RECALL RUNAROUND

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OB_Dirty Pete

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Sorry to resurrect a painful subject, but can anyone tell me what the "rules" are about dealers giving out the cam chain tensioner and the bulletin 8 & 9 bits?

My dealer has my parts but won't hand them over unless he or another Suzuki dealer does the work. I live in the country and the weather's poor now so this is very inconvenient for me.

I told him I'd do the work and give him the old parts back so he won't get charged by Suzuki but he won't go for it.

I smell bullpoop.

Can they do this? Do they have to do this due to Suzuki recall rules or what?
 
You can do the work yourself but it will void your warranty.The only way it wouldnt void your warranty is if you where certified as a Motorcycle mechanic.If you have snow up to your eyeballs why not wait since you cant ride anyway.On the other hand if it is not snowing you can call and make an appointment and wait for your bike while it is being repaired.Remove you side fairings before you go so it will go alittle quicker.The repair should take more than 2 hours.
 
I tried the same thing and they had to do the work,the filter takes about 1.5 to 1.8hrs. Make sure to check the fuel and vacuum hose when done since mines had a bad idle problem when the fuel filters where installed.The Suzuki service center said they had to do it. I guess they want to get paid and train their techs.The side plastic does not have to come off on both recall.I would go for a High speed test ride since that is how I found out I had a problem with my recall fix,once you take your bike away and wait till the snow melts might be to late to go back and complain cause they could always say you did something to your bike while it was at your house.Good Luck
 
Ill do it myself AND I get full warranty.
The warranty is by the way 3 full years and unlimited milage.......
 
It's been my experience that a dealer has to do the warranty work if you want it done for free. You can always buy the parts and do it yourself,but I don't think your warranty will cover any failure. My local dealer did my cam chain tensioner. It only took 20 to 30 mimutes. I didn't need the filter work, mine was too late in production to need it.

Steve
 
Seems this all depends on the dealer.
My Busa wasn't touched by them after taking initial delivery and although the boss there was reluctant at first he now even gives me the required stamps in the booklet as if it received the official maintenance by them instead of me.
Of course I do a much better job as it's my own bike, I take my time to do it all and do it perfectly and I even do more than the official service-manual says.
I would even have had it delivered to my house in the crate if I'd known beforehand what needed to be done after uncrating. I was afraid the front wheel might be out and it would have been a bit of a problem in my case at home to get the bike built-up out of the crate if the front wheel had been out (now that I know thanks to I think JeffW's pics on his site how the Busa is in the crate, I'm even thinking of ordering a 2000 model and doing it this way).
As for the recalls, my dealer apparently has enough confidence in me thanks to the fact that I knew of the recalls before him (thanks to all concerned here) and of course the fact that he now simply pockets the money Suzuki calculates for the labour might also have something to do with it?
He does need the original parts back with my SN as added info for returning to Suzuki and this probably takes care of the warranty and administration side of things in one go?
 
I know the guys pretty well at my place because of all the harley stuff I do. They were going to let me do my fuel pump when the parts came, but then the cam chain tensioner recall came and I wasn't familiar with it so they said they should probably do it and I said OK. So they did both.
 
The official line from Suzuki (the factory) is that all recalls must be performed by a Suzuki factory authorized repair center (your Suzuki dealer). Should you perform a "safety" recall, install it improperly, and get killed from this work, someone is going after Suzuki in the court system.

Now as far as the dealer setup of a Hayabusa when it comes from the factory, I see no reason why this could not be performed by the owner. It's a simple 15 minute process (excluding charging the battery).
 
One additional thought on the cam chain recall: in the letter we all received from Suzuki it states that the bike should not be operated until the recall was performed. Sounds like to me that your dealer needs to come out to your house, get your bike and then perform the recall.

I'll bet American Suzuki would even 2nd this notion. If your dealer does not agree, I have the e-mail address of the head man here in the US for Suzuki, I'm sure he would be interested in having a safety recall performed ASAP.
 
Thanks to all for your input on this. Looks like I better suffer the weather and take the trip and hang around for 3 hours while some trainee technician learns on my bike.

The senior mechanic is a friend (he only works on Harlies) and I'll ask him to breathe down the kid's neck while he does it.

Frankly I'll be glad when my warrantee's over.
 
The recall documentation even states that if you need assistance (a tow) in order to get your bike to the dealer that the dealer should be contacted. One owner posted either here or on the Hayabusa mailing list that the dealer took care of this for him.
 
Well thanks to the advice I got from you guys, my dealer's Service Manager and I have some to terms on the recall and I'm squeezing into the snowmobile suit tomorrow A.M., losing a day of work and riding 50 miles in sub-freezing weather so he can do the job while I hang around for three hours on the most barren strip of Chinese stores (Ma Jong anyone?) and gas station/muffler shops you can imagine.

BTW he gets paid 1.3 hours (you read it right jeffw) by Suzuki Canada for the cam tensioner replacement (a 15 minute job max) and 2.4 hours for doing bulletins 8 & 9.

The factory pays the dealer's full shop rate on warranty and recall work. The going shop rate in Toronto bike stores is $65/hr.
 
My dealers mechanic came to my house and did the recall work, only downside was I had to feed him lunch. Its surprizing what you can get done with the right stratagy.
 
Just got back from the recall and bulletins 8 & 9. The mechanic who did was no trainee, a hot young mechanic with 7 years' rice rocket experience in fact (the guys wears a clean dress shirt and gray flannels while he works!) Tensioner 1 hr. Bulletins 3 hours. He had no interruptions. He used all kinds of equipment and skill to get it right that I don't have at home. Fuel flow & pressure tester, power parts cleaning, blah blah. He was meticulous and most his time was spent in the re-assemble and test phase. The dealer lost money on the recall vs what Suzuki will pay them. This dealer says he loses money on all recall work. "The manufacturers say it's 1.8 hours and in the real world it's 3.1" he says. "They expect us to share the pain."

I ran the asterisks out of the bike on the way home (50 miles) and it drives real, real purdy.

Maybe we just got slow mechanics here in Canada as well as short johnsons and little tiny dollars.
 
1.3 hrs for a 15 minute job if you take a smoke break. Guess I should have started a "recall" business..... 3.7 hr * $65 * 5000 busa's= 1.2M :)
 
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