I think My Mechanic F*&cked up

[stoneagegixer]

OK,

So I've owned my xr650r for almost a month. I haven't really ridden it yet. Just to the shop, from the shop, to get it licenced and home. Anyway, I took the bike to the shop as soon as I bought it. I wasn't familiar with this bike or off road bikes so I thought I'd let a PRO do the job right the first time. I rode the bike there no problems.

I picked the bike after 3 weeks or so and start it up in the shop. The bike is steaming and I smell coolant. The mech. says, that he topped up the coolant so it was the overflow. I, being the trusting type said ok. Anyway I rode the bike for around 15 Km and everytime I stoped it was steaming a bit and coolant mixure was dripping slowly on the ground. I did some searching on the net and asked around and was told that they do that sometime a bit. Hey, what do I know. Today I was washing the bike, took the left rad fairing off and started it up. (I forgot to mention that the previous owner did bend the rad a bit, but it never leaked!!) The bike ran for about 2-4 minutes and what did I see....coolant, seeping at the bottom of the rad.

So what do I do now? I think the mechanic might have tried to tweak it into place and damadged. I brought it in and I didn't have this problem, now I do after leaving it there.

Any advice? The shop is very close to my house and is the only one for miles around, so I don't want to get into a pissing match over this. He could just say that I did this after I left his shop, or make up some other bullshit story.

I just commited myself to buying supermoto rims so I can't go and blow another $150. Is there someone that has a left rad piece? Or do you guys know, if there is someone online that repairs these things...

Actually I sent my oil cooler to a place years ago but I don't remember what the place was called. It was something like Motorcycleradiatorrepair.....

HELP!! ?

[Max Power]

OK,

So I've owned my xr650r for almost a month. I haven't really ridden it yet. Just to the shop, from the shop, to get it licenced and home. Anyway, I took the bike to the shop as soon as I bought it. I wasn't familiar with this bike or off road bikes so I thought I'd let a PRO do the job right the first time. I rode the bike there no problems.

I picked the bike after 3 weeks or so and start it up in the shop. The bike is steaming and I smell coolant. The mech. says, that he topped up the coolant so it was the overflow. I, being the trusting type said ok. Anyway I rode the bike for around 15 Km and everytime I stoped it was steaming a bit and coolant mixure was dripping slowly on the ground. I did some searching on the net and asked around and was told that they do that sometime a bit. Hey, what do I know. Today I was washing the bike, took the left rad fairing off and started it up. (I forgot to mention that the previous owner did bend the rad a bit, but it never leaked!!) The bike ran for about 2-4 minutes and what did I see....coolant, seeping at the bottom of the rad.

So what do I do now? I think the mechanic might have tried to tweak it into place and damadged. I brought it in and I didn't have this problem, now I do after leaving it there.

Any advice? The shop is very close to my house and is the only one for miles around, so I don't want to get into a pissing match over this. He could just say that I did this after I left his shop, or make up some other bullshit story.

I just commited myself to buying supermoto rims so I can't go and blow another $150. Is there someone that has a left rad piece? Or do you guys know, if there is someone online that repairs these things...

Actually I sent my oil cooler to a place years ago but I don't remember what the place was called. It was something like Motorcycleradiatorrepair.....

HELP!! ?

Now this is a good thread.... paging WR450Yamaha to the white courtesy phone.

[sweetk30]

i took my pull start apart years ago and couldnt figure how to reinstall it as i needed new rope. well i took it to the honda dealer. he said 25 bucks and i will install "honda specific rope" well o.k. i just want to ride. 10 pulls later the special honda rope broke. so i took it back and he said sorry i cant help you. no way to prove it was our rope in there. i said o.k. then all my bissness will NOT be with this store everagain and i have 5-6 bikes all honda. and he had a ut oh look on his face as i walked out the door for the last time.

years later i took my engine to a well recomended guy with shop. he was told what ever need changing just call me and we will do it. and money is no problem. in return i got bad cheep junk parts in motor new sleeve with .010 deep scratch in it. half work not done and work done wrong. then took to suzuki shop and spent almost the same money to have it all fixed and lots of bad stuff parts wise replaced that i was never told about. and he said if big if it ever fired max time would have been less than 5 min till full melt down.

so if you want it done correctly and only one person to blame if bad work is done do it your self and ask for info or help dont just rely on the pros all of the time. and this is from all sides of the coin. as now i work on car/trucks and i see it all there to.

[BluezookS]

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[ProMed]

Do you actually see a crack in the radiator from an attempted repair?

My XR650R was dripping a small amount of coolant off the left radiator and it turned out to just be the that the the little tube at the top of the rad wasn't on very securely. I put on a new c-clamp and it was good as new. Also keep in mind thatyou shouldn't be cranking these bikes up and just letting them run. They need to feel the wind running through their fins!

[pigryder]

This Is Why I Do All My Own Work

[RutRipper]

I've had jb weld on my radiator leak (very small crack) and it has held for a looong time so far. If it's just a little crack use jb weld. But you might not want to blame it on your mechanic. If there's a weak spot in your radiator from being bent it may eventually form a crack without anyone trying to bend it back or anything. After having heat and pressure for a long time when there's a weak spot in it, that could cause a little crack...but then again it may be your mechanic.

[lomaxcm]

As this is a local shop and I assume that you know the people there fairly well, or are planning on getting to know them, I would take it back and CALMLY describe the problem as you have here. You may be surprised and find that they will fix it or at least help you out on it. If they say there is nothing they can do then say "Thank you very much" and just suck it up. It is possible that they had nothing to do with it or it is possible, as you say, that they messed something up. BUT for a good local shop I would not push it too far. They may owe you one down the road because of this and make good on it in the long run. If it is in fact a terrible shop then no matter how handy you might want to look elsewhere.

Good Luck

Marc

[stoneagegixer]

Thank you guys for the advice. I guess the guy could have tried to fix it but ended up making it worse, so his intentions might have been good. I'll try and make a trip there tomorrow. I've spent the day trying to figuer a way to finance Motard kit for my bike ?

[Max Power]

Thank you guys for the advice. I guess the guy could have tried to fix it but ended up making it worse, so his intentions might have been good. I'll try and make a trip there tomorrow. I've spent the day trying to figuer a way to finance Motard kit for my bike ?

Hey WR.... How's it hangin......?

[wr450fyamaha]

Now this is a good thread.... paging WR450Yamaha to the white courtesy phone. ?

&%$#@! are u talkin about?

[JackAttack]

&%$#@! are u talkin about?

I think he wants you to do that famous impression you do... of someone that knows what their talking about.

?

[Max Power]

&%$#@! are u talkin about?

Same I.P. address. ? u can do better.

[HawkGT]

Same I.P. address. ? u can do better.

[Max Power]

Yep.

Who can just pass by a good train wreck without looking?

[hypersthenos]

I had as RMX 250 that had the same problem. After trying to genly pry it back it leaked at the base of the fins where they join the bottom tank. One I found the leaky seam I carefully scraped the area with a dental pick & applied JB weld to the seam. This lasted another 2 years of hard riding. Still held up when I sold it. Should save you some serious dough. As the radiator was already compromised I find it hard to blame the leak on the mechanic.

[frankstr]

This Is Why I Do All My Own Work

Ditto........ ?

[stoneagegixer]

Hey Guys,

Thanks for the ideas and input. I stoped by and mentioned what is going on. I just hinted that the bike arrived free of "steam" and left under a cloud of it. I just hinted to him that if he tried to fix the tweak, something might have let go. He was cool about it and told me to pop over with it and he'd have a look. Of course, when I got there nothing was leaking.

I'm right now waiting for my SM wheels so I'll ride it around here for a while, if it starts I'll try a cheap fix (JB weld), hopefully that will last me until winter. In winter I'll send the rad to Mayers...

PS I can't afford to keep my stock rims and the SM rims so if anyone is interested let me know...

[7d7]

man i hate all dealer shops. i bought a left over 2004 xr4 from my local honda dealer and a day later after running it for a little while i noticed the header gasket was leaking so i brought it back to the dealer. they acually tried to tell me that it was suposed to leak a little. HAH i told him that acually it wasnt suposed to leak at all and that my bike has a 6 month warranty still onit and i walked out of the shop and left my bike thier. went back the next day and just took my bike (with new header gasket) from inside of thier shop with out saying a word.

i also sent a letter to the president of north american honda letting them now that thier name was being used to try and cheat people and also sent a letter to the owner of the shop detailing my experience and let him now i would never be returing.

i hate all dealer shops.