The worst experience with Harley imaginable

[tbanas2]

Over 2 months ago when it was determined my bike had a bad lifter, I never could have imagined my experience with Harley would be so bad. I'll spare the details of the story and simply ask for the advice i'm looking for.
Now that Harley FINALLY installed new lifters and cams for me (no cheap task...) they said the bike is finally assembled and can be picked up again. But according to them "Now that the collapsed lifter isn't making noise, they can hear some piston slap in the front cylinder"

...sounds like bull**** to me, and every person I've asked who is more mechanically inclined than me.

I am going to go into the shop tomorrow to talk to them (I sure as hell wont be paying the $656 dollars for a new piston kit). But here is what I want some second opinions on.

-They said now that the lifter wasn't making noise they can hear it. Doesn't piston slap only occur only when the engine is cold? The lifter really didn't make noise until the engine was warm.
-And that all assumes that there was a bad lifter in the first place and the problem wasn't the pistons!

-I had an issue earlier with them with the cams that their technician "made a mistake and didn't notice they needed to be replaced until later" which caused the repair to take several weeks longer. Well now he just missed the piston slap? $95 an hour "highly trained" harley-certified techs should have the means to mic the cylinder and find the piston slap right?

-Lastly, are the pistons cast or forged on these bikes? I understand that if they are forged this really isn't an issue.

The problem is i'm 20 years old and they know that, so I think they are trying to screw me over...any opinions?

[Burton]

I am not mechanically inclined either and only 21. Glad to see some young riders out there. I dont have any mechanical advice...but I know the feeling going into HD and feeling like they are jerking your chain because you are young. It sucks.

Find someone that does bikes on the side that you can get to know and trust if you can.

Lots of the guys on here will be able to help you out with your mechanical questions, no worries.

[Doc13]

Find a buell group near by if you can. Harley engines are not the most complicated thing in the world. If you have the tools and the space, learn to do it yourself, it becomes fun after a while, and you can only point the finger at yourself when you assemble an engine to realize you f'd up lol

[DustyXB]

Im with Doc. Get the manual and go to town man! [up]

[Iamarchangel]

Pretty sure it would have been visible when they took the head off if it was bad.

Yep, walk away.

It's a dead easy job if it does get worse. The manual is online or buy one.

Get your bike out of prison and go for a ride.

Video it and let us hear it.

[MAGIC]

I took my bike to HD once. Never again. I'll skip the story. From than on I do most of the work on my own. If there is something I know is too big for me I'm taking it to my friendly mechanic who works on anything and not for $95/hour.

My advice would be to take your bike elsewhere. Maybe there is Buell friendly HD dealer in your area (ask around)- I know some people on here had luck with HD.

[BuellyBagger]

i do get tired of every time i take my bike in my ex-buell dealing hd dealer and they have some thin 2 say like "well i dunne it might take longer or it might cost more bcuz its a buell" f-that. I do body work for a living and foreign cars or domestic or expensive or rare what ever, they arent much different. i dont care if its the 78,000 cts-v i worked on a few weeks ago or my neighbors friggin kia the labor hours to fix em r essentially the same.

[tbanas2]

Thanks for the input gang. I can assure you I am going to tackle all problems on my own after this horrific experience. It has been rainy here in Chicago the past few days so I haven't gotten a chance to get over there and get the bike, but i'll keep you guys updated once I do!

[tbanas2]

Just went to get the bike... the "piston slap that could not be heard over the bad lifter" is actually the same noise the bike made when it was brought in, except now it's LOUDER. Also, the jumpy idle issue was not fixed. They are trying to tell me that the cylinder were bored slightly (no one had a reason as to why this was done...) and now the piston is making more noise. I will be returning later this week to speak with the manager...my battle with Harley has just begun apparently.

[MAGIC]

I'm from Chicago. Which HD you went to?

Like I said above I also know very cool guy who worked on my Buell couple times before. Let me know if you want his info, he has a little shop on NW side of the town.

[Iamarchangel]

Wait, are they saying they bored out the cylinder?

[tbanas2]

I was at "Wildfire". I may be interested in your buddies contact info, depends on if I have a Buell after this whole situation is done.

And no one could give me a straight answer, I have to go back tomorrow when the manager is there. But yes, he did make it sounds like they bored the cylinder. Like I said, he wasn't giving me straight answers but he mentioned they thought they found some build-up on the cylinder wall or something.

[tbanas2]

In case anyone was interested. I went in today to meet with the manager, starting the bike, revved it a few times and it no longer had idle issues or made the ticking noise, so I looked like an idiot.

The guys who worked on it weren't there today, so I told him to call me tomorrow after he talks to them and have them test drive it and see if it makes the noises once the engine is hot.

Whats interesting is this is how the bike acted before it went into the shop, some cold starts the idle would be jumpy and it would make this ticking noise, while other times it sounded great (like today for example), but would always get a jumpy idle and bad noises once the bike was ridden for awhile.


Is it possible it could still be piston slap? By my understanding, if it doesn't do it on all cold-starts its doubtful.

[jeepin79]

Just an FYI, Wild Fire has the WORST service department of any dealers in the Chicago area. I have bought 3 bikes from them and given their service dept a lot of opportunities to work on my Harleys and will NEVER let them touch any of my bikes again. When we bought my wifes most recent bike the sales guy told us to avoid their service dept, thats should tell you something.

[Bullxb12r]

Never been to Wildfire, but Zylstra HD over in south elgin did right by me. Would definitely take mine back there.

[MAGIC]

Zylstra HD over in south elgin

Horrible experience trying to buy a Buell bout 3 years ago. Used one. Wanted to give them 50% of asking price as down payment. They asked me for 12 pay stubs, income tax for 2 years and some other paperwork not commonly used while applying for financing (like copy of my green card???) I walked away... Bought one for cash way cheaper and with less miles.


Wildfire

Went there to check if they have any Buell goodies (before Buell got cut). The sales people saw me on XB they looked at me like I'm from outer space... Nobody even said "hi, how can I help you?" Terrible customer service. Oh by the way they didn't have anything.

The only one that I had good experience was one Chicago Harley on western ave & pratt ave. They did some work on my bike - it was quick and professional.

[tbanas2]

Someone else had told me this place kinda sucked...anything about mechanics though I think ya' gotta take with a grain of salt, ya know? But after this experience and seeing everyone else's bad experiences I wish I had taken it seriously.

ANYWAYS, the guy from Harley just called me back. Apparently they did a 4 mile test ride today and the bike still sounded fine. Also, he said that no one bored the cylinder but they did hone it and he assured me this couldn't possibly make a distance in the piston clearance.

I am going to go in tomorrow and test ride it myself to see if I hear any strange noises. I am just so weary to pay $1500 dollars to get this bike back after I was in there Sunday and it was making that awful noise. Why would the noise just disappear like that? Is it possible the new lifters weren't engaging, like they needed to kinda "break-in"? I thought you were supposed to pump those things with oil before installation, if this wasn't done could that explain why the noise just went away?

[plasticgunz]

I had good luck with Zylstra in St. Charles, but they were bought by the same group who owns Wildfire since then and I haven't been back. I won't go to Wildfire again, and I live in VP. Suppose I'll be swinging by the one in Elgin some time soon. MAGIC, will you please PM me the contact info of your mechanic? Thank You.

[MAGIC]

PM sent plasticgunz