VFR 1200 DCT Catastrophic Engine Failure at 17000 miles.

Hope never made a mistake just made a wrong turn

 

So right now no one has looked at the bike, correct?

 

Honda in Bury St Edmunds say there was a lot of swarf in the engine... and a crank rod had failed...which they found unusual.

I think somebody must have looked at it to come up with this result

 

Thank you for providing factual information.

 

Update:

Honda Chiswick have done a technical report. Honda UK have asked for photos.

The nice man at Honda Chiswick says that Honda UK will forward all details to the factory in Japan where a decision will be made to either send a new engine or to rebuild the existing engine.

No details as yet as to who will foot the bill.

But nice man at Honda Chiswick says they are usually understanding and that he has already conveyed to Honda UK that I have been loyal to the brand and a good customer for many years.

It is perhaps a glimmer of hope that Honda UK have not simply dismissed the issue because the bike is out of warranty.

So we wait to see what Mr H in Japan has to say.

P.

 

Thanks for the update.

I always found the folks at Chiswick Honda very helpful. It looks like they have done their best to try and resolve this and I really hope they get a positive response from Japan.


SkiMad

 

Did they share with you what the report found? or are you not saying at this time for strategic reasons?

 

The man at Honda Chiswick said they suspect it is a crankshaft failure but they can't be sure until they strip down the engine.

They will not do that until they have had a response to the initial findings from the Honda factory in Japan.

Their initial findings are very similar to another 2013 bike they had in that had only done 8000 miles and was just out of warranty.

In that instance Mr H in Japan supplied a new engine free of charge.

The case continues.....:drum:

P.

 

So no one as of yet has really looked at the engine. Just inside of it and found metal shavings. That's to be expected. The real details have not been analysed as to why this happened. Good luck to you and hope Honda does the right thing.

 

no I never made a mistake-ever

 

If only this could be applied to your parents.

 

Guess it ain't much of a "technical" report, lol

 

Far from it - I suspect an engineer from the dealership in Bury St Edmunds has had a very good look at the engine.

I guess for folks the other side of the planet it might help to join the dots. The bike failed in East Anglia and recovered to the nearest Honda motorcycle dealership in Bury St Edmunds whose engineers presumably did at least a preliminary investigation to figure out what went wrong. Given that the findings of their engineer went straight off to Japan - which is probably a fairly rare course of action - I guess they found something sufficiently relevant to do so. Meantime it seems the dealership down in London are at least doing their best to keep Pitfox updated with developments. However I rather doubt any further details will ever emerge especially if H decide to supply a replacement FOC.

Whilst there may be techies on here (or elsewhere) who are keen to know a lot more, personally I think that we need to respect the interests of Pitfox which are first and foremost to get his VFR running well again without having to shell out mega bucks.


SkiMad

 

Determining what caused an engine to crater is a process. Swarf was found. Is swarf in an engine good? Nope.. Since Honda and the local trusted shop in UK are aware of the engine failures which is public information as well, no doubt the engine will undergo further disassembly.

Honda Inc., will gain more in PR value by restoring the dudes bike than it will cost them to fix the darn thing. Honda does not want bad PR especially if their bikes are hazardous to the point of causing fatalities.

Scenario: At speed-Engine craters and locks up on a shaft drive bike- shaft drive hold unlike a chain that might snap- rear wheel locks up-here we are dealing with maybe an experienced rider or not- Results? Who TF knows?

Gotta go with SM on this one. Cut the guy some slack. Right now it's mostly guesswork.

Been through this crap with a friend whose engine blew on a different Honda. The major difference being that the local dealership was run by sleazebags that went tits (breasts-boobs-boobies) up. Took almost a year to sort oot.

 

I want a vfr 1200 now, but not a 2010 model.

 

May I suggest getting that Herpes infection taken care of first?

 

Update from OP?

 

Honda UK Customer services say the bike is out of warranty and covered 9000 miles between services instead of 8000 miles. As a result they will not refer the case to Honda Japan.

I have referred the case to the Motorcycle Industry Association Alternative Dispute Resolution Service.

If an amicable settlement cannot be found it will go to the MCIA Arbitration service and the Arbitrator's decision will be legally binding.

My claim is for less than £5000 so my fee for arbitration is about £100.

I'm happy to pay that and abide by the arbitrators decision. I have nothing left to lose really.

The bad PR for Honda UK and the time and expense they will have to pay their legal team will make the whole process far more expensive for them than a simple ex gracia, no liability, settlement.

So it's basically all in the hands of the lawyers now.

The process will take time, so don't expect any updates any time soon.



P.

 

Honda UK's fallback is it went 1k miles over the recommended service interval. That is so weak.

Sincerely, good luck.

 

Pitfox, good luck with the arbitration.

Maybe I missed it below, but did they share the report with you? Boy would I like to see an independent analysis!