| Author | Message | ||
     Chrisrogers3 |
No this isnt a thread bit**ing about how my bike is a POS.... Far from it, but I will say I never seem to have good luck with the Uly. I absolutely love the bike but it doesnt seem to love me lol. I just found out tonight that I have a cracked head on her. Its the rear cylinder and a pretty substantial crack. The techs at Appleton HD and Buell said they have never seen anything like it before (go figure) and they didnt even know yet if it would be considered a warranty item or not but they thought it was just a "weak" part. So has anyone else heard of people having issues with XB heads out there? I've put probably over 50 grand on XB's and I have never had a cracked head before. What gives? | ||
| Svh |
It was the high speed racing to beat the snowstorms back from CO. Never heard of that yet. Hope it works out for you that it is a warranty covered item. | ||
| Teeps |
Got pictures of the crack in the head? (Message edited by teeps on April 07, 2009) | ||
| Jphish |
Chris - well... if it's under 2 years old don't see how it could be anything BUT a warranty item. It's not like ya ran the radiator dry or sumpthin. I've had my Uly troubles too but ain't giving up - it's too fun to ride & I've only seen 1 other on the road in 18mos of travel. My riding buddies mostly have 12GS's & RTs,  so far no troubles on trips - only seen about 32,000 of those in the last year. And damn it...only 2 of 'em broke down along side the road. I on the other hand have been the cause of two aborted adventures due to mechanical failure. Emarassing!! I get the 'looks' every time I pull the Uly out of the garage, instead of the ST1300 or KLR. Last time they suggested I just start out by putting it on the trailer, and save the trouble later. The nerve...Ran fine for the last 5K miles though. Sorry for your woes - keep us posted. j | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
Cracked?! holy crap. What on earth could have caused that? A hot spot from a lubrication failure? | ||
| Chrisrogers3 |
There is no way I will give up on my Uly. It is by far the funnest bike I have ever owned. I have a pic from my cell phone, it turned out really dark so I have to see if I can lighten it up a bit. I will try to post a pic when I can. I am hoping that maybe someone from Buell might have an idea why this could have happened. I am completely clueless on this one. Jphish-I know what you mean about aborted trips... Thats why I carry a plethora of spare parts, lol I doubt I will be carrying a spare head anytime soon though lol. | ||
| Chrisrogers3 |
Im not too sure which is better. They both are really dark but you can see the crack. It is the back cylinder and it is in the lower left (as seen from above)   | ||
| Jphish |
Yeah Chris - My whole topcase is spare parts. After the spare belt, bearings, (front & rear) shifter, clutch cable, brake/clutch lever, assorted bolts, pawl spring etc. - don't know if we'd have room for a head too. The dealer parts network is so dismal (10 days to get a rear shock to YellowKnife - the prospect of 10 days in Yellowknife, with no greyling or char fishing, is beyond comprehension?! The HD dealer there was great though - busted their butts to help) that I feel compelled to carry everything I need. Most dealers don't even have a friggin belt in stock. WTF! In spite of it all, still love the Uly - we just have to be self sufficient. Wish the manual came on CD - the book is heavy and takes up room for spare parts. Could have space for a head & maybe even a VR & ECM. j | ||
| Court |
Hahahahaha . . a cylinder head a "weak part"? Those dealers are such teases. Easy fix and I'm betting the Appleton folks are already on it. Any problem, let me know . . . we can fix that in minutes. Court | ||
| Crackhead |
I am really surprised that there is not a minimum parts requirement for dealers. The HD of Annapolis uses Blasts for the riders edge classes but don't even stock basic Blast parts except the carb boot. It is weird that the dealers don't have to stock basic service parts on current edition bikes. | ||
| Tginnh |
Crackhead... not that Chrisrogers3 problems are amusing, but that's just plain funny. | ||
| Crackhead |
wholy crap! Chris just looked at your problems listed on your profile. has the service guy rode your bike more then you? | ||
| Chrisrogers3 |
Crackhead- LOL just wait till I update my profile! I have 5000 miles worth of problems logged that arent up yet... Court- Yeah definitely an easy fix and if it wasnt under warranty I would be wrenching on it myself but thats what warranties are there for. I have complete faith in Appleton HD they have always come through for me in the past. Tginnh- lol completely agreed. | ||
| Mnrider |
Chris could you tell us what goes into that hole where the crack is,can't see much from the pic. Thanks | ||
| Etennuly |
Chris could you tell us what goes into that hole where the crack is,can't see much from the pic. That is where he plugs in his crack pipe!  | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Chris, did you get the bike first built after a Buell all night kegger? | ||
| Crackhead |
it must have been built the day after home coming. | ||
| Chrisrogers3 |
Ok, so seriously I think my bike is cursed. I call up Appleton HD today to see how my bike is coming along and they say "Well not so good, when our tech was assembling your bike he noticed your cylinder was all rusty inside." So I go up to the dealership (this time taking my camera). This is what I found......   And here are some great shots of the head that is junk. As you can see its not like its a hairline crack, that crack is comparable to the grand canyon!.....     So here is what they are telling me might be a possibility.... They think that the head might not have been tightened to spec from the factory thus causing the bolts to loosen up and the head to get hot and crack, after the crack happened then moisture got into the cylinder and started the rusting process. I guess it sounds like it could be a logical guess but IIRC when i was last at Buell they had a pretty fool proof computerized method for torque values-thats even if the heads are assembled at Buell though (not too sure on that one). At this point they say its all under warranty (sounds like I am getting new pistons, rings, cylinders, and the head), God I hope so for a bike thats only 18 months old with only 11000 miles this thing shouldn't have any of these issues! Oh well, the only thing I am truly upset about is I am missing out on some gorgeous riding weather! Anyone have a loaner (I promise not to break it  ) I tell ya, Buell should hire me as their destructive testing guy! | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
I saw how they assemble th engines in the Capitol drive plant. It's a huge robot that puts both heads on at once. It didn't look like the robot was the type to drink! Must be a casting flaw or something. I would ask for an engine swap if it's still under warranty. The guys with the white lab coats should look that cursed engine over! | ||
| Etennuly |
Wow! I would never have expected to see that in an air cooled engine. Looks like you got too much water flowing in your alcohol injection system! Or you had a bad head gasket and your antifreeze got in there. | ||
| Chrisrogers3 |
lol yeah I am betting it was a bad head gasket-I was wondering where all my antifreeze was going! Something I didnt really notice last night, but it looks like on the bottom right of the head (from above) got REALLY hot. That doesnt seem to look normal there. | ||
| Etennuly |
You mean where the oil is cooked on? I think that would be pretty normal for an exhaust port area on an air/oil cooled head. | ||
| Dr_greg |
Yikes...after blowing the spark plug right plumb out of the head (rear, naturally) last October, now your CRRRAAAACK, I'm beginning to wonder about these heads... --Doc | ||
| Hughlysses |
Doc- You know better than that! 2 data points do not constitute a trend.  | ||
| Ulyscol |
Looks to me like that cylinder flash rusted. It can happen very quickly after a cylinder has been cleaned with solvent. As for your cracks... aren't those tapped holes where the center tie bar mounts??? If that is the case those cracks wouldn't even allow moisture into the cylinder unless they are clean through the head. I think your dealer needs to make sure the tie bars are all in order. | ||
| Ulyscol |
I just looked in the service manual and I think those are the tie bar holes. I think something is up with the way your engine is in the frame. Being that the engine is a stressed member those mounting points were obviously stressed beyond failure. I am just guessing here but I think it has got to be a mounting issue. Has the engine ever been rotated down for anything? |
