CVVMax, Thanks for your help.

Talked to Mark (marks9222) last night and he said that his dealer has taken a small sample of the crankcase oil from a particular location within the oil pan as requested by Yamaha and shipped the sample off to Blackstone Labs in IN for analysis, as per Yamaha's recommendation.

Should know in a week or so, what they find, if anything...

http://www.blackstone-labs.com/about-us.php

Art

Wow, this really sucks. I had mine done about a month ago and the only riding I was able to do was the trip home from the dealership, about 35 miles. Now it will sit in my garage for the remainder of the Winter!! One thing I noticed when I got home that day was the smell of oil burning. I investigated and noticed some residual oil that dripped down to the exhaust pipe and that's what I was smelling. I'm assuming this was just what escaped during the recall and didn't notice an abundance of wet oil anywhere else. I notified my dealer and he told me to keep an eye on it. I'm now worried that come Spring I might start having issues as mentioned here and may not get covered since it sat for so long!! Damn it anyway!!

fastmax1 wrote:
I understand your concern and that sort of thinking should be the "Norm" amongst all of us that have already had the fix done...for those that have stated that "all is well with no problems" with a definite tone in their posts may want to think again...

It has already been shown by the ones that have failed after the fix, that the problem(s) may not occur for many, many miles after they ride off from their dealers...

I have been discussing this issue with Kirk (hammer) and Mark (marks9222) to some extent and I only wish that the dealers involved in the four cases thusfar, had or will take the time to take internal pictures of the oil pump assembly fitted incorrectly, where it is not seated all the way in as it should be and some other pictures with it in the correct fully pushed in position...

This is called "QA" and should be a part of any dealership's in-house work process and if it isn't, they should consider finding an alternate line of work...or pay for a third party to come in and do their QA for them...

A few things that I would be interested in seeing on the bikes where the oil pump gear broke, is the back side of the clutch basket assembly, to see if there are any signs of scraping, possibly having been caused by the oil pump gear running up against it because the oil pump assembly was not inserted all the way in...or any other signs of damage other than the apparent broken oil pump gear...that is something even an idiot can see...it is the things that are NOT readily apparent that COULD more clearly, indicate what may have happened...

Just changing out the oil pump assembly or the entire engine does NOTHING for finding out exactly what is going on prior to the damage happening...and I can say with almost 100% certainty, that Yamaha or Star Motors will NEVER let us scambag customer know what happened, even if they knew...

Since Yamaha is unwilling to talk to US, the owners and keep telling us to go see their fully qualified dealers for resolution, I wonder if contacting the NHTSA in reference to these issues will be looked into...or would they also blow us away like Yamaha does???...

Lastly, not to scare anyone here but it IS possible for FULL SEIZURE of the engine if some of that broken gear got wedged back behind the clutch basket or elsewhere in there causing the whole assembly to stop rotating...for those that believe it couldn't happen...well...won't go there...but...

Just some food for thought...

Art

Something to think about is also to compare the old pump with the new designed one to see if they're dimensions are the same. This is mechanics 101 and a must for any job.

These so called techs are simply slapping it back together without verifying that the clutch basket is fully seated back before they tighten it up. Just a little wiggle of the basket back and forth will allow the gear on the back of the clutch to mesh with the pump gear, but when they just slap it together and the two sets of gear teeth are laying on top of each other and they tighten up the clutch basket "pop" goes the gear. Part of this I blame on Yamaha with there ridiculous labor time they pay the dealers/techs to do this job, the techs are not making any money to do theses recalls. Geez Yamaha, pay these guys 2 hours to do the job and not .5 and maybe they would spend a little more time making sure its right. As a retired tech myself of almost 20 years I can see even the best tech make this mistake if in a hurry to get to the next job.

I would say to everyone that has had the recall done and are not sure if it was done correctly that it is a simple job to pop off the clutch cover and look in with a light and check the gear. You could even have someone bump the starter over without starting the bike so you can look 360 around the gear for damage. I worked with the tech that did my bike for a few years and he is good, i will still inspect for my self though before it gets its first mile on it.

These horror stories have only served to validate my opinion from the get go.
I will not have this recall done unless I do the work myself.
I do not care if it costs me money for the new oil pump or not - I've seen too many people on this forum get hosed and mistreated by the supposed mechanical experts!
Yamaha should be ashamed of their dealer network for allowing such shoddy workmanship. These dealers should lose their license to sell any Yamaha product if they do not do right by their customers for this monumental recall fiasco.
Best Regards, Jack

I am supposed to pick my bike up from the oil pump re-call Thursday. I had them install the Cycle- one Off oil pressure gage as well. I am thinking start the bike, verify oil drop in sight glass, verify oil pressure, take bike for ride monitoring oil pressure, stop at local dyno for a couple pulls while monitoring oil pressure. If all looks and sounds good, take bike back to the dealer and open up for re-inspection. If everyting looks good, close up and go home. I will try to put some serious miles on over the Winter and if the motor crashes, collect whatever I can from the dealer and send the motor to Carpenter or PCW for a Gen 2 Big Bore, Head Work and Cams. What A Plan! Scares the Hell Out of Me. Damned if you do and Damned if you dont!

rick

cvvmax wrote:
There was some good information to consider in your post, but a lot of it was just inflammatory and unhelpful while contributing to the hysteria and paranoia surrounding the recall. I don't usually get involved in heated forum exchanges, but the numbered comments above really, really rubbed me the wrong way this evening.

1) How/why are you detecting "a definite tone in their posts" just because others have claimed "all is well"? I think (assume) most/all of us that have had it done with "no issues" are leaving the YET or SO FAR left unsaid. Most of us (I'm assuming again) are still nervous/tense about it and may be "whistling through the graveyard" with our collective fingers crossed, but the thoughts/worries of a pending catastrophe are still there. I see no need to inflame them any further.

2) How many miles constitutes "many, many miles after they ride off from their dealers"? 50? 100? 1000? How many miles would you have to ride before you waved the "all clear" flag?

3) Claiming that you're not trying to scare anyone and then making a statement like that (although factual) IS going to scare the dookie out of some people and you DID "go there" and it only increases the fear factor rather than lowering it.

Can we all just pull back a little with these sorts of comments and try not to contribute to the sense of fear around here? No offense Art, just my 2 cents. (And if you are offended, I'm sorry, but me throwing the "no offense" disclaimer out there wasn't helpful, was it?)

Scott

sal70lemans wrote:
Scott,
Your points are well taken...

On your point-1;
Don't take it so personally...I was only trying to get everyone's attention to be more cautious about making statements in posts, immediately after picking up their bikes with the new pump installed saying that they have absolutely no problems when they only rode their bikes for 5-10 miles or less...that is what the four people that now have had problems were also saying...I believe that everyone needs to be aware that there were problems and just keep an eye on their machines...

I had and do not have any intentions of inflaming the situation...that is the furthest from my intentions of my post...

Lets face it, if you or anyone feels that they personally are good to go...that's fine...

On point-2;
I have absolutely no idea and I don't think anyone else can say for sure either...when we got the first two reported failures...it was only a few miles but now we are getting reports of much more...in the range of 50-70 miles...and I can see that happening, depending upon how the tech installed the pump assembly incorrectly...

On your point-3;
I understand where you are coming from...and that's fine...that is your stance and I can appreciate that...and if it scared anyone...well...won't go there but I believe that a simple recheck by pulling the clutch cover and making sure that everything looks aligned is not such a big thing to do, just to be sure...if anyone feels that there is no need in their personal cases, that's fine too...

And so Scott...I am not taking offense to your counter-post and can only hope that you can do the same...

Art