Wow, massive response! Thanks for all the good thoughts and collective insight. I'm thinkin' that this might not be all that bad (for my bike) after all. If they lied about changing oil (since I asked them if they were going to before I dropped off the bike) the stuff in it (Rotella syn) had been there almost 5000 miles. If some metal from the tranny is normal, then that could account for the metallic gleam. I also figured that maybe some coolant had gotten into the crankcase. But they should have known that and changed the oil as a result. I recovered a gallon jug and a mayonnaise jar full of oil or whatever that was. It looked like oil when it was pouring out.
Bottom line- It looks a lot like some seriously shoddy work done by them. I shudder to think of what other horrors may be lurking in the bowels of my bike due to the lack of attention to detail. I'm sure glad they knew enough to farm the head work out. They could have called me
once during the process and asked me if I was willing to spring for an oil filter, rather than assuming I wouldn't. If I wouldn't have been calling them, I imagine I would have dropped the bike off and they would have called me six weeks later to come pick it up. That's just not good business, at least not good enough to keep me coming back.
On the other hand, if they did change the oil, which I seriously doubt, since oil just can't get that dirty in 15 miles, something really bad is going on. I put 330 miles on the bike yesterday afternoon
, and the oil still looks pretty clear in the sight glass. I'll change it again after Sunday's ride (probably another 400) and see what it looks like.
Oh dopey me has an appointment to take it in there again Wednesday to check out a miss. The service manager told me they have a dyno. "A dyno?" I said. "It'll be interesting to see if it will still make 145 horsepower after having all that metal go through it". "It will", said the service manager. We'll see. If they're fixin' to charge me to check it out, I'm outta there, and going out of town for future work I can't do myself. I've exhausted all the dealers in town.