being a lemon? You did not say what year it was, if it was new or used when you got it. Anywho welcome.

 

Oh sorry just to answer your question every state has differant lemon laws, I think in the state of Illinois you have to have taken it back 3 times for the same problem that that have not been able to repair. And even after that you don't always win.

 

I agree with the last post. Lemon laws generally apply to three occurrances of the same problem, sometimes within a given period, with the problem not being corrected.

But, honestly, it sounds to me like the Dealer is being pretty fair with you. I would not complain really loud. Oh, well, I mean you don't have to be happy, but this isn't lawsuit stuff as far as I would be thinking... But, if he's footing the bill, I don't think you wanna go and bite the hand that is feeding you just yet.

Besides, its Winter... so be glad its not riding season yet.

Good luck on the fixes.

 

Sorry I didn't completely answer your response. Besides it being a new bike,it took the dealer 4 tries to correctly fix the leak at the primary cover and 3 tries to fix the fuel injection problem. I guess what I'm asking is, is this normal for a new Harley? This is my first one and I've bought into the hype that Harley has turned things around since the AMF days.

 

Hey Wayne,

The dealer has been great. They've bent over backwards to make me happy. It's H-D that I have the complaint with. This should not be happening with a new bike. I'm getting the feeling that I bought a bike made on Monday morning after a hard night of partying and paid good money for it. Have you had similar problem with yours?

 

Hey gmorning dsherman,

The rhetorical question you asked has a simple answer (in my 2-cent opinion): yes, we would hope HD would not have quality problems like this. But, as we all have learned, life is NOT perfect, and these bikes (as well as thousands of cars, trucks and SUVs) DO get manufactured occasionally on Monday morning. 1/5th of them are on Monday, and 1/5th of them are made on Friday, statistically speaking. (I don't think HD manufactures on the weekends....)

But, as far as me having any problems like this? Honestly, NO, i have not had that kind of problem with my harley. But, I bought it 11 years old, with 16k miles on it for $4000. And i bought it from a very knowledgable, caring previous owner. He took care of it. The biggest complaint I have right now is I have a fork seal starting to seep a little. That's IT.

This is my own personal key to happiness. I have had more problems with new COMPUTERS than with this Harley. But, for me, some people look at buying used as "buying someone else's problems". But, as I have found on this and other harley website, most of the used Sportsters in Dealer showrooms are because guys bought them, put 100 miles on them and decided to get a bigger, better, "whatever"... or that they weren't real bikers and didn't ride it afterall... ~~ Not that the bikes were defective at all or failing.

I suppose that the multiple attempts at getting things fixed would be frustrating, but before I call a lawyer, I'd do some easy checking around about lemon laws in your state. Believe it or not, even trying to get justice under such a law, even if you could slam-dunk your case, will cost YOU money. So far, your dealer has shielded you from everything but inconvenience. IN a lawsuit, the lawyer that represents you will NOT work for free, and someone has to pay him. Unless your laws are written that way, you can't guarantee that HD would pay him for you. So, even if you get another bike, you won't walk away without some bruises from a monetary standpoint.

Now, having said that, I'd also say something different if you STILL had the same nagging issues that kept you from riding the bike, but in the real world, the DEALER has to fight HD HQ to get reimbursed for the trouble you're having. Let him keep doing it so long as it isn't costing you anything, and make sure you tell him you know it isn't his fault (unless you find out their help is incompetent). And, tell him you'll be back with your wallet and your friends because (as I"m sure you've read here) sometimes Dealers aren't too concerned about bending over backwards. Finding one that cares is a big event. Don't abuse them.

My advice: Just take a breath, think about how much it really costs to jump over a dollar to pick up a nickel. The only winners in a lawsuit are the lawyers, who get paid no matter what the outcome. Just love your bike, like getting married; "for better or worse", so to speak. And, if it really just gets your goat later, do the 'trade-in' thing with this dealer and get something else...

Hope things start going better for you.

 

Hey Pilotguy,

I just got off the phone with the service manager at my dealer, who has become a good friend through all of this, and basically I'm going to take a deep breath and try it one more time. He says Harley is not willing to call ita lemon yet. There may be a time in the future, if this continues, when they will, but not now. On the other hand, they are still footing the bill. The dealer has been great. I realize he has to go to bat for me against Harley central every time a repair is a warranty issue. And, it has only caused me inconvenience, frustration, and agrevation. I am not into sewing people at all. It costs time and money and doesn't solve a thing and may not net me what I want, which is a bike that runs.

This time around they replaced the top and bottom front rockerbox covers, and the fuel pressure regulator and appropriate gaskets and o-rings. The service managerand other mechanics arealso taking it on nemerous test rides to see how it feels and see if there is anything else that may need doing to make this bike right. You certainly can't ask more than that from a dealer. I am also considering trading up for a different model. But, I happen to love my Sportster, when it's running.

Thanks for the advice. I guess I'll live with the agrevation for now.

Dave

 

I can say that I have gone through the Lemon Law process in Florida on a Toyota I bought new. each state has there own Lemon law criteria but for the most part they are all the same. For the most part it is how many time the car was in for repairs over a given amount of time and also how long you were without the car due to service. My car had four different issues over the first three months, my car became classified as a lemon. Toyota bought the car back rather than have a lemon mark against them. HD is not going to admit a lemon, you have to prove its a lemon based on your state laws. Then go from there.

 

obviously its not normal. you may have gotten a one off bad bike, but if they are fixing it keep it. it could just be minor issues. keep a record of everything that broke and everything that was fixed. if the same problem occurs more than a few times and they can't fix it you got a problem.