How would you handle this?

[sungunr]

So I have the head change done on the bike at the beginning of the year and  everything appears fine when I pick it up and have taken a couple of rides since then, but nothing over 150 miles at a stretch.  Two up sometimes.  I decided it was time to clean it up from the dealer greasy hands and road grime combined.  When I start to clean underneath I discover this.

[smg id=1045][smg id=1047]

Can anyone tell what is very wrong with this set of pictures?  I get that is my responsibility to ensure my bike is safe to ride and I would be very foolish if not outright stupid to trust anyone else with this.  But really?  You forget to even put the self locking nut on the dog bone? It can't come off on its own, and there are wrench marks all around the head of the bolt.  So the dealer is Performance Cycles in Tucson AZ.  I thought they were doing "okay", but there always seemed to be an extra scratch here, a little rub there every time I took it in for maintenance when it was returned.  The service manager always offers to make it right, and that is fine for cosmetics, but this is something totally different.  Going in tomorrow for a little heart to heart with the GM. 

Overreacting? 

[donmoe]

Hi Mark,

That first picture in particular looks like total negligence by the mechanic.  If it were to lead to an accident, it would indeed be a very serious liability issue. After seeing that, I would be concerned that the reassembled engine might be missing some parts too or the bolts not being correctly torqued ....

    Don

[sungunr]

Don,

Hope the weather in Fla or wherever you are this week is nice.  Southern AZ is prime right now.  80s and sunny.  Yeah I am more than a little worried.  I have been watching the coolant reservoir also and it is below min now, but I cannot see any leaks, so I am thinking it may be getting pushed across the head gasket (if that is possible on this engine) and getting burnt off in the combustion cycle.  It is very slow in changing so it has been difficult to tell, but now it is evident it is going someplace...

[Saaz]

That missing nut is of great concern and could have led to something nasty happening. They may have actually serviced and greased the shock linkage to look at something positive.  I would also ask them to make sure everything else is ok, as that is an obvious thing.

[Gordon3xBBB]

Not over-reacting at all sungunr....just don't go in there with "all guns blazing"...

That is a Safety Critical Component and for a Mechanic (I would withhold the title of Technician on this evidence) to leave this nut off or so loosely done up that it fell off is tantamount to Criminal Negligence..

See the GM, find out who "Signed-Off" on the last service and suggest that they be given a stiff talking-to at the very least...

Some sort of Compensation is due to you - such as a waiving of the Service Fees. That cost should be borne by the Dealer as an expression of Goodwill.

Thanks for sharing though...my TTSE goes in for it's 10K Service later today. I think I'll mention this episode to them, just to be on the Safe Side

[Coconut]

Hi sungunr,

You definitiely need to have a discussion with the Service Manager / Dealer Principal,
to bring it to their attention and make sure such an appalling mistake doesn't happen again.

Tell them how disappointed you are, and how concerned you are of the potential serious consequences,
not only for you in this incident but for other riders whose bike the mechanic has worked on,
and allow them to make proposals to put things right - as well as letting them know what you expect them to do.

The advice not to go in guns blazing at first is good advice - you're more likely to receive a goodwill gesture
by taking such an approach, and remembering that we are all human and all make mistakes ( even me !  ).

With a responsible attitude, further training or additional sign-off procedures etc,
some good can come out of your experience.

If the "softly softly" appproach doesn't work, the mechanic denies responsibility,
or has a bad attitude you can always resort to other tactics 

Cheers 

[seadog]

Not acceptable. Only thing is proving it was left off but more probable nut installed but then may be his mind was on something else and he forgot to torque it up.

Even I dab a bit of paint on when I do my maintenance so I know it has been torqued up.

Each mechanic at my dealer has a different colour so it can be traced who serviced the bike last.

seadog

[azgman]

This is the second tale of woe I have heard that was attributed to the dealer in Tucson. I will stay away from them!