ENGINE Repair Decision

[SacramentoMike]

Please forgive the dramatic thread title, but I'd really like some viewpoints on a thorny question. I'd like to make sure I've considered everything before giving the OK to my dealership before I tell them to go ahead with a MAJOR repair job.

Talking about my '05 that I had some serious problems with on the road to--and from--Taos this summer. I was about 600 miles out when it just started to run real rough, especially at low rpm's, didn't want to start, etc. Once rolling, it ran, but not really right. My hope was it was something like bad gas, or a bad plug, or a bad wire, or maybe just bad luck. Plus it was the Friday before Labor Day weekend and I was several miles short of the exact middle of nowhere: I decided to keep going. I got to Taos, limping along, and the second day, Hycle and FJRob got under the tank and told me I had some serious problems. Mike suggested valve problems, "tight valves," maybe (I took that to mean they should be, like, looser). It was definitely running on just three cylinders.

Well, against medical advice, I rode 150 miles to Albuquerque where Hot Rod Zilla recommended his favorite local dealer. They had it for a few days, performed some voodoo ("shimming the valves" or some other mechanical jargon), took my credit card number and told me to go straight home (which I more or less did) and get right in to my home dealership (which I did).

So now: the valves (some, or more than some) need to be rebuilt, sent off to a machine shop for more magic, lots of labor, etc., etc. Three weeks, $3,000 neighborhood--as a guess, depending on if there's worse problems hidden. I asked him would it really be fixed if they did all that, and his answer was yes. Of course it's still a 6-year old bike with just over 50K miles on it.

I think the bike should be worth mid- to high fives if this all hadn't gone wrong (and let's skip over the part about what maintenance failures or wrong decisions I may have made that led to it going wrong. I'd rather not think about that, for one thing. Or hear about it either, thanks. Anyway, it wouldn't help me make the decision I need to make now). With it in the current condition, somebody might offer me half of that figure, more likely less. Then I'd be looking at another used FJR (it's got to be an FJR) with unknown background for at least the sale amount plus the salvage amount, but more likely a good deal more, especially if there were any upgrade. I don't really want to spend more than I have to. With my own '05, I know it's otherwise pretty good. And there are all those Gen I farkles I've spent so much time and loving care on.

So there it is. It seems like the cheapest way to get back riding an FJR that I know is basically sound is to proceed with this big repair, and I'm this close to calling Roseville Yamaha in the morning and telling them to go ahead with it. I just thought it would be a good idea to open the question up to the collective wisdom (and of course the other predictable incoming fire) of the forum and see it anybody has anything I haven't thought about yet or named here to add that I should consider. Thoughts? Thanks.

 

[RossKean]

If its $3,000, you could probably pick up a good low-mileage replacement engine somewhere for less. If you can do the replacement yourself, you could save some bucks. Can't imagine what could have happened to damage an engine that much in 50,000 miles?? (I know you don't want to talk about that part) Good luck with it!

Ross

 

[SQUEAL]

What you need to be looking for is a head. E-bay perhaps. Bike wreckers? Find a good one will be tricky, So did you ruin the guides, seats, valves? What exactly is the issue? Sounds like most of your problem would be top end. So if that is the case, you could save a ton of money by doing the work yourself. You could then send in the head to a reputable head shop. That is probably what your dealership would do anyway. Rebuilding an aluminum head requires some special know how. Hopefully you didnt crack your head, but it would be worth magna-fluxing it to check for cracks around the seats. Have they actually pulled it down to inspect it yet?

 

[azitlies]

well... here's a few quickies to consider:

ebay number 1

https://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/04-...rcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3f0d83feba

ebay number 2

ebay number 3

Didn't really spend that much time looking at these. Some are gen II, do they fit? I've no idea honestly. But the idea is to show there are alternatives. Granted, there are unknowns on this path also. But *most likely* the situation for these is a totaled bike, but still good engines.

The path yer *almost* on is viable too, and expensive. I had an engine rebuilt by a dealership once... complete crap job. Had to have the Heads redone by a local person only weeks later.

If it were me? I'd buy a used engine and put it in myself. Never done that on a complicated bike like the Feej... but hell, it would be a good learning experience, and you'd have to take the old one out, and you'd have all those parts in case the other engine was missing something...

good luck with it, not an easy decision.

 

[Bluestreek]

Park it in a bad part of town.

(make sure your insurance is paid up )

 

[rogdeb]

https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php?showtopic=140730&pid=896158&st=0entry896158

You seen the above Mike? In case you decide to go that way.

And Steve (above post) has a good idea. Can you say "Oak Park"? ---- "South Sac"?

 

[HaulinAshe]

With today's prices and availability of used FJRs, NO WAY would I do a valve job. As mentioned above, pick up a complete head off a parted-out wreck, or buy an engine, or buy another bike.

If you were racing the bike it would be different. You're not.

 

[allrider]

I'd be inclined to look for a used motor, but the question is, what are you up for?

The next thing i think about is "time vs money." If your impatient and you can afford it, have it done by the dealer, but i would negotiate the price down from flat rate if you can.

It doesn't sound like you want to screw around with it, you didn't say anything about fixing it yourself.

You could buy a motor and have a tech meet at your house. Ah, forget that. It will cost you more than $3k to feed and house all the yeawho's for the weekend.

Or you could bring it up here to Brian's house this weekend for the PNW Tech Meet. There will be a concentration of FJR expertise there matched only by the factory. They'll knock it out before lunch for ya. It won't run any better, but they will be done by lunch time.

 

[beachy]

no way would i give the dealer 3 grand i did going used motor route worked out great for me

 

[fljab]

I gotta agree with the above. Either do a used motor - I'd help you put it in if you were closer - or sell yours for whatever you can get (or keep it for spares) and buy another feej. I'm sure you know, but lots of good deals out there if you're patient.

 

[HotRodZilla]

Is Roseville stepping up at all for not performing the valve check when they should have?

I hope I'm not overstepping here, but if Roseville did all the service up to and past the valve check interval and never mentioned to you that it needed to be done, they hold some responsibility. If they had told you about it and you opted to skip it, then that's on you.

However, if you took it into them for service and assumed that by doing so, all the service intervals were being taken care of, then I see a dealership problem. I know some will pipe up and say, "Ooooooh, no. That's Mike's fault!" But...Some service intervals require the linkage to be lubed as well as an oil change and normal maintenance stuff. What if Roseville didn't do any of that either. At the 28,000 interval, they should have menioned to you that your valves needed to be checked at 26k. Then it would have been up to you to do them or not.

Hell...When my valves were supposed to be checked, I had a service plan, so my dealer took it in the shorts. My service guy reminded me at the 24k oil change that it would need to come in at 26 for the valve checks. He was adamant that I brought it in so that I wouldn't have any warranty issues. I would expect the same from ANY service dept.

Personally, I'd ask them to help make it right. If they refused, I'd take my box of parts, go somewhere else, fix my bike, and start the flaming here and everywhere else I had a chance.

 

[Khunajawdge]

Please forgive the dramatic thread title... Thoughts? Thanks.

Yeah,Uummmm? 1st of ALL, change the title of the subject. Things are NOT as desperate as you make them seem!

You have had some very good suggestions here, and I'm sure a solution is close at hand. :fan_1: Besides buying a used working head, there are mechanics working under shade trees right in your vicinity, who could swap out a head and get things running again post haste.

If you fix the top end, be sure and get a new CCT. Also, just for giggles, check to see if the boots on your injectors are tight against the airbox and all connections to the injectors are tight. Looseness here can make an FJR1300 run very rough and lose power in a number of cylinders, or one may totally drop out. Prolonged, this issue may end up in total engine failure. After reading about this issue here some time ago, it would be the first thing I would check.

best,

 

[PhilJet09]

Add me to the list of "no way would I do a $3k valve job" people. Pick one of the other aforementioned options.

 

[RaYzerman19]

I don't see how it takes $3k for a valve job, but I'm not privy to dealer rates either. I do my own work and would pull the head myself and send it to a good shop.

You're not giving us much history, but would it be worth checking if the CCT has given out and the cam chains skipped a tooth? Might be a simple fix, but the idiots who had the valve cover off to check the valves should have checked the camshaft timing with the crank (right side cover off too). This was so simple when they had it apart.

 

[wheatonFJR]

Yeah...I would fix the thread title...there's already enough drama on this board.

Hope you work it out Mike! :clapping:

 

[HotRodZilla]

I don't see how it takes $3k for a valve job, but I'm not privy to dealer rates either. I do my own work and would pull the head myself and send it to a good shop.

You're not giving us much history, but would it be worth checking if the CCT has given out and the cam chains skipped a tooth? Might be a simple fix, but the idiots who had the valve cover off to check the valves should have checked the camshaft timing with the crank (right side cover off too). This was so simple when they had it apart.

How is it suddenly BobbyJ's fault? How do you know they didn't check the timing? I'll tell you right now, I've seen bbikes with bad timing, and this was NOT this bike's problem. Besides, last time I checked, bad timing did not cause one cylinder to shut down. Those guys cleaned up what they could as fast as they could as cheap as they could. Rob wanted to take fix it to completion, but Mike had to get back to California. He was afraid the valves were shot, and when Roseville took it apart, it confirmed Rob's suspicion.

Bobby J's did exactly what they were asked to do, and did what they coukd with what they had.

I'm still on the train that says the valves should have been checked 25000 miles ago.

 

[CAJW]

Mikey, Sucks to have to make this decision, but if it were me, I'd be looking for a used engine. The time and trouble to change over all the farkles I have on my bike would make changing an engine look easy! If you go the new to you bike route, you'll still need to pull the farkles, sell a clunker bike etc... so keeping your steed and changing the engine and selling the old one for parts would be the cleanest way out IMHO. If I was closer, I'd offer my services to stand around and drink beer, offer encouragement, tell bad jokes etc... but sadly I'm not.

 

[TomInPA]

I can understand Hans losing his tranny, but this comes as a surprise...I have ridden with you. You seem like a good careful driver that is aware of the needs of his ride. Shocked. :dribble:

3K is a lot to spend on a bike that has more than enough salvage value in accessories and parts to be worth more than the blue-book, but will continue to be worth about $5700 after repairs. I don't know what I would do in your situation, and I hope I never have to find out, but I kinda like Sam's idea about visiting Meadowview or Oak Park. This totally sucks, and I look forward to riding with you again soon. Hopefully in time for the Fall colors in the Sierra. See you soon!

 

[johnny80s]

If you have the skills to buy a used a engine and put it in then you have skills the to pull the head and get the valves done. Do it yourself and save a bunch of money.

Good luck.