My experience with my POS Hayabusa

[Busa Phil]

I bought the bike as a leftover in April of 2008. It is a 2007 with approx 19,500 miles on it. The gauge cluster melted at 4000 miles and was replaced under warranty. At roughly 2,500 miles on the newer clock I began to experience overheating. The bike was still in warranty at this time. The shop that I took it to was a Suzuki certified bunch of idiots and they started throwing parts at it. For some reason they felt that there was, and I quote, "a slight bend in the neck of the radiator that is causing it not to hold pressure". I received a perfectly good radiator to replace a perfectly good radiator. Not fully realizing at this point what a bunch of idiots these guys were I took the bike home. The next ride I take it begins to overheat. I bring it back to the shop. Now the motorcycle is 1 week out of warranty and good 'ole Suzuki Motor Corp graciously gives the bunch of idiots authorization to do a few tests; one of which a pressure test with the motor hot. Low and behold, the pressure test fails and points to a cracked head. I am now 1 week out of warranty and Suzuki considers this SAME original problem a NEW warranty claim. How convenient for them. Under goodwill, they authorize the head to be replaced which it was by the bunch of idiots.

Side note: When the bike was supposedly done I picked it up and it sounded like a Buell. They f'd a valve up and had to fix it. The next time I picked it up I took it for a 40 mile ride. After 40 miles I stop, look down, and wonder why my foot is coated in some mysterious substance. Oh yes, it's oil folks. The bunch of idiots pinched the engine cover and my foot, fairings, and rear tire are dripping with oil 40 miles away from home. Yippie! End of side note.

Now skip to 13,000 miles later I have another cracked head. Thanks Suzuki for creating such a great machine that I was so privileged to purchase from you. Not to mention, it is currently at a shop 350 miles away. Grrrreat!

I heard back from Suzuki today and they are not standing behind the bike. The gentleman said it was not a common problem and if he was in charge of it he would not have covered the first head. I heard this second had through the shop manager at the shop where the bike is at now. So let me get this straight, when one of the products experiences a major uncommon failure TWICE they don't stand behind it. This will be the last Suzuki I ever buy. Sorry for the ramble and venting but this is something people should here about when they consider purchasing from this company. I know everyone here is die hard busa owners and I unfortunately got a lemon. All that I can think about is I sold three perfectly good motorcycles to buy this POS because it was my "dream" bike. I was more like my nightmare.

 

[mabupa]

Sorry you've had such a bad experience with Suzuki and your busa. I personally never heard someone have so many problems!!

 

[SpeedFiend]

I've had four Hayabusas (two from each gen), and ZERO issues with any of them in 50000+ miles combined. Lemon Laws should apply to bikes, right?

 

[kromdom]

sorry to hear about your woes, Phil. Guess I have been "lucky": I am on my 3rd Busa now (01, 08 and 09) and my ownership experience have been nothing but blissful.

 

[HillbillyTom]

The stealership mechanic part is, unfortunately, not an unusual thing.. with any brand of motorcycle. But having so much trouble with a stock Hayabusa is very unusual. Don't believe I've ever heard of a Gen 1 cracking a cylinder head, let alone 2.
Sorry to hear about your extreme bad luck with the bike.

 

[m_ridgeway]

sounds like an incomplete story with incompetent people servicing and working on the bike. if i were suzuki just by your story i wouldnt have warrantied either head either.

 

[GIXERHP]

Your best recommendation here is find another dealer!
This is not all Suzuki's fault here, but you finding i guess the worst possible service department!
There are plenty of these bikes riding down the street, with out these problems.
But ill gladly take the POS off your hands for free!

I bought the bike as a leftover in April of 2008. It is a 2007 with approx 19,500 miles on it. The gauge cluster melted at 4000 miles and was replaced under warranty. At roughly 2,500 miles on the newer clock I began to experience overheating. The bike was still in warranty at this time. The shop that I took it to was a Suzuki certified bunch of idiots and they started throwing parts at it. For some reason they felt that there was, and I quote, "a slight bend in the neck of the radiator that is causing it not to hold pressure". I received a perfectly good radiator to replace a perfectly good radiator. Not fully realizing at this point what a bunch of idiots these guys were I took the bike home. The next ride I take it begins to overheat. I bring it back to the shop. Now the motorcycle is 1 week out of warranty and good 'ole Suzuki Motor Corp graciously gives the bunch of idiots authorization to do a few tests; one of which a pressure test with the motor hot. Low and behold, the pressure test fails and points to a cracked head. I am now 1 week out of warranty and Suzuki considers this SAME original problem a NEW warranty claim. How convenient for them. Under goodwill, they authorize the head to be replaced which it was by the bunch of idiots.

Side note: When the bike was supposedly done I picked it up and it sounded like a Buell. They f'd a valve up and had to fix it. The next time I picked it up I took it for a 40 mile ride. After 40 miles I stop, look down, and wonder why my foot is coated in some mysterious substance. Oh yes, it's oil folks. The bunch of idiots pinched the engine cover and my foot, fairings, and rear tire are dripping with oil 40 miles away from home. Yippie! End of side note.

Now skip to 13,000 miles later I have another cracked head. Thanks Suzuki for creating such a great machine that I was so privileged to purchase from you. Not to mention, it is currently at a shop 350 miles away. Grrrreat!

I heard back from Suzuki today and they are not standing behind the bike. The gentleman said it was not a common problem and if he was in charge of it he would not have covered the first head. I heard this second had through the shop manager at the shop where the bike is at now. So let me get this straight, when one of the products experiences a major uncommon failure TWICE they don't stand behind it. This will be the last Suzuki I ever buy. Sorry for the ramble and venting but this is something people should here about when they consider purchasing from this company. I know everyone here is die hard busa owners and I unfortunately got a lemon. All that I can think about is I sold three perfectly good motorcycles to buy this POS because it was my "dream" bike. I was more like my nightmare.

 

[BusaBret]

sounds like an incomplete story with incompetent people servicing and working on the bike. if i were suzuki just by your story i wouldnt have warrantied either head either.

+1000 there is way more to this story than is given here. Anyone that has been around these bikes know that unmolested they are dang near bulletproof.

From my dunce stool :cookoo:

 

[GoldenChild]

call the dealership and tell them you want to file a lemon law suit on your bike and if they don't react start calling folks like BBB and get action taken they will wake up..

 

[dadofthree]

Unmolested ..... I molest mine every time I crank her These bikes are basically bullet proof. I'm sorry for your misfortune, I've had two grand experiences 36K on an '06 and 30K on my '08.

Best of luck my friend

 

[Busa Phil]

Well, unfortunately, the bike is unmolested unless a slip-on yoshi rs3, k&n filter, pc3, and tune equals molesting it.

After the the first head was replaced, I added a second gsxr 1000 fan to the radiator as well as an override fan switch that I ALWAYS run when in any sort of traffic. After the first head, I watched the temp gauge more than my speedometer. I'm not an idiot. I may have extremely bad luck. I have owned five motorcycles since I started riding in 2006. I fully understand the cooling system of these motorcycles. Like i said before, the radiator was replaced prior to the first head and have had zero cooling issues until now. I left at 5AM last Thursday morning on this trip to VA and did 70 to 100mph the entire way there. It ran cool as a can be. I got suspicious before I left on the trip. There was more fluid in the overflow than usual so I knew that the coolant in the radiator was slightly low which it shouldn't have been unless there was some sort of hydrolock. In my head I hoped it was just a fluke so I topped the coolant off and headed out. Like I said above, it ran very cool as I was maintaining good speed on the thruway. The next morning, I noticed even more coolant in the overflow and realized I may have a problem. Just after I headed out from VA to MD, I pulled over and let the bike idle without switching on my fan override to see if the bike would cool itself properly. The temp hit halfway and the fans kicked on and cycled off normally. I let it sit further. The fans kicked on at an ever slightly higher temp but then cut off too soon. I said oh s**t not again. I let it sit further and sure enough the temp rose above the halfway about three needle widths and no fans. I said crap it cracked again somehow. I turned the bike off let it cool then restarted and ran the fans on the override and rode with no traffic to the dealership in MD. I was waiting in their parking lot before they opened. I told them the history and symptoms of the bike and said I think the head cracked again. The service manager obviously said the same things as you guys. "I have never heard of that happening with a busa." I told him to check the cap, pressurize the cooling system, do a leak-down on the head while hot, etc etc. The diagnosis; head cracked. He called Suzuki that said no way we are covering it. And to the guy above who said he wouldn't have covered the head the first time either. I'm sure you are some genius and if this happened to you, I'm sure you would still say that right? I don't think so. I'm just sharing my story and obviously venting but trust me I have never neglected any motorcycle I own. What I am thinking is there must be something wrong with the block to cause stress on the head such has it's probably warped. I'm sure the idiots that worked on the bike never took the time to see if the block needed milling. And to my fault, I never inquired if they did. I take responsibility for that but unfortunately in my area there are no stand out places to take your bike for repair.

 

[cheferman65]

So much for your POS theory... Me thinks its the idiots you let work on it.

 

[dadofthree]

Like I said sorry to hear about this. I'm not a mechanic, but was thinking along the same lines. I know you're pissed, but John would probably be glad to help you after you let him know you're not giving him the bike for free .....

 

[Busa Phil]

I am going to give it another go though. Tonight I purchased an '05 motor with 4500 miles on it from a guy in CT whom is the shop manager for a motorcycle repair shop there. He had the motor listed on CL for $1000 and I snagged it up. He is going to swap the motors for me this Sunday on his own time for $600. I figure for $1600 it's worth a shot. I also figured he wouldn't offer to put it in for me if he thought there was something wrong with the motor. He said he bought a wrecked busa that t-boned a car. It was running when he bought it and he ran it through all the gears on a rearstand. Hopefully, this will go well and I'll be back on the road.

 

[RedBusarider]

A 5 year old bike isn't going to qualify for a Lemon Law - Sorry.

Hopefully this dealer's service dept. will do a better job and you won't have any more problems.

 

[Busa Phil]

call the dealership and tell them you want to file a lemon law suit on your bike and if they don't react start calling folks like BBB and get action taken they will wake up..

I am pretty sure the lemon law does not apply to motorcycles. I hear you though and I probably will follow up somehow. I was considering suing Suzuki Motor Corp in small claims for the cost of the repairs. The guy that is putting this replacement motor said he would disassemble the old motor to see what was causing this. I don't know if I want him too though. I may want to keep it and have it built in the future.

 

[Busa Phil]

I'm hoping this new motor will solve my problems Unfortunately, I realize I got a bad egg. I honestly love my bike. I am just extremely frustrated with it.

 

[dadofthree]

I am pretty sure the lemon law does not apply to motorcycles. I hear you though and I probably will follow up somehow. I was considering suing Suzuki Motor Corp in small claims for the cost of the repairs. The guy that is putting this replacement motor said he would disassemble the old motor to see what was causing this. I don't know if I want him too though. I may want to keep it and have it built in the future.

Oh yea, nice little 1441 maybe

 

[880jedi]

Get the bike running first, then seek council for the civil suit.

 

[Busa Phil]

Oh yea, nice little 1441 maybe

I was thinking somewhere along those lines but the drivability wouldn't be so great right?

What could I have done internally with the replacement motor while it's not in the bike that would give more but not kill the drivability?

The old motor I'm thinking needs to be milled and gone over with a fine tooth comb before I put money into that. But that I would consider a 1397 kit for it down the road when I have some more $.