My right cowling flew off

[FJR_pig]

Maybe there is just something in the air up here in Oregon .

Good luck with the repair, Shiny Parts. If your dealer has any desire, tell him to call Seth the service manager up at Sunnyside. My replacement was totally covered by Yamaha.

 

[Constant Mesh]

With the adjustable panel off do you see where warm air would be released with the panel in the out position?

Without seeing the panel and cowling I'd bet Fred was right. The out position is the cool position. When the panel is out it deflects the hot air from the side radiator vents farther out to the side away from your legs.

 

[ShinyPartsUp]

With the adjustable panel off do you see where warm air would be released with the panel in the out position?
Without seeing the panel and cowling I'd bet Fred was right. The out position is the cool position. When the panel is out it deflects the hot air from the side radiator vents farther out to the side away from your legs.

See message #1. Your cooperation is appreciated!

 

[ShinyPartsUp]

Update --

Went to the dealer to buy a new faceshield for my helmet (I try to support the dealer when I can as it is a small town). Talked to the manager and he asked, so I mentioned the cowling. Before I could say much he called Gary over (the service manager I've dealt with) and asked him to put in a warrantee claim. Gary mentioned it was going in tommorow. Looks good so far, and I'm happy with the service.

Gary and I talked shop, told him about what I had learned here, and presented the three scenarios above (I, Yamaha or his shop screwed up). Gary was interested the two serial numbers were so close in the two instances of the cowling blowing off. He said nope to me not tightening things down (he knows I'm a little fastidious), nope to his mechanic screwing up. He thinks it might be a design flaw but like all of us isn't sure.

I'll post again when I get a word from Yamaha.

 

[FJR_pig]

Yes, let us know. Hopefully the experience I had at another dealership will "help" some. Hopefully, these will be two isolated incidents...

 

[ShinyPartsUp]

UPDATE:

Well, it's been roughly a month. Yamaha delivered a new cowling, two bolts and ONE grommet (grrrr....) at no cost to me. Total price was about $75 on the invoice. And the dealer is ordering another grommet so I can mount the cowling. And they didn't call me <_< , I was in to talk to the service manager about other stuff and checked......seems it was in for awhile.

FJRpig, it was helpful that I was able to tell your experience and report your VIN was pretty close to mine: Thanks! :clapping:

And an aside......the service manager I trusted, helped me out, and owned an FJR quit/retired/was laid off last week. The story varies depending on who I asked. I'm bummed -- he was the only guy I really trusted to work on my bikes. Joe, the manager was helpful, though.

 

[blueman]

I wonder if you can install pre 06 cowling to solve this problem. But you might catch on fire riding it from all that heat! Thats one exta thing I don't need to check on my 05. I still don't get the heat issue.

 

[Clark Kent]

Hi all,
Just relating an incident I had two days ago.

Last Sunday I decided it was getting chilly and moved the cowlings out to redirect air.

I had moved them out this summer and (for me) felt it was warmer with the cowlings out at the time, but then returned them to the in position. I'd like this not to turn into an inny versus outy discussion, it is merely what I decided (TIA). I checked the cowlings top and bottom for tightness each day this week, as I am nutty about this bike.

Three days later on Tuesday. I checked the cowling tightness, along with my usual pre-flight check and went for a ride after work. During a spirited acceleration, going (?) 90+ ... it felt like a baseball hit me just below the right knee -- WTF?!!

I pulled over and the right movable cowling had sheared off but the tabs and fasteners were still in place. A soccer mom in a van (bless her heart) brought my cowling piece to me. The indentation for the forward fastener was punched out and the area around the back fastener indentation was cracked. A couple minor scuffs. The tabs on the bottom were in place. I checked at home more closely. The plastic had deformed and looked like a bowl, shaped upward around the forward faster screw and was still in place with the rubber washer. The left cowling was fine.

Yesterday I drove over to my dealer and my (trusted) mechanic who is the service manager looked it over and said he'd put in for some wawa (his term for warranty replacement).

No, I don't have pics because I haven't embraced the 20th century by obtaining a digital camera. Hopefully the description is accurate enough that you can understand.

So, did I just screw the pooch and was it my bad, or a design flaw causing wind in the outboard cowling position to get trapped at higher speeds, and forcing the deformation and failure at speed? Anybody else had this happen? I thought somebody (? Fencer) had a failure of the right cowling at speed, but my memory may not be serving me.

You just exceeded the design envelope. (limits).

Don't know what the design limits are, but it's obvious the plastic couldn't take the stress of the wind pressure.

Aircraft have a stress envelope. Go past that and you will loose your wings and other things.

It's just that bikes don't have to have stress envelopes listed and followed. Therfore you really don't know what your envelope is and the manufacturer doesn't really care because your not going to fall out of the sky if you exceed the envelope. (you may bang your knee)!

CK

 

[odot]

I thought the 06 models didn't have a heat problem?

 

[kmkirlin]

Sorry for the flying parts.
If everyone had read the consumer report on the new FJR and there air diversion wings, they would have know there was a design flaw in them. As the report goes on in length The Japanise product council issued a recall of the FJR for the 06 models. They would have repaired them but I see you did not get your notice in time.

Being that the recall program is over you will have to ship it directly to YAMAHA using there carrier JAPAN PARCEL SERVICE. hope this helps

It has been a pleasure spreading the good word :yahoo: weekend rider

Somebody is peddling some ******** here. I called Yamaha Motor Corp. USA this morning. There has been NO recall on either model of the 2006 FJR1300. A technical service bulletin has been issued on the instrument cluster because of failure to accurately read instantaneous mpg.

I can't tell what kind of FJR Weekend Rider owns, since he doesn't identify a bike or anything else in his profile. I have owned a 06 FJR13AV since June. I have removed the fairing multiple times to install a cruise control and other farkles. The Yamaha service manual refers to the panels with 2 clips on the bottom and two screws on top as side panels. You must remove the side panels completely in order to get at two screws which mount the lower side fairing panel to the frame.

KaitsDad is right. When you reattach the side panels to the lower fairing panel, you must slide the male ends of the bottom clips (on the side panel) firmly into the female retainers mounted on the lower fairing panel to make sure that they fully engage. You can hear a snapping noise when they engage. If they are fully engaged, you can let the side panel "flop" up and down without falling off. After sliding the clips on, you should tug gently in a left-right motion and pull the bottom of the side panel gently away from the fairing to make sure the clips are fully engaged. Then, you push the side panel up against the fairing and screw the special bolt in either the inside holes or the outside holes on the fairing panel.

BTW ShinyPartsUp, you were right too. When the side panel is mounted in the holes closest to the frame, it is cooler because more of the airstream around the bike hits your upper leg. When the side panel is mounted in the holes further away from the frame, less of the ambient airstream hits your leg, and you feel more of the heat radiating off the motor.

I don't have experience on prior year FJRs, but I have operated my 06 FJR in 86+ degree temperatures and felt much more comfortable than I did behind an old GoldWing with a full fairing. I don't think there is a heat problem on the FJR. I do notice that the aluminum Skyway sliders get hotter than hell after I ride the bike awhile. Not a surprise that a 72 cubic inch motor in that small a package generates a lot of heat. I think the revised fairing on the 2006 model does as good a job of air management as the BMW R1200RT. Haven't run my FJR yet with the side panels in the "outside" position, but expect to do so this winter.

 

[RadioHowie]

I wonder if you can install pre 06 cowling to solve this problem. But you might catch on fire riding it from all that heat! Thats one exta thing I don't need to check on my 05. I still don't get the heat issue.

Nope...won't work. The "adjustable vent design" for the '06, and what is flying off at speed, is new to the '06 model. There is no adjustable cowling on the 03-05.

Sorry for the flying parts.

If everyone had read the consumer report on the new FJR and there air diversion wings, they would have know there was a design flaw in them. As the report goes on in length The Japanise product council issued a recall of the FJR for the 06 models. They would have repaired them but I see you did not get your notice in time.

Being that the recall program is over you will have to ship it directly to YAMAHA using there carrier JAPAN PARCEL SERVICE. hope this helps

It has been a pleasure spreading the good word :yahoo: weekend rider

Somebody is peddling some ******** here. I called Yamaha Motor Corp. USA this morning. There has been NO recall on either model of the 2006 FJR1300. A technical service bulletin has been issued on the instrument cluster because of failure to accurately read instantaneous mpg.

BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!

Dayum, weekend rider...you done hooked a BIG'UN!