Failures

[Bliz]

Read a lot about noises, and possible V Strom problems. But has anyone had an actual mechanical failure or breakdown?

[Steve Davis]

My speedometer failed and was replaced under warrenty. Otherwise, no problems in 24,000 miles.

[rider1951]

I had a water pump problem from the 1st day but it was fixed and 17,000 miles later the bike is still improving in the running department.

[rider1951]

I had a water pump problem from the 1st day but it was fixed and 17,000 miles later the bike is still improving in the running department. Have not heard of any major failures.

[replaced]

My fuel gauge is goofy, noise in the clutch area (16,500 miles now) but nothing else. I am very happy with the machine.
B.K.

[bkeiser]

After nearly 14,000 miles, the only warranty work was for a minor coolant leak (lost 1-2 ounces) at about 8,000 miles. All is well now, and I have not experienced the "clutch chatter" you have probably heard about. The bike is running very well and continues to be a thrill to ride!

[stormy]

Total engine failure.

Bike is a late registered 2002 model, bought and reg'd september 2003.

I thought I had the dreaded clutch knock, but this turned out to be the rear cylinder breaking up. The piston skirt cracked right around the piston, and slid down the cylinder where the crankshaft web then proceeded to knock merry hell out of it (hence the knocking sound). Metal shards everywhere. Meanwhile the piston is grooving its way up and down the cylinder bore before final being able to twist over centre and sieze (briefly).

The fix?

New engine from Suzuki.

1/10 for reliability.

11/10 for speed of response in getting me back mobile again. Plus the dealer loaned me a Hayabusa whilst mine was off road fo 3 weeks.


Hope this engine is better.

[puffmtd]

The stator fried on my '03 the second day I had it. Replaced under warranty. The clutch slave started dripping fluid but quit the day the shop called and said the new one came in so they are going to keep it on the shelf for me. Other than that, no problems at all. I would buy another one tomorrow.

[stormy]

The fix?

New engine from Suzuki.

1/10 for reliability.

11/10 for speed of response in getting me back mobile again. Plus the dealer loaned me a Hayabusa whilst mine was off road fo 3 weeks.


Hope this engine is better.

Sad to report that this second engine lasted 137 kms before letting go.


I am seriously pissed at this, and will be demanding a full money back, no friggin arguing settlement.

Suzukis? you can shove 'em.

[Randy B]

Stormy... Just out of curiousity.. Did you actually check the serial number of the first engine before they changed it out with the "new " engine?

Although I don't claim to be an expert in such things, statiscally the odds of you having 2 engines go bad seems almost unreal.

I have been following the post on this board as well as a couple others for over a year now (faithfully.. although I do not post much) and I can only recall one other person having an engine go bad on them.

I would almost wonder if your shop did a rebuild on your first engine, told you they gave you a new one , but actually missed fixing the problem that caused the engine to let go in the first place.

Sure am sorry to hear about your luck and i hope whatever brand of bike you replace the Strom with works out better

[hux]

>>Sad to report that this second engine lasted 137 kms before letting go.

dude...lol...what's yer shop doing to yer motors? or, uh, what are you doing to your motors?

>>statiscally the odds of you having 2 engines go bad seems almost unreal.

ya, run and buy some lottery tickets, quick!

[stormy]

>>Sad to report that this second engine lasted 137 kms before letting go.

dude...lol...what's yer shop doing to yer motors? or, uh, what are you doing to your motors?

>>statiscally the odds of you having 2 engines go bad seems almost unreal.

ya, run and buy some lottery tickets, quick!


Hi and sorry for the delay in posting a reply, my damned computer is obviously made secretly by suzuki, cos that's a pile of sh*t* too!

Apparently, so I'm told, the second engine failed due to lack of oil to the main bearings and big-ends. If you don't unscrew the oil filter to allow any trapped air out of the oil system, the pump won't fully prime, and hence you get little or no oil to the main bearings.
However being an engineer by trade, I think that is total garbage, otherwise the oil pressure light would have come on.

Personally, I think the motors are just crap, and if you get a good one, you should buy the lottery tickets!

Bike, complete with third engine, full 3 box luggage system, heated grips, main stand, never been thrashed (fook, it's never been outta the dealers workshop) is now for sale, and if I ever decide to buy another Suzuki, I will require shooting first. :(


Now, where can I get a 1200GS?

[stormy]

Stormy... Just out of curiousity.. Did you actually check the serial number of the first engine before they changed it out with the "new " engine?

sorry, meant to say "Yes" to checking the engine numbers.
On both of the replaced engines.

Mike

[scooter]

There's always going to be a lemon out there. Its to bad you got it. That mechanic you took it to should be shot. Picking the right Dealership is all about a gut feeling. I do not have my bike serviced where I bought it because I do not get the feeling they care enough. The guys at the closest dealership to me have an attitude and at times ignore me. I feel best taking my bike to a Kawasaki dealership because they act proffessional and treat me well.

Good luck with the next bike

Scooter V-Strom Lover

[stormy]

There's always going to be a lemon out there. Its to bad you got it. That mechanic you took it to should be shot. Picking the right Dealership is all about a gut feeling. I do not have my bike serviced where I bought it because I do not get the feeling they care enough. The guys at the closest dealership to me have an attitude and at times ignore me. I feel best taking my bike to a Kawasaki dealership because they act proffessional and treat me well.

Good luck with the next bike

Scooter V-Strom Lover

There's a lot to be said for the gut feeling about a dealer. As it happens, there is an extremely good Kawasaki dealer near me in Germany, and since they now market the VStrom under their own badges, I'm wondering whether I ought to let them have a look at it before I kiss all the depreciation goodbye.

regards

stormy

[hux]

I think you definitely need to have it looked at somewhere else. They're good motors, there's another common denominator.

[texbridge]

[quote="stormy"][quote="hux"]>>....If you don't unscrew the oil filter to allow any trapped air out of the oil system, the pump won't fully prime, and hence you get little or no oil to the main bearings.
However being an engineer by trade, I think that is total garbage, otherwise the oil pressure light would have come on....
quote]

What a load of horse manure. I agree with you, Stormy, the light should come on in exactly that situation. That's astounding, tho. There must be some other explanation.
But, If ya think you're going to get increased reliability from BMW, you're dreaming. Just make sure the 1200GS doesn't have shafty drive.....oh wait... :twisted: :twisted:
Just messin' with you. :D

[hux]

>>"][quote="hux"]>>....If you don't unscrew the oil filter to allow any trapped air out of the oil system, the pump won't fully prime, and hence you get little or no oil to the main bearings.

nuh uh, I didn't say that and don't agree with it...lol...we used to pour oil into the filter on diesel trucks, but that was because they held like half a gallon each * 2....shouldn't be any need to unscrew the filter on a Strom, I haven't - and I'm still on my first engine.

[texbridge]

Sorry Hux -- my sloppy deleting techninque. But you knew that, right? :oops:

[hux]

LOL yea I figured...just clarify-itatin'....

[stormy]

[quote=stormy][quote=" Just make sure the 1200GS doesn't have shafty drive.....oh wait... :twisted: :twisted:
:D

SHAFT !? You mean it's not a tube with a little chain running inside?

Shit, after all these years of thinking .......
















ok, now I'm messin! :lol: :lol:

[stormy]

But going back to the oil issue, I guess until I do some mileage on the thing, I won't know if its fixed, so me and my Lady are off to the Harz Mountains over Easter, at least the roadside recovery is all paid up! :roll:

Have yourselves a good holiday time, let you know how we get on with the bike later.

Stormy,

[stormy]

:oops:

The trip to the German mountains didn't work out ...

picture the scene ..

I fly from England to Germany to meet the girlfriend, who has spent the last two days getting all our gear packed into the three boxes (actually she packed all HER gear into 2.5 of them, left me with the rest!).

I go out to the bike, strip off the covers, fire up the bike, check the tyre pressures, fuel, etc etc etc and then what do I find ....






I've left the bloody disc lock keys back in my house in England!!! oh shit!

So the trip didn't happen, weather was great, did a lot of work in the garden.




Gawd I hate gardening!



So we are trying again this weekend, and the keys are already packed!

doh!



let you know how the motor holds up ..... seems I've said that before!

[stormy]

Did the trip as planned, no problems other than it rained for 3 out of the 4 days we were touring, but no problem.

Bike ran fine once over 4000 rpm, but I have this stutter between 3-4K, which I've just seen reported elsewhere on this site, so will try to get the throttles sync'd and enrichen the mixture a little to see if that cures it.

I dropped the yokes down by 12mm on the forks, huge improvement in handling, less twitchyness from the front end now, especially when loaded with passenger and 30 kilos of luggage!

So with all the major hassles hopefully behind us, I'm looking forward to a summer of riding.

Need to do something about the brakes though, standard pads don't have enough initial bite for my liking, and always seem to struggle to stop the bike in a hurry (had a deer step out in front of us, don't know who was more surprised!). Any suggestions for replacement brake padss?

Regards

mike

aka stormy

[AATECH]

I know this is very late but your second failure is possibly quite simple, When a motor failure occurs, the oil cooler gets a significant amount of debris in it, if it was'nt changed, but the motor was now you circulate debris into the new engine, even if it is cleaned, and ultrasonic is the only acceptable way. So this may be a dealer problem, not completely a manufacturer.

AATECH

[stormy]

Quite possible the scenario you described, no way of knowing at this late stage.




Anyway the bike took us not only to the Harz mountains, but also to Lake Garda in Italy for a 16 day tour. We were pretty well loaded with the two of us and 45 kilos of luggage, (around 100 lbs I guess) and for the most part the bike behaved well.

Most of the time it was great, but below 4000 rpm and 60 kph, and 3rd gear (for town work) the bike overheats badly and starts knocking. So it went back to the dealer again, and had the mixture enriched. What a mistake, fuel economy halved, serious overheating, but it was a little smoother at low rpm (3000 ish). So I'm having everything reset back to factory settings and start again.

So back to the drawing board.

[stormy]

The damn thing is broken AGAIN!

The front right side brake pad retaining pin has come out (bike was just serviced by dealer) and has hit the spokes of the front wheel, enough to machine a nice big groove in all three of them :evil:

It's obvious whats' happened, the "R" clip has either failed or not been put back correctly (I suspect this to be the case), allowing the pin to move across towards the inside of the wheel. We found it in time before it fell out completly, and the pin wasn't even fitted correctly either, i.e. it wasn't through the hole on the pads!!!

(If I could post a picture, you'd see what I mean)


I am fed up with this friggin bike and it's so-called dealer back up. It just gets my back - up!!!


stormy

(now about to go prowling around a Yamaha / Honda showroom........)