When I took possession of my "01" FLHPI last June, it had a slight cold start idle problem. You had to litely hold the throttle for about 30 seconds. After that it would idle just fine, for the rest of the day. Recently had the cam chain tensioners replaced by a local indy. After which the bike would not idle at all, ever. The indy told me it was probably a sensor and he didn't have the tools to trace it down. His attitude was sorry I can't fix that.

I lived with the "no idle" problem for about 2 tanks of gas, then took it to the dealer. Long story short, they found the cam sprocket off by one tooth and changed a shim to correct the cam alignment This explained the no idle and loss of compression they found. In tracking the problem down the dealer ended up doing a top end repair.

I'm trying to decide how much compensation to get back from the indy. I'd like to think I'm a reasonable person. The top end work was something I expected to be doing down the road. So what would be a reasonable compensation from the indy? All of his labor? Half of his labor? I will go to small claims court if need be, but hope it doesn't come to that.

 

How do you plan on proving the indy caused the bike to need a top end repair? Just curious

 

if the cam was misaligned how did a shim fix it? How bad were the old tensioners?

 

Did the dealer take pics of the misaligned cam installation?

You go to the dealer with a "no idle" problem and their diagnostic protocol starts with a top-end teardown after you tell them you recently had tensioners replaced and had a pre-existing, though manageable cold start idle problem since you bought the bike?

Perry Mason would have a hard time getting a judge to understand your problem and need for compensation IMO.

 

Smart thing to do when the dealer found the misaligned parts would have been to have them STOP, you call the indy and find out how he wanted to handle the situation.

Coming in after the fact and expecting him to believe what the dealer found with no proof is gonna be kinda tough.

 

Unless you have someone from the dealer (expert witness) willing to testify in court on your behalf, you have no case.

 

Just consider it a lesson learned.

I would let the Indy know what happened and leave it at that. Don't give him anymore business and don't recommend him either. Small claims is going to be a waste of time so just move on.

 

In answer to your question - It appears you do and that is unfortunate it just seems like so many people get screwed like this. Folks this just proves you can do work just as good as paying some places to do it and if you screw it up two good thing have already happened

1. you don't have to pay for the labor again
2. You already have the tools to do the job

What the heck - buy the tools and begin your education its cheaper in the long run

If not - make sure you use a top notch location that actually cares about their reputation - you will pay big for it but at least if it ain't right they will make it right

UD

 

I paid the indy to do the job right. If the indy hadn't have botched the job there was no need to go to the dealer. The indy in fact sent me to the dealer, and stated so on the receipt. In fairness to the indy, I haven't talked to him yet. So it's really a wait see as to how this all turns out. If he's reasonable, I'll be reasonable. But if say's "Oh well, don't know what to tell you.", the receipt's will speak for themselves in court.

 

I guess I would have the dealership write a letter explaining the fix.Take the letter to the indy and see what he says.He aleady knows the bike would not idle.
He should at least pay for the dealerships charge to repair the timing issue IMO.If he does not want to play,then take the next step.

If the facts are correct,sounds like the indy should not be working on bikes.How can you do engine work and not get the bike to run correctly and not find problems such as the top end repair?
If he sent you to the dealer,makes me wonder how many other customers were sent?