VFR 1200 DCT Catastrophic Engine Failure at 17000 miles.

I can't believe Honda went that route! Back in 2000 I was a certified Honda motorcycle technician and Honda would warranty repair almost everything that customers would drag through the doors, warranty or not! I hated it sometimes because warranty repairs only pay a fraction of customer pay repairs. That's why I quit working on Honda motorcycles and switched over to working on cars.

Just a couple of extreme examples I remember are, one time a kid brought us his 954 with a seized engine. I took off the tank and immediately noticed there were holes cut into the air box and hoses running into the air box on to the throttle bodies. So I asked the guy what size shot of nitrous oxide he was running, and he told me he was running a 50 shot! He bought the bike used and had no factory warranty left, I said looks like you're going to have to buy a new engine. Honda ended up replacing the engine at no cost to the customer. He had no warranty and the engine failed due to gross negligence. Honda still paid for a new engine to make him happy.

Another time a couple bought a brand new Honda Rincon four wheeler on Friday, and brought it back Monday morning with a seized engine and two flat tires. I immediately removed the drain plug and about 2 gallons of water and mud came out with the oil. The tires were flat because the inside of the rims had holes large enough I could stick my hands in to. I told my service manager that the four wheeler was clearly wrecked and ended up in a lake. The customers got angry and started yelling. The Honda rep was sent out to inspect the four wheeler. I opened the crank case and found the screen for the oil pick up was clogged with a huge handful of mud and leaves. At that point the customers admitted to taking their four wheeler off of a large jump and driving it repeatedly into a lake. Honda gave them a brand new engine and wheels at no cost to them even though it was blatant abuse that was to blame.

My point is, Honda ALWAYS took the customers side, even if the customer was well outside of any warranty, or clearly they abused their bike. Its a shame Honda is treating you like this, its clear that they are not on the customers side anymore.

 

The only thing Honda UK have done by the book, is the prop-shaft re-call, the seizer of the rear Hydraulic adjuster went on for years, and it still seizes. The biggest problem we have here, is that the owner continued to ride the motorcycle, knowing he had lost power, and knowingly carried on riding the motorcycle, until the noise was that bad it actually seized. So in one sense, I can understand why Honda UK are washing their hands on this matter. As regards to why someone will not buy a 2010 model, is bigger fool them. Lap tap warriors, you just have to love them don't we.

 

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Please correct me, but I was under the impression that you just had the valves adjusted less than 1,000 mile ago. ??????????

 

Yes, when you think of it that way, I can see why they would not cover it. The thing is I've seen them cover things before under "good faith" that they were not legally obligated to cover.

 

Anbaek22, I'm not the original poster. I was just sharing past experiences with Honda warranty service.

 

From various posts throughout the years it always seems like Honda UK is really shitty compared to Honda USA and, Honda Japan.

 

That's unfortunate. I know they can't warranty every single bike that has something happen to it, that's not very smart financially. It's just nice when they do take the customers side, even if it's like a 50/50 split, or pay parts or labor or something. It's important to keep customers happy. Lol

 

That's true about Honda UK, as regards too Honda UK customer service, I would give them 3 out of 10. The Honda VFR1200 was the first Honda I bought new, and it will certainly be my last, not because of the VFR1200F, but because of Honda UK customer services.

 

Sorry to hear about your bike dilemma. That really does suck. Sounds uncharacteristic of a Honda product from motor failing and Honda corporate not standing behind product. Hope the arbitration brings you better luck.

 

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Please correct me, but I was under the impression that you just had the valves adjusted less than 1,000 mile ago. ??????????

 

Forgetting about all the side issues here, these 2010 motors were known to have swarfe found inside them (this one did also) and there has been a number of failures of this motor. Absolutely no reason why this motor should not be replaced

 

Absolutely.

 

These 2010 motors should have a lifetime warranty against this type of failure, or once the problem with them was discovered, all the suspect motors should have been replaced under a recall. You can guarantee the ones we have heard of is not the entire batch of the problem ones, more are still out there

 

How about a cross posting or postings to other VFR BBs to see how this problem is or was handled by not only Honda UK, Honda Japan but by Honda USA and any others. I sold mine..No swarf and no problems. Those who suspect they might have one of the problem engines might do well to cut open the oil filters and take pix.

 

Update: I have had no joy from the MCIA conciliation service and Honda UK are refusing to budge an inch from their position as Pontius Pilate.

Arbitration via the UK small claims court will be complicated by the fact that I took finance on the bike when I bought it and therefore technically it is the finance company that has sold me the bike. i will therefore have to bring a claim against them under the sale of goods act.

Therefore in a last desperate attempt to salvage something from this disaster, I have written to Mr Takahiro Hachigo in Japan. He is CEO Honda world wide. I have also sent a copy of my letter imploring them to help me to Mr Toshiyuki Shimbara. He is head of motorcycle production at the Kumamoto factory.

If I get no response from either of them by 31st October then I will have to proceed to the small claims court or arbitration.

If that does not work out then the VFR will have to go on Ebay Uk and sold for scrap/parts.

A sad demise for a flagship Honda motorcycle that has done only 17,000 miles and has been regularly serviced by a Honda main dealer.

P.

 

When try the $1 a whack with the sledgehammer route and call the Newsmen in -they are all ways looking for a Great story!

 

Several of the contributors here have started a fund and have news contacts. When might you be available for forty whacks?

 

Really sad to read this whole thread and find that Honda UK is giving you the shaft. But there are some things to be learned from this discussion.
1. Every company has engines and other parts that fail, get recalled, get passed over by recall and fail again. Look at Porsche with their IMS issues that were causing SIX PERCENT of the hundreds of thousands of boxster, 911s and caymans sold between 98 and 2010 to fail before 70k miles. It took until 2015 for them to settle a class action suit and extend their warranty to cover cars as late as '05, even after THOUSANDS of grenaded engines, all of which were north of $8000 for a rebuilt replacement. To put it into perspective their is now an industry of competing shops and engineers developing products to warn of or prevent this ONE problem area on their engines, on a car they stopped making 5 years ago. But it took 15 years for Porsche to be held accountable. My point is don't be alarmed that Honda has said no to your first request of $5000 worth of service and parts.

2. Riders make mistakes, think they know more than they actually do, choose to ignore signs, warning lights and noises for many reasons. The truth is you don't know what's wrong until you know what's wrong and it's a judgement call unless you can afford to just get off the bike, tow it somewhere and wait months and play thousands to have it fixed. Hindsight is 20/20 and nobody is perfect, which leads me to my next point.

3. I can't believe what I'm hearing from some of the VFR800 guys on here, who act like they have never gone 1000km past the maintenence interval, never let their bike run hot or their oil run low, or better yet, never had their bike leave them on the side of the road thanks to some under-engineered part from Honda (looking at you, everyone who has ever had stator/rr problems which is a lot more people than VFR1200 owners with blown engines.) My point here is, look in the mirror before you call OP an idiot or a fool. If you want to say "this model sucks cause Honda effed up this design" or whatever, that's fine but I can't believe you feel the right to fault OP for buying a VFR and then the gaul to show up on THIS, THE VFR FORUM and criticize him for it.

OP, I wish you the best of luck and if I were you I wouldn't abandon Honda or the VFR after this. Chances are a higher-mileage model would have failed already if it were goinng to, so you know what to look for when shopping.

 

Well BB thanks for the idea-they would pay $2 a whack for you. I am just a small timer not worth the fee.

 

I hate to say it but as Chisick Honda is my local dealer it is one of the very FEW Honda main dealers that I would NOT buy / service or trade-in at.
I've have heard some real horror stories about the servicing there.
I do use them to get parts for me however !


If the OP doesn't get any joy in the end from Honda UK I can put him touch with an exceptional mech (who works from his home) & wont mug him...
He lives near me in West Drayton.

Pete