apratt
Well-known member
I have been working with my dealer and Yamaha Customer Service regarding my re-ticker. They've confirmed the problem and it's going to get fixed.
But here's a new twist: to diagnose my ticker, Yamaha advised my dealer to take the exhaust headers off and look for oil on the now-exposed exhaust side of the engine, or in the pipes themselves. My dealer did this and saw oil, which proves that something's wrong inside. Coupled with the sound, this confirms The Tick.
This diagnostic test is a relatively cheap way to confirm that a given bike is a ticker, or that it isn't. I think it takes between one and two hours of labor to remove the headers, which is way easier and cheaper than the old way of confirming a ticker: removing the cylinder head and measuring the guides. This new, cheaper test might encourage more people to get their bikes checked out.
You see, if you think you have a ticker and ask the dealer to diagnose it, you might have to authorize an estimate for the cost of the diagnostic. If they find something that is covered by the warranty (or if you're out of warranty but Yamaha covers it anyway), you won't be out of pocket at all: the diagnostic procedure is part of the covered expense.
But if you were wrong about having a ticker and they find nothing wrong and nothing to repair, you might have to pay for the diagnostic costs. That's how my dealer wanted me to do it. For the full head removal, that's a major chunk of change, north of $750, and would make you think twice even if you were "almost sure" you had a ticker. (It sure did me, last year.)
With this new diagnostic test, you're not risking so much dough to find out for certain. You can ask your dealer about the parts and labor cost to take the exhaust headers off and put them on again: that's how much you're putting at risk. If your dealer finds oil inside, you've got a ticker and you can go from there.
If you're handy enough and trust your own workmanship on these critical components, you could even do it yourself. The radiator has to come off first, which is really the time-consuming part. If you find oil, put it back together, take it to a dealer, and work with them and Yamaha, confident that they’ll find something when they look.
(If you get the tick repair, MAKE SURE the dealer uses the new part numbers for the valve guide seals. See other discussion threads for info about that.)
With this new, cheaper diagnostic test, we may get this thing licked yet. People who want to know for sure about their bikes can get an answer by risking only a couple of hundred dollars, not four times that much.
Good luck, Brothers.
But here's a new twist: to diagnose my ticker, Yamaha advised my dealer to take the exhaust headers off and look for oil on the now-exposed exhaust side of the engine, or in the pipes themselves. My dealer did this and saw oil, which proves that something's wrong inside. Coupled with the sound, this confirms The Tick.
This diagnostic test is a relatively cheap way to confirm that a given bike is a ticker, or that it isn't. I think it takes between one and two hours of labor to remove the headers, which is way easier and cheaper than the old way of confirming a ticker: removing the cylinder head and measuring the guides. This new, cheaper test might encourage more people to get their bikes checked out.
You see, if you think you have a ticker and ask the dealer to diagnose it, you might have to authorize an estimate for the cost of the diagnostic. If they find something that is covered by the warranty (or if you're out of warranty but Yamaha covers it anyway), you won't be out of pocket at all: the diagnostic procedure is part of the covered expense.
But if you were wrong about having a ticker and they find nothing wrong and nothing to repair, you might have to pay for the diagnostic costs. That's how my dealer wanted me to do it. For the full head removal, that's a major chunk of change, north of $750, and would make you think twice even if you were "almost sure" you had a ticker. (It sure did me, last year.)
With this new diagnostic test, you're not risking so much dough to find out for certain. You can ask your dealer about the parts and labor cost to take the exhaust headers off and put them on again: that's how much you're putting at risk. If your dealer finds oil inside, you've got a ticker and you can go from there.
If you're handy enough and trust your own workmanship on these critical components, you could even do it yourself. The radiator has to come off first, which is really the time-consuming part. If you find oil, put it back together, take it to a dealer, and work with them and Yamaha, confident that they’ll find something when they look.
(If you get the tick repair, MAKE SURE the dealer uses the new part numbers for the valve guide seals. See other discussion threads for info about that.)
With this new, cheaper diagnostic test, we may get this thing licked yet. People who want to know for sure about their bikes can get an answer by risking only a couple of hundred dollars, not four times that much.
Good luck, Brothers.
