Venting...bad mechanic
 

So I hired a local shop, who support and wrench their own racing team, to do my manual CCTs a couple of months back. It was having problems when I rode it home and wouldn't start again afterwards. It caused my to miss my trip and I walked away from the problem to cool off.

Fast forward to last week when I dropped her off at the local dealership. It turns out my camchain was 6-7 links off. Unfortunately, they won't deal with mCCTs, so I had to order new automatics.

Very annoyed with the original shop, and I plan to drop off the bill just to see what they do. Not enough money in their service to make it worth suing them, but it's the principle of the matter.:mad:

Anyone in the Columbia, SC area, drop me a message and I'll tell you who to avoid.

Aww hell no. If they fooked it up, I'd be taking action. In fact I've taken a small business like that to small claims court and won. I ain't the the type to roll over and take it. I went to their shop to buy a camber kit for my lowered cage and chose one with the sales guys assistance. When it arrived, instructions told me to cut a patch of the weld seam to allow it to fit. Saw that and immediately drove it back and asked for a return. They told me NOPE. I said see you in court! Explained to the judge there was no way I would have ordered that part if I'd known I'd have to cut my frame (uni-body lol). Won and they paid up.

Send them a message... don't be afraid to publicly post their info. Their reputation should follow them like a shadow!

if it was that off, wouldnt it cause massive damage to the motor / seize it??

Dealership tore it down and said no damage to valves, head, or piston.

Did you give them fitting instructions?

Why not fit the manual tensioners yourself? No real special tools required just a few hours stripping off tank, airbox, cam cover. Now a bit more complicated if the timing has slipped but most instructions specify when taking out the old tensioners to zip tie the cam chain to avoid it jumping.

Holy crap... that seems extremely lucky

Printed out instructions. My issue was one of timing. I had a trip coming up in a week and too many hours at work in prep.

My sense, developed over many years, is if a shop messes something up the first time I come in, that's a good reason to not return there. If it's a place you've done business with many times and have developed a relationship with and have faith in them, and they screw something up, I'd give that outfit a chance to make it right because the chances are they will. This other situation...where they don't even verify their work...I'd stay far away. I'd let the owner know the details because it appears he has a bad employee/mechanic. But I wouldn't go back.

I think I'd let the dealer do the work, provided they're reputable. They've already inspected it. You've presumably already paid for that inspection. I'm thinking the CCTs and a couple shop hours, 300 or 400 bucks more gets you down the road. After the warranty on their work expires, replace the automatics with manuals yourself.

What's your time and effort worth? That is, how much time are you willing to spend to get your pound of flesh from the shop who screwed things up? If devoting a piece of your life to that process (extracting that Pound of Flesh) is preferable to spending the time doing something else, then by all means, go for it. The way I've come to see things, if I can afford the lesson, then it's best to let it go. Avoid the jerks in the future. Cut your losses.

Alan

Fortunately, they're providing a 6 month warranty. I picked the bike up this afternoon.

We discussed the warranty, and the owner of the dealership personally assured me they'd cover the repair and any damage caused if the repair failed. I've got 179 days before I have to re-install the mCCTs.

From my perspective, you're damn lucky. And wise. Ride safe...

Alan

Amazing luck, that jumping that many teeth did no serious damage, props to Honda, for making such a great engine.
Going after someone/entity, your time has value, so that has to be calculated in. As well as, in small claims, there is no guarantee they will pay.

Best to post the name of the dlrship, so others can simply avoid.

My plans are to drop a copy of the invoice off and let them decide what to do.

I don't plan to waste my time chasing them for a couple of hundred dollars. My time and my peace of mind are too valuable for that. If they step up, perhaps they'll get more business. If not, they'll be added to my blacklist.

Glad to be riding again, that's what matters. Hitting the Snake next Sunday to really open her up.

This is a sad experience that has been posted here many times. Funny, and not like a micro car full of clowns, that so many "real" machanics have such a problems wrenching on a VTR.
Underscores the reason to learn to do the wrenching yourself.

It sounds like the repair worked out...so there is that.

Two things jumped out..

Was it 6 or 7 links out? it is really not a judgment thing, they should have easily counted, so it was either 6 or 7 links out..OR they really had no idea and just guessed...thats not really an issue unless it is, see point two...

Which brings me to point two.
I can not say for sure, (but i will confirm on my spare motor at some point) but Im about 99% sure, on this motor, 6 or 7 cam chain links off will cause interference between the valves and piston. I would not accuse someone of lying as Im not positive ....but Im pretty confident 7 links off is an issue...taking me back to point one ..did they count 6 or 7 links? or did they just notice it was off (good for them, well done) and then "guess" it was xx links off? Fix it and move on... The concern is, if it was 6 or 7 links off, and contact was made between valve and piston...were the valves bent, even slightly?

If I found my cam chain 6 or 7 links off, after correcting it I would be doing a leak down to confirm or deny valve contact happened