Whoops?

[Niall]

My local dealer, SLM in Caterham, was over subscribed, so I had to resort to North Oxford Garage for the 36k service 9which includes the cam chain tensioners).

Bike was booked in, dropped of early, with assurances it would be ready the same day. Got a call at 3:30 - would I collet the bike in the morning, as they aren't finished.

Ho hum - home and back on an R12RT (120mile each way from work in the centre of B'Ham).

Next day - collect the bike, a cool £650 inc vat, but hey - it was the big one, so I can't complain, except the heathed grip hasn't been fixed - re-book, and the excuse why the mirror in the op case broke blew the credibility of the techie (the relay in the pocket broke it). He might as well have said the paper filler cones of the small box of fuses - but the damage was done, my trust in him being a good techie went flying out the door.

Two days later, I spot oil under the LT - its leaking. Call to North Oxford - I'm monitoring the leak, it seems OK at the moment, and will be fixed on the re-book of the heated grip.

Last Wednesday, stopped for fuel some 4.5 miles frm home. When I got home, there is oil all down the left side of the bike, and I appear to have lost 1/4 of my oil - in 4.5 miles!

Thursday and the bike was trailered to SLM, to have the oil leak fixed, the left indicators which had dropped out on that wednesday on the way home, and the heated grip and top case mirror hinge.

Got a call from SLM today as they got the bike on the ramp. One of the bolts hadn't been tightened, and the comment from their lead tech was "if it was me, I would have wiped off the excess sealant".

Its not on - not tightening a bolt, that's just a failure to observe good practice. And the excess sealant shows jsut a rush to get it done.

The sudden loss of oil - that was alarming. I remember a BMW tech telling me the low oil pressure light comes on at 5psi, and yu're likely to have a seizure about a second after. As my commute is motorway, and M40 speeds - I could easily have been at 90+ with an engine seizure. Bit eye watering that would have been.

Niall

[Woolly]

...I trust my dealer in Sunderland - but I pay the 'bucks' so I should do, I've got a reputation for using the bike - high mileage, mostly overseas, so the techs 'see me coming,' and do a good job, BUT, everyone should get equal service.......

[dshealey]

----------Got a call from SLM today as they got the bike on the ramp. One of the bolts hadn't been tightened, and the comment from their lead tech was "if it was me, I would have wiped off the excess sealant".------------Niall

Griff and I can tell you exactly which bolt was not tightened! Little birdies whispered it in our ears. :D :D

It is WAY too easy to over look that one, the front center valve cover bolt.

When you are tightening them, you see the two rows of proud little bolts, but easy to overlook that one lonely shy one down in the valley all by itself. Unfortunately, that one bolt hole seems to be drilled into a pressure passage for the oil, so it pumps out an an alarming rate if left loose, or worse un-installed, so the birdies say. :D

[Niall]

Unfortunately, that one bolt hole seems to be drilled into a pressure passage for the oil, so it pumps out an an alarming rate if left loose,

No - really? Yes, I can confirm the alarming bit...

About 1/4 of the oil in 4.5 miles.

They appear to have over filled the bike with oil as well, which "minimised" the situation

But - procedure is to check and double check, and if "the amateurs" know to look for the bolt, and my spanner at SLM does too - I expect other trained BMW technicians ('cos that's what I'm paying for) to know too.

For instance, my 03 had its cam chain tensioners doe at 42k, because they weren't in stock in Germany when it had its 36K, but the system was inspected - which means taking the cover off.

Yet after both services - the bike didn't leak a drop of oil, because the technician doing the work did it properly (and it was him who called me today, Vic from SLM)


Niall

[hschisler]

Paying top-dollar (IMO) for BMW techs to work on our bikes should not result in that kind of mistake. I had a similar experience a few months back when a tech forgot to replace, or didn't tighten properly, the final drive fill plug. This resulted in all the gear oil being flung out, trashing the drive. Didn't cost me anything except a lot of inconvenience but it could have been a big problem.

[Niall]

Got an update from the senior technician at SLM.

When he found it hadn't been tightened, he walked through the whole bike. He found the pannier hinges hadn't been lubricated, and that was pretty much it.

It seems that in their haste to get the 36K done in a day, that things got hurried and forgotten.

Now I make the point - I didn't force them to do the work in a day, North Oxford were sure they could. I asked them several times, because I knew what was involved and the book time (8hrs) and to me, just the simple expediency of adding in contingency means they shouldn't have pressurised the technician to complete the work in a time he couldn't, and hence it got rushed.

A minor point to confirm this - my telephone lead was fed from the Autocom up to the tank pocket. This cable was put OUTSIDE of the fairing panels, so I had to undo the panels and put it in. Even then, it wasn't done properly because it had originally been located into the pocket "properly" before it went in. As I said - another example of hurried work.

[Niall]

OK - here's what should be the final on this:

North Oxford have accepted to pay for the work to fix, and have said they will replace my Summer boots, one of which is black now - time will tell.

The whole incident as been very worrying. Perhaps if North Oxford had said they would pay up when I sent the invoice, no "we'll have to assess it", I might be a bit happier.

But - they said they wanted to contact SLM to discuss, which they appear not to have done in the end.


Niall
PS I'll let you know if the boots turn up