I have never heard any thing like that about the motor and sounds more like an opinion than a fact. As a matter of fact one local dealer told me that the V-Rod is the most trouble free HD ever made and that out of the hundred or so they had sold they only had one engine go bad with a pickup tube that came loose from the oil pump. The engine still ran fine but the owner was in for low oil pressure and they replaced the engine when they found the tube loose.

The rev limiter kicks in at 9k when the engine is fully warm, some place just above 8k when cold.

Max

 

THATS why your the best MAX!
ill try to make a copy adn post it somewhere with a link so you can read the artical yourself.
thanks again

 

Hey uncledee2,

Register for the NY riders here...

http://www.v-rodforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1252

 

I have not heard of "bad motors". But I did hear about one that had to be replaced and the cost was about $8,000.00. So I went down and purchased the Harley extended warranty for 7 years with unlimited milage. You can purchase for less years at cheaper price or maybe you can talk your dealer into a discount (my dealer gave $200.00 off).

 

I can personally attest to what happens when they forget to locktite the two bolts that hold the oil pick-up tube in place. I think they had some isolated problems on the assembly line. Mine blew on a busy street at high speeds, but I managed to keep her upright. New motor and $1500 for my inconvience was the end result. Harley took care of me once I got into contact with the right person.

Vrodalex

 

how much are the extended warranties? Does it cover all ?

 

NOT NOS! :hmm:

 

how much are the extended warranties? Does it cover all ?

I think it was $1,600. + $200.00 for not buying it with the bike. The dealer makes some money and you may be able to get him to discount some of that if you are a good customer and bought your bike from him.
The warranty covers a lot of shit (not normal maintenance items, clutches, plugs, etc.) and is transferable. If an engine is $8,000. it makes the price look cheap.[/FONT]

 

We had one engine blow here in Reno on an '02. The owner is on the hefty side (300 + lbs) and he also likes to run the crap out of it mostly to pi$$ of the neighbors.

 

I thought after the first year it was all the dealer.......
Here is an example............
I went to Indian of Oshkosh and they said that they were waiting to see what happened with the company because they had a bike that had a warranty issue and it was not covered under the ext warr. until after the manufacturers warranty expired. Now I worded this just as he said it to me. Did I miss something ? It sounded like the guy who owns the bike is going to have to wait until the "dealer" warranty takes effect after one year. Right ?
Just my 2 cents. (yeah, I'd be p.o.ed too-but what can anyone do?)

BobT

 

uncledee2 the problem that I had with the extended warranty is my dealer preached that any change at all to the bike would void the warranty. Of course they stated this after I had purchased the warranty. I have since canceled the warranty and now do whatever I want.

Max

 

I heard tail that a few dyno engines that were pretty well beat had been installed on a few Rods by mistake and some owners had failures.Heard that Harley found all the engines and immiediatly installed virgin engines.Some of the parts people I know say that the Samson pipe when first introed for the V-Rod caused a lean piston burn problem and harley would not honor the repair under warrany provisions.Maybe not so much the pipes,as for possible lack of mapp settings on the bike back in 02.




Elrod on the V-Rod

 

I heard tail that a few dyno engines that were pretty well beat had been installed on a few Rods by mistake and some owners had failures.Heard that Harley found all the engines and immiediatly installed virgin engines.Some of the parts people I know say that the Samson pipe when first introed for the V-Rod caused a lean piston burn problem and harley would not honor the repair under warrany provisions.Maybe not so much the pipes,as for possible lack of mapp settings on the bike back in 02.




Elrod on the V-Rod

I don't buy that story on the dyno engines. Harley's manufacturing is far too sophisticated to allow that to happen. Regardless of the perceived quality of their products HD's manufacturing processes are best in class benchmarks in the manufacturing world.

As for the Sampson pipe story, that's believable.

Personally, I think the whole premise that V-Rod engines are prone to failure is :bs:. If that was published it wasn't from a reputable journalist and I'm 99.99% positive that there was no scientific study done to back up the statements. It's probably the result of someone bolting on some aftermarket pipes, not taking the time to dial in the fuel injection and blowing a motor drag racing it. It sounds more like national inquirer quality journalism that anything else.

I personally would like to see any other engine in the Harley lineup or any of the Japanese v-twin offerings do the 500 hour autobahn loop on the Porsche dyno.

 

I don't buy that story on the dyno engines. Harley's manufacturing is far too sophisticated to allow that to happen.

Actually, there WAS a recall of a few (~100) bikes. As part of the final roll-out testing, each bike is put on a dyno and run in for a few miles to check that everything on the bike is working correctly. In the case of the recalled bikes, the control parameters on the test exceeded specification (i.e. the engine temps. got higher than the engineers recommended.) I don't know if there were any field failures as a result - but Harley did step up and correct the problem. It was limited to a few early '02 bikes. There is link to the story here.

Personally, I think that the professional way Harley handled this problem says a lot about the quality of their product.

 

besides the dealer; can i go anywhere else to see if my bike is on a recall list?

 

besides the dealer; can i go anywhere else to see if my bike is on a recall list?

Call HD and be sure to have your VIN handy. (414) 343-4056



John

 

Actually, there WAS a recall of a few (~100) bikes. As part of the final roll-out testing, each bike is put on a dyno and run in for a few miles to check that everything on the bike is working correctly. In the case of the recalled bikes, the control parameters on the test exceeded specification (i.e. the engine temps. got higher than the engineers recommended.) I don't know if there were any field failures as a result - but Harley did step up and correct the problem. It was limited to a few early '02 bikes. There is link to the story here.
Personally, I think that the professional way Harley handled this problem says a lot about the quality of their product.

The two used engines Harley donated to my racing are supposedly from that batch of ~100. So far I've only run one of them, but it's pushing around 1200 pounds of men and machine through the nastiest terrain any V-Rod has ever been through. They told me there "may" be a problem with these two motors, but they would not tell me what the problem was. I found something (not to be divulged), and it would indeed reduce horsepower a bit. It was a fairly easy fix. Both motors had the same problem, which is now fixed. So far no problems with the motor in lots of off-road stress testing. :thumb: :thumb:

Hog Wild Racing

 

Talk about taking a V-Rod where it's never been before! Great to see this engine holds it's own in environments it was never really designed to endure.

 

... I found something (not to be divulged), and it would indeed reduce horsepower a bit. It was a fairly easy fix. Both motors had the same problem, which is now fixed. So far no problems with the motor in lots of off-road stress testing. :thumb: :thumb:

Come on, you can't tease us like that :whack: what was the problem you found ??? :hmm:

 

Come on, you can't tease us like that :whack: what was the problem you found ??? :hmm:

I understand the desire to KNOW. Unfortunately, if HD was not willing to tell me exactly what the problem was, they must have a reason. Since they were honest enough to replace all the customers engines that MAY have had this minor problem, the issue should be closed. And since they were extremely generous to me by donating two V-Rod motors to our racing, I don't think it's a good idea for me to violate their trust. :angelwin: I still have hopes of getting further racing support in the future. Don't worry, I'm sure your motor is fine! :thumb:

 

Since they were honest enough to replace all the customers engines that MAY have had this minor problem, the issue should be closed.

We don't want you to violate your donor's trust. So maybe the rest of us can figure out what the issue was. We know the following:

1. The problem was caused during testing - i.e. break-in mileage
2. It was related to the engine seeing too much heat
3. It may cause some of the affected engines to be low on horsepower
4. It is a relatively easy fix.
5. Despite this, it was not possible to repair the engines in the field - i.e. they swapped engines.

Any guesses out there? Valves? Head? Gaskets? Pistons?

 

For my two "recalled" engines, I don't think #1, #2, #5 apply. Maybe mine didn't actually come from that same batch of ~100 "dyno stressed" motors despite what I was told??? Regarding #5, I believe at that time they didn't want anyone to "work" on the motors because they wanted to carefully check things out at the factory. So, rather that fix them, they called them back (for careful inspection), and replaced the motors with new ones. It's all just speculation though!

 

I've been pretty happy with mine so far, 14k on an '03 purchased last August.
BUT, I replaced the plugs at 12k and found that when my bike was assembled the gasket between the carb and airbox was not seated correctly and allowed raw unfiltered air into my carb. I was not happy. I do ride fire roads in Colorado, but the dust is behind me so I don't think much damage was done, and I'm pretty careful with washing it.

The dealer gave me a new gasket and checked out the bike(whatever that means) and told me to monitor it. I've not noticed any bad oil consumption or engine noise.
Incidently, I read other posts about dirty valves, yeah I noticed that too, but that's normal. Gas is bad stuff.
My opinion no harm no foul and in any case it's human error. Hell, I'm posting this stuff now and I'm suppose to be working so it's all relative.

 

Talk to Ski. Find my posts on the Fuel Flange. Layer SKI.