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Oil Leak and Crank Case and cranky owner

7K views 27 replies 13 participants last post by  Atarian 
#1 ·
:mad:
So I cancelled my vacation plans last week half way through because of the continued oil leak, that the service department assured me, was fixed. By the time I traveled 220 miles and woke up the next day I saw two or so oil drops on the ground again. Troubled, yet I continued on to Victoria for a few days, only to have the slow leak continue. So I canceled my Whistler portion and headed home (386 miles at the time of departure). I was worried at this point that it might be something worse. I had called the shop before I left and said I was bring the bike back in. That was last Thursday. Patiently waiting for some word, I decided to call.

Well it was not the plugs at all, that the service dept. said was the problem. Apparently last time it was in the service department applied some silicon near the crank case. Obviously that did not work...duh. My warranty expired 4 months ago...of course and now I am looking at a costly repair bill of tearing the crank case apart and so on. I had not noticed any leaks last summer and days prior to the standard 4,000 mile check up I was noticing a little leak and some smoke, apparently from oil dripping on the pipes. The service guy says I should reach out to Honda Customer service to see what they might do or file a claim with my insurance company. And yes, I did not ride months prior to the warranty ending because of the fraking snow and excessive rain we had.

I had bought the bike on sale, saving up to $2,000, but now I am pissing that savings away and getting a bad taste for the CTX and Honda. So much for dependable company. Harley is sounding more reliable. This is as bad as owning a Dodge Neon (which cost me more money than I care to mention to keep that ******* running).
 
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#2 ·
That sucks! But I would call Honda and be ranting and raving.

Maybe if Honda does something then the bad taste towards them will be gone. I've owned 4 Honda's in my lifetime and they were all tough as nails.

How many miles do you have? Because if you have very few miles I would expect Honda to do something to remedy this. Or take it to the dealer, drop it off and tell them to either fix it or they can keep it...then walk out the door. I bet they'll be calling you back! >:)
 
#3 ·
I have under 5000 miles. I too have owned 5 Honda's, tho 4 of them were cars and the other was a Honda Shadow VLX. They were the best vehicles I have ever owned. I will be calling Honda Customer care tomorrow, but still...I wonder what else will happen? Ok ok ok...it is the mood right now. Summer is passing me by and I am in the cage. I saw a CTX ride by the other day on my walk...sigh...dealer shop already has the bike...
 
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#4 ·
This looks like a case for Judge Judy. The way I see it the shop did not render the services you paid for. You told the service manager you were going on a long trip and have an oil leak and you want it identified and repaired. They said they had identified the problem and repaired it and you paid them good money for their work and expertise as a authorized Honda repair facility. Now they are saying they were wrong, and in essence you wasted your money fixing the oil plugs because that was not the problem.

I would take the bike to their nearest competitor, explain your experience with the other shop and explain that your help in solving this issue will be displayed on every internet site that would post it . They will be more than happy to solve your problem and make their competitor look bad. Then I would have it repaired and take the first shop to small claims court for the cost plus maybe the stress and inconvenience you endured while on your vacation. Your statement that they had applied some silicon near the crank case to fix the problem is even more confusing? The service guy was right that you should reach out to Honda Customer service only that they should look at if this shop is submitting legitimate warranty claims because they don’t have a clue as to what they are doing.
 
#5 ·
Take a deep breath. Don't rant and rave yet. This is a time to be calm and cool since you need to illicit some help. The first order of business is to speak to Honda Customer Care. Be sure to advise the dealer recommended you talk to them. Explain the leak started before the warranty ran up or within 30 days of it expiring. Its an ongoing problem and the dealership has been unable to fix the problem. Be prepared to document it with a formal letter and copies of receipts. Explain that the dealer doing the work still has not identified or fixed the leak after several attempts. Explain to them that the leak should be covered by the warranty even though it has recently expired and you would like to take it to another dealer to get the leak fixed once and for all.
 
#13 ·
UPDATE:
A Rep from Honda Corp came down to personally inspect the bike and they found out that the casting for the crank case was porous (Swiss cheese like), thus why oil was leaking. It is a very unusual situation and rarely happens, so he said. So he gave the shop the green light to replace the crank case, etc. out of Honda's wallet. So no money out of my pocket, just lost riding time. Which is fine by me in order to get a safer bike. Would have hated to have the pores split open or something and cause a major accident. Honda did the right thing!
 
#14 ·
All good news. If it helps, something similar happened to me with a motorhome, and it sat for months until I finally got a factory rep, and yes same thing, they took care of it.

Again...on the plus side... they took your Vin and are probably investigating production batch looking to see if other claims are valid. My applause to Honda.
 
#20 ·
I'm glad you got that sorted out, silicone on the outside of an engine is a patch, not a repair.

My 750 bevel Ducati had a porous crankcase and would dribble. It wasn't unknown back in days of yore, castings almost always have some level of porosity due to hydrogen pickup unless a lot of detailed countermeasures are taken. But good castings have the porosity at a point where you may need a microscope after acid etching to see the tiny pores. Unconnected porosity won't leak, it is when you get large amounts that connect from inside to outside that you have problems.

One way of dealing with it is a thorough degreasing and then the casting is immersed in an anerobic-cure sealer under vacuum. The sealant is sucked into the casting and then cures.

Hot isostatic pressing is another technique that is pretty cool that is used to improve the quality of castings:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_isostatic_pressing

cheers,
Michael
 
#24 ·
Do not get me wrong, I am not complaining. I am grateful that nothing serious happened before I got the bike into the shop. I am thankful that Honda is picking up the tab. As of today, the bike has been in the shop for 3 weeks. I called today to get an update. Curious minds want to know. Well, they have only 2/3 of the parts in as of today. Oh summer, please slow down so I can have some ride time in, some quality rides, before heavy rains return to Oregon. Ok, mind is collected and back to reality and thankfulness.
 
#28 ·
I feel your pain. It took my shop 10 days to get the right rear dust seal for the wheel bearings, and you'd think that's a pretty common part. No problem getting the bearings and the left side seal. (?!?!) I think next spring I'm going to get a "beater" bike for when the next time this one leaves me bike-less. The first time was for a friggin' tire, though for not such a length of time.
 
#25 ·
all good advice but cooler heads always prevail....documentation is always key...that is what the courts look at and what every business knows is evidence....for anybody to goop up a leak from the outside is unforgivable and extremely unprofessional and if and when they spilt the cases tell them you want to see what they found to make sure there is not a bad casting....good luck...positive thoughts your way...here is hoping you are back on the road soon....pat
 
#26 ·
My 72 year old buddy got the bug to get back to riding. He could not stand me having too much fun. He did tho, turn to the dark side and buy a 883 Harley. He is a veteran in many ways, serving in the Navy and a rider since age 12, so after 5 years of no bike, he just was not ready to completely retire from riding. So now he is riding all over the place whilest my bike heads into week 6 of the repair and watching summer pass by. I am happy for him and he is anxious to go on a good long ride together. Thank goodness I have some volunteer work with the fire department to take my mind off this a little.
 
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