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Old July 7th, 2014, 04:04 AM   #1
Woolley7325
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An unwelcome surprise

Got my GPX serviced earlier today. Had a valve clearance done and a new spark plug, plus a general check of the bike.

All was well and I received the phone call it was ready so I went to collect and ride it home.

I started it up and noticed strait away it seemed low on the idle. Thought 'no worries, probably be fine after a few minutes ride'. As I rode down the street I noticed that the throttle response was poor. Again, being a noob, I thought after the valve clearance maybe it would come good after a bit of a ride. Anyway, I got to a red light, pulled up, and the engine stalled. Would not restart with choke, I flicked fuel to reserve just incase but still nothing. Luckily my wife was following me in the car so I pulled it off the road and as my wife stayed with the bike I whizzed back to the kwaka dealer and filled them in. I think they thought I was a fool but they drove out to see what the problem was. After 15 mins they had to load it on the ute and take it back to the shop because they couldn't figure it out.

I took a nicely running machine into the mechanic for a routine check, and I got back a dud!!! They said they will call me tomorrow. I'm not too fazed, I'm pretty easy going am am sure they will find their mistake.

My only thought is, on the receipt I noticed I paid for 1 spark plug. Don't these bikes have 2 plugs? Could this be the issue?

What do you guys reckon?
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Old July 7th, 2014, 07:20 AM   #2
CZroe
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No clue, but let us know what you find out!
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Old July 7th, 2014, 07:30 AM   #3
Klondike1020
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Yeah sounds very ambiguous as a symptom for a valve job?
The spark plug thing is weird also!

It could e something as innocuous as dirt got stirred up in the tank or a fuel line got pitched when the tank was removed and put back on.

Started ran off the float bowls and died out.

But I don't know anything that would cause those symptoms from a valve clearance job.
A loose spark plug- low compression on one cylinder and then it opened up and stopped running ?

It's hard- you have to find ways to check their work.

Sometimes they will charge for work not completed, or not replace all the parts

Example - my friend is a mechanic and Someone dropped off a truck with 16 spark plugs. My friend replaced 8 and told the customer it was ready. The customer brought it back and had to show him where to find the second set of spark plugs in the heads- 2per cyl

Another friend took a bike in to get valves shimmed. Drew a blue paint stripe on everything that should be removed for servicing or replaced.

They took it all apart but reused the valve cover gasket. I guess he wanted that replaced w the service.

Most shops try to do good work and treat a customer right.
Most customers are not very discerning- so mechanics and shops tend to get a little laid back or sloppy w the details.

Also if you have a bike they dont work on often (old, rare or modified) it is best to talk to the shop supervisor and address any special concerns


Good luck- let us know how the unfolds
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Old July 7th, 2014, 08:43 AM   #4
capt_bugaloo
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I can't say I've ever had a bad service per se, but I find you do have to spell out exactly what you want done.

One time I took a motorcycle in and told them: I want you to do a "complete service". I'm going on a road trip of a few thousand miles and it needs a new rear tire, so replace the tire, change the oil, check valves, etc. I did say "do anything it needs before a long trip".

I go to pick up the bike a couple days later. Yep, they've done the service and put on a new rear tire. Then the mechanic says to me: you'll need to get new brake shoes for that rear drum brake soon. It's only good for maybe 500 or 600 miles.

WTF? You had the back wheel off anyhow to replace a tire, you had my go-ahead to do anything that needs service before a road trip - and you didn't bother to put on a pair of $35 brake shoes??

Anyways, I had already booked my vacation to start the next day, so I went anyhow and just babied the rear brake. When I got back, I had the rear brake serviced right away - at another shop.
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Old July 7th, 2014, 09:17 PM   #5
Woolley7325
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Well I got my bike back today. Spoke to the mechanic and he said after they got it back to the shop last night it still wouldn't run. They put another tank on the bike and it started up, no dramas. Then put mine back on again and it ran just fine. They checked the carbs and realised one side wasn't pushing as much fuel through as it should so fixed that up. Possibly a little grit stuck somewhere blocking the fuel they thought. Anyways, she ran well today and I'm back on the road. Weird coincidence for this to happen though, as it was fine when I took it in for the service.

They were real good about it, very honest with me and offered to come get me in the ute if I ran into any problems again. All good though! Cruised round for an hour this morning and bike was good, I noticed in the strong wind though that the bike gets knocked around a lot and it messes with the speed and throttle, up and down like a yo-yo. At first I thought this sensation was the fuel blocking again but I noticed whenever I was out of the wind it stopped doing it. Also was a lot smoother when using higher revs, I guess it has more power to get through the wind.
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Old July 7th, 2014, 09:20 PM   #6
Woolley7325
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Klondike1020 View Post
...It could be something as innocuous as dirt got stirred up in the tank or a fuel line got pitched when the tank was removed and put back on....

Just re-read your reply, right on man!!!!!
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Old July 7th, 2014, 09:47 PM   #7
JohnnyBravo
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Glad they got it sorted for ya
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Old July 8th, 2014, 12:31 AM   #8
Woolley7325
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Cheers bro
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Old July 8th, 2014, 11:00 PM   #9
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Kinda irritated me when I took some rims in to get the tires I mounted on them balanced.. he tells me 15 on the phone. Then in the shop it became 50... I'm like, I recognize your voice, I talked to you ten minutes ago.

And then they went ahead and 'balanced' them but didn't bother removing the old weights, just adding more to counteract them, and more to balance the rims.

'c'mon dude, it's a 250, I need the least amount of rotational mass possible and it is still gonna be a slow bike.'
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