Engine Worries?

All,

I am the proud owner of a new, 2013 VFR1200F as of last Saturday. It a great bike, as I learned on the 300 mile ride home after the purchase. I never buy extended warrantees and I passed on this one too, but since then I have read of a few failed engines. So, my question is this: Is there significant risk for someone that maintains the bike well of a major engine failure? Obviously I am reconsidering the extended warrantee, and would like some inout from those of you that are long-time Vifrs.

Thank you,

 

No experience/opinion?

 

As for the extended warranty, my VFR 1200 is now exactly five years old and has lasted well this far so an extended warranty is not a must IMHO.

My 2010 DCT has suffered with corroded engine bolts, exhaust muffler clamp, rear header clamps causing a leak, front brake binding, corrosion on the front / rear brake discs and a seized centre stand. These issues are down to the amount of motorway miles my bike has covered. It has not had any issue with the rear suspension pre-load adjuster seizing or cracks to the rear side panels.

I wonder how many instances of engine issues there really are?. Reports of engine issues were confined to early bikes and would have been resolved long ago. The reported engine issues do not apply to later bikes...

 

This.

Extended warranties are GREAT if; they are thrown in as part of the deal, and (2) it is a brand new model.

It looks to me that the engine failures are mostly about people doing an oil change/adding too much oil. If you have very little experience with changing engine oil or have "bad luck" with vehicle maintenance, just take it in to a shop or a trusted friend to change the oil. Here's an example story for you, and then I'll break it down to perhaps save SOMEbody some grief.

A friend of ours thinks he can do ANYthing, and that included changing oil on his/his wife's motorcycles. He has some sort of an ADD/drug problem, but otherwise he is a seemingly intelligent appearing person. He's about 47 years old and has been riding cycles about 10 years now. He drains the oil, changes filter, then puts in the drain plug and tops off the oil level. Now, directions are to run the engine a bit to get oil re-circulated into engine and the filter, then let machine sit for a period to find correct oil level, correct? Not with this guy; he starts the engines and while it is running he adds oil to bring oil level up into sight glass. (BMW twins) He blew out the seals on his BMW R bike, and I explained to him what he did wrong, and how to do it correctly. Nope, he went and did it on his wife's R BMW as well, when it needed an oil change. He can't read manual directions and he cannot understand basic directions in a linear fashion. It's bizarre, but that's just how some people are today and I always wonder about what exactly HAPPENS in some people's garages behind closed doors, when I read their stories online.

I used to work on lots of bikes in my spare time, but I stopped: better than 50% of what I was doing was fixing the cobbled BS of the shade tree wrench I wasn't told about, because th owner was too ashamed or didn't know about. Got sick of it.

So, read the manual, ask questions, ask questions again. If you're not sure ask some more questions.

Answer your questions?

 

Extended warranties are great...for the dealer.

Just ride it and do the maintenance.

 

Thanks all. My only question was really about VFR1200F engine failures. I tend to have very "good luck", and maintain everything myself.

 

Sure, and my response which gets up the ire of many is, ..." It's a Honda. 99.9% of the failures are operator error." Which is why I took the time to respond as I did.

Honda is PRETTY much THE name on the entire planet, when it comes to building engines. Which bike model doesn't matter. Cars? Same difference. Generators? Yup.
Lawn mowers? Yup. Am I a Honda fanboi? No, but I do know a thing or 12 about quality controls and building engines.

Too many people watch a YouTube video twice, on an oil change for instance, and come online complaining about their woes and how the Brand Xxx sucks.

Glad you love your bike!!

 

The VFR 1200 seems to be bullet proof. I have the 2010 DCT and purchased the extended warranty since it's concept was entirely new and untested, as far as actual daily driving on the streets. Needless to say, I just threw money away. I now have 17,900 miles and not even one issue. The only problem is that so few were sold here in North Florida that several local and out of town dealers have little or no knowledge of the bike. I recently had the valves checked and all were within spec. It's a great bike. I love it. Just ride and enjoy it. Just my 2 cents.

 

:hss:According to BB 1200 engine had small metal shaving that destroyed the engines in some European bikes, the usa bikes may have some problems too. So I would be very worried, the world is ending sometimes in 2015 too.

 

SOW has BBs rolling round in his cabeza.

Check oot general information on extended warrantees in general for more info than you will need. Dealers love them.

 

Too bad one can't ask a question without a bunch of dumbass answers. Thanks to those of you that provided some worthwhile input.

 

Thank you. I live in South Florida and will be looking for a good dealer to check the valves. I always do as much work as possible myself, but that's one project I will likely steer clear of. My only problem with the bike is the straight roads in South Florida. Looking forward to a trip to the mountains!

 

Yep. Thank you.