My horrific nightmare with Honda and my CBR954RR

Where to begin? Perhaps the beginning!

Last November I decided to buy a new bike, I really liked the CBR954RR so I decided to get one. I bought the bike hoping for the best and noticed right off the bat that the horn was defective and didn't work. No big deal, so I took it to the dealer and had the horn fixed.

A few days later I noticed the bike seemed to run pretty hot. I was sitting at a stoplight after riding for *maybe* 10-15 minutes and the bike was already up to 240, even though the fans came on at 212! That didn't seem right since my F4i's fans come on at 226 and it NEVER goes above 231.

So, I take the bike to the dealer and tell them that it appears to be overheating. They look at the bike, call me back the next day and say they couldn't get the problem to duplicate. I think no problem and I pick the bike back up. Bike starts going up to the same temperature, this time I let it get to 245 degrees before turning the bike off. This doesn't seem right. I call honda customer service about the issue, they say they'll log my call but they can't do anything for me unless my bike hits at least the cutoff point where the red light comes on and starts flashing (251 degrees). I'm thinking, ok thats rather dumb but whatever.

I take the bike back to the dealer again with the same problem and they call me back the next day telling me they can't duplicate the problem again. Now I'm getting frustrated as I can't even ride the bike without it duplicating every single time. The problem had been getting worse and worse and it started to get to the point where within 10-15 minutes of riding the bike would be up in the 240's.

So, I take the bike back to the dealer again and this time show them that the bike is overheating. I made sure the service advisor, and a mechanic, came out and saw the bike at 240+ degrees. Both the service advisor and the mechanic agreed there was definitely a problem and took the bike again. Now is where things get very interesting.

I get a call the next day saying that my bike has been dropped and there was going to be an appraisal on the damage later. I was pretty mad but they seemed genuine about it and told me that not only will they fix the damage but they will also be making SURE that my overheating problem will be fixed no matter what before giving my bike back, even if they have to replace any part I want them to.

Well, just doing the appraisal and getting the parts and putting them on the bike took around 2 full weeks. THEN they decided to take a look at the overheating a problem and what did they do? You guessed it, called me back and said they couldn't duplicate the problem again, even though I made sure 2 people witnessed it while I was there!

I take the bike home again thinking "well maybe they replaced a part that fixed the problem, who knows?" and what happens, the bike overheats on my way home. About a week later I have time to take it back to the dealer so I do, and this time I make sure the service manager is available. I tell him I want him to go on a ride with me so that he can *see* that the bike is overheating without heavy riding, whats going on, and vouch for me, etc. He gets on a bike and off we go...2 miles up tot he nearest gas station, hasn't overheated yet, hop back on and run to the next gas station, probably another 2 miles away, and lo and behold the bike is climbing quickly. It gets to about 235 degrees in a matter of a few minutes and he decides we better go back to the dealer lot so we don't get stranded. We do, and this time when we get back he gets out a digital camera and takes *pictures* of the bike hitting 251 degrees and all the red lights on and the temp gauge flashing, so we have proof.

Then I call honda customer service - from the dealership - to log another call. The customer service rep I talked to was *VERY* rude to me and said that honda would not take any responsibility for any of the problems my bike had and that it was all the dealers problem and they were obligated to fix it for me and if they didn't, then tough. This seemed rather dumb to me so I immediately called the BBB and filed a complaint against the customer service office for bad customer service.

Then the service manager at the dealer called the honda techs in california as well as the local honda area rep. The honda rep said he'd have to come out and look at the bike, and the dealer said they'd just have to wait for him to come out. The honda techs in california could not give the dealer *ANY* suggestions (other than what the dealer had already supposedly looked at) other than to make sure there was exactly 3.1 liters (or something like that) of coolant in the bike. At this point - out of courtesy - the dealer had already replaced the thermostat just to see if that would fix it - which it didn't. So they decided to also flush the coolant and replace it, to make sure there wasn't an airbubble in the system. They did that which of course didn't fix the problem.

The honda area rep who's name I will withold right now, came out and test rode my bike for 15 minutes (while I wasn't there of course) and also said he could not get the problem to duplicate. The dealer called me back and told me to come pick up the bike, which I did. I made it halfway home upon which time the bike started severely overheating again (over 240 degrees), and I turned right back around and dropped the bike back off at the dealer. They said they'd have to get the area rep back out to look at it again. This time when the area rep came out I made sure I was there, and he took the bike out for a 45 minute ride. He came back and said that he was able to get it to overheat but only by holding the throttle at 5-6000rpm for 10 minutes at a time and then it would start to overheat. Well, I explained how we already had pictures of the bike at 251 degrees, as well as the service manager and about 5 other mechanics and service advisors witnessing the problem. The area rep said he didn't care and that honda would not support the problem unless *HE* could get it to duplicate. He then told me he had to leave and wouldn't be back to look at the bike again for at least a week or two.

I needed the bike back to go to bikeweek after that (not that same day, later in the week). I came to pick up the bike and guess what? There was a giant melted spot on the seat! At this point I told the dealer I was completely fed up with the service and the fact that they kept damaging my bike and told them I wouldn't be bringing the bike back to them.

After bike week (of course, the bike is still overheating every time I ride it), I decided to take the bike to a NEW dealer which is about the same distance from my house. I show up on the bike and make sure it is overheating when I drop it off, they acknowledge. They called me later and told me they thought the temperature sending unit is defective and the bike isn't actually overheating but just misreading the temperature. So my hopes came up obviously. I waited a good week and a half at least for them to get the parts and put them on the bike...by this time the bike had been at this dealer + the other dealer for a collective total of 5 or so visits, and 60+ days. They put the temperature sending unit on and told me that the bike was fixed.

I picked up the bike and rode home...pulled into my drive way and low and behold the bike shoots back up to 240 degrees within minutes. Meanwhile I've already posted on sportbikes.ws and cycleforums.com to find out what the normal temperature cycle was for 954's and every single 954 rider said his bike had never gone above 225 in the worst absolute weather and circumstances.

By now I was just completely and utterly frustrated. I had had the bike to 2 dealers 5 times, 55-60 days, the area rep had come out and seen the bike twice, and i had called honda customer service twice, and still my bike is overheating and I'm getting blown off by the dealer and honda over and over.

I decided I would give the new dealer one more chance to fix my bike before I decided I had to try to pursue some sort of legal action against honda and/or the dealer if I wanted any sort of resolution. I brought my bike into the dealer again and they basically told me they couldn't really do anything else to the bike cause nothing else could be broken. That annoyed me quite a bit so I went directly to my sales person who is also the sales manager and relayed everything that I am relaying to you guys now, to him. He told me he'd talk to the service manager and try to get the priority upped on the bike.

So, I waited 2 days to hear word from the dealer on what was happening with my bike - nothing. I called them and asked what the deal was and the guy I talked to said that they were busy and they weren't even going to look at my bike for another week. Well that was the last straw for me. I said thanks, called honda customer service and told them this whole story from start to finish, then told them that they've left me no choice other than to seek legal consultation, and that if they didn't fix my bike or buy it back I would be consulting a lawyer. They said "whatever" and that was that.

I then called the dealer back and let the service manager know that if my bike wasn't worked on in a reasonable amount of time and fixed, I was going to seek legal action. His first words were "well if you're going to do that we're just not going to touch your bike. We'll just wait until you hire a lawyer and pass it off to honda's legal department". He then told me that he was going to talk to the area rep again and see what he said.

Had to make 2 posts, all the text wouldn't fit in one -

I am in the process of waiting to hear from my lawyer...also I called the dealer back again today and they said that after talking to the honda area rep again he said that the service manager should go on a long ride, 100+ miles, and see if he can get the bike to overheat to honda's specs (he wouldn't even tell me what hondas specs were - no temperatures or times or anything like that) and if he couldn't get it to overheat he should give me the bike back and cease to work on it.

So now I'm waiting to hear back from the service manager on whether or not he has gotten my 954 to overheat as well as from my lawyer to see if we can build up a case on this.

ALL I WANT IS MY BIKE FIXED! Is that too much to ask? If they can't fix the bike they should back their product and buy it back!

I hope this story enlightens many people on how crappy honda customer service is and can be. Also, I plan on posting this all around the internet in hopes that someone will be able to help me with my problem (maybe have a good hookup inside honda, or whatnot). My next step is contacting local and national newspapers and publications to get the word out on this issue.

Well, not sure what else to say, thats my story and I hope it didn't bore anyone to death. I will say this - I will NEVER buy a honda again in my life - ever. Car, motorcycle, lawnmower, doesn't matter. If its from honda or from someone that is a subsidiary, I will not pay a single cent.

Dude, are you kidding me?

I would have went and sat on every F'n bike in the shop and dropped each and every one of them until they fixed my stuff.

Or go and ask to test drive another 954 and see if it seems any different and then take that one home. Then when they call you to have you bring the bike back, give them the ole honda run around.

Actually a Lawyer is the way to go.

Please keep us posted on what you are going to do/did.

I have a 02 954 with over 15000 miles on it. I rode it from Detroit to Los Angeles to san fran and back, and I NEVER saw over 227.

I sure hope it works out for you. If not we can start plastering names all over the place.

You brought up another good point. The local tv news station has a "Problem Salvers" deal. There is a good start. And you have the name of the manager that rode your bike when it over heated right?

That's one hell of a start!

Were you the same guy who posted that problem only occured when the high beams were on, and the reason that honda could never duplicate the problem was that they never turned the high beams on?

Just curiuos.

Hope all turns out all right for you.

Did the rep say holding the bike at 5-6K for 10 minutes is a bad thing to do and that you shouldn't ride it that way?

I cruise on the RC at 5K, rev limiter only kicks in on my bike at 10.2K!

That is a frickin nightmare! Hope that you get everything worked out and that Honda has to pay for it. Pisses me off hearing things like that.

Honda is not the only company that doesn't back their product. I had a big problem with Yamaha on my 2001 R6. Second gear blew out at 8k on the clock and they refused to cover it saying that I must have "abused" it. We fought it all the way through the dealer and called Yamaha several times. Basically everything short of getting an attorney because I didn't have near the case that you clearly do. Finally, after about a month of bitching we got them to eat the labor and I only paid for parts. Well, so they said anyway but I know it was bullshit probably considering it was about 400 bucks for just a gear (yeah OK yamaha :doublefli)

EDIT: I forgot to mention that this was a major problem with tons of R6's. Always second gear and no others but Yamaha refused to listen. I'm not going to say I didn't run the bike hard, but it is designed for that isn't it? There was a thread on the R6messagenet with TONS of people bitching about the same exact problem I had and Yamaha refusing to cover it :(

I'll second what stanger92 said that it's not only Honda. I had a Kawasaki nightmare that would rival your story... although it really didn't involve Kawasaki's customer service dept.

Hopefully by posting at various sites you'll find something that might cause this problem. With any luck you'll figure out what the problem is on your own. Your dealer is obviously not going to be much help.

The best of luck. I know what you're going through.

I know exactly what you mean about dealing with Honda. I went through the same thing with the CCT on my F4i.

Write to all bike magazines as well. I tried this and my article was actually posted in Cycle Canada.

Good luck and I hope everything resolves in your favour.