600 mile service

[Guest Dunny65]

How much over the 600 miles is allowable before honda void the warranty. Cannot get bike booked in anywhere locally. Have spoken to customer care but they didn't know and would need to "escalate the enquiry"

Thought it would be so simple as you cannot get it booked in for exactly 600 and you cannot have it done before so there must be a margin to work to eg 700? 750?

Thx in advance

[Guest bonekicker]

Thats the problem isn't it? you do --say 500 miles --and think--book it in for service--then its a 2 week wait for it--so what are we supposed to do? not use the bikes--the dealer said to me--going over a little is no problem--but what's a little over????

[Rocker66 34,371]

Thats the problem isn't it? you do --say 500 miles --and think--book it in for service--then its a 2 week wait for it--so what are we supposed to do? not use the bikes--the dealer said to me--going over a little is no problem--but what's a little over????

My dealer says anything up to 800. Of course you don't have to wait until 500 miles before thinking of booking it in especially this time of year which is always busy

[DaveM59 1,603]

Go over rather than under, you need to complete any bedding in before the oil change. If you have to service it early then start to ride it harder, in fact you should be anyway after an initial tentative period just to make sure nothing is loose or falls off!

Think about it, the oil in there is good for at least 4000 miles, assuming it is absorbing more particulate than any following oil and the filter is exactly the same. Modern engines really need very little polishing of the bores, which is what traditional running in was for, you are really only surface hardening and bedding in cam lobes and being wary of any 'mistakes' during assembly, which with modern practices extremely rare. Also flushing out of any dirt and contamination from the assembly process, which again should be minimal these days. There may be more particles emanating from the bedding in of the gears and clutch than the engine which will be cleared by the transmission filter out of harms way. This will diminish pretty quickly so as long as the filter isn't choked, which is highly unlikely as contamination is still very low, it will be good for a similar mileage.

If you book the service at 600 miles even if the dealer can't do it until you have ridden 1000 miles, as it is their delay not yours, it will not invalidate your warranty and if you have 'bought' the bike on PCP they cannot invalidate it as it is their bike not yours.

[Guest Tarstriptrooper]

I booked mine in as soon it left the showroom. There is a four week waiting list at my local dealer. I doubt you would invalidate the warranty by going over.If they did, they wouldn't sell many bikes!

[Guest bonekicker]

Thanks for the replies--and I just thought they were all sitting down waiting for me to ring for a service!!!!

[Guest Bandit]

Honda dealers in the USA are all about making the owners happy ,Harly keeps them in tune and sharp ,the goal is to keep them Honda folks so they dont move to the dark side (HD)

Bandit

[sullspots 52]

Honda should send a service chap round to your house in one of those big trucks they use for the MotoGP's and give your bike a right good seeing to.

 

The power of dreams.

Edited April 30, 2016 by sullspots

[Mike5100 2,061]

I once changed the oil and filter myself at 600 and the dealer was happy to sign the book when he took it in later to do the other stuff.

Mike

[Andy m 23,466]

Over is better. I'd ask Honda for the number. Give them the choices, drop the oil, provide an alternative means of transport or return your money/old bike. Ask them to stamp the book with "service not available, warranty cover agreed", it'll concentrate a few minds.

Guzzi confuses km and miles throughout their literature. If an air cooled engine with 1960's metalurgy is fine at anything from 600 km to 1000 miles, I doubt you'll trash an NC motor. Long term it would't worry me, just get that stamp for now.

Padgetts said not to worry when I asked about booking on hand over day. They were good to their word, rang Tuesday oil dropped Thursday. Come up to Battler and we'll have a good Yorkshire curry while you wait!

Andy

Edited May 1, 2016 by Andy m

[Guest Dunny65]

Thanks but a few of you missed the point. I come from an engineering background and understand fully going over 600 is important and going as far as 1000 would do little engine damage. I have asked Honda how far they are willing to let me go over the 600 without invalidating my warranty as these days companies seem to want to "escape any responsibility" whenever they can. With dct and other expensive tech on the bike I'd hate for it to 'break' then have the warranty invalidated and leave me with a silly big bill!

Thanks for your comments when Honda get back to me I'll post their response.

Edited May 1, 2016 by Dunny65

[Guest Dunny65]

OK got a reply from Honda. Their technical depth have said "you should be fine to go up as far as 800 miles however if you have a warranty problem we would take into consideration that you have had it serviced late"

So it stays parked in my garage until service time to make sure as that statement has too many should, however and take it into consideration!

Boo

[Andy m 23,466]

So you have a 6 grand bike you can't ride because Honda can't service it? I'd be putting in a stack of taxi receipts and quoting the Sale of Goods act at them.

Andy

[MikeBike 5,005]

How much over the 600 miles is allowable before honda void the warranty. Cannot get bike booked in anywhere locally. Have spoken to customer care but they didn't know and would need to "escalate the enquiry"

Thought it would be so simple as you cannot get it booked in for exactly 600 and you cannot have it done before so there must be a margin to work to eg 700? 750?

Thx in advance

What sort of timescale were you expecting? How far ahead were the appointments available at the various workshops locally?

 

I would expect places to be booking for a couple of weeks in advance for such routine (non-urgent / plannable) work, and my first service was done 2 weeks after I picked up the bike.

[Rocker66 34,371]

So you have a 6 grand bike you can't ride because Honda can't service it? I'd be putting in a stack of taxi receipts and quoting the Sale of Goods act at them.

Andy

Firstly it's not Honda that do the servicing it's a dealer. Surely it's a simple matter to estimate when you will have done around the 600 mark and pre book the service. it's unreasonable to expect a dealer to have a free slot just when it suits you. as has been said by others inc my dealer up to 800 miles is acceptable and we have often taken our new bikes up to this sort of mileage.Nobody I know has ever had a warranty claim turned down because they were slightly late with the first service.

As to claiming under the sale of good act good luck with that as there is absolutely nothing wrong with the bike. It's basically down to the owners lack of forethought.

[Andy m 23,466]

The dealers represent Honda and their brand is all over everything. The contract may strictly be with the dealers and Honda UK will be a marketing company etc. but they have more to lose so that's who I'd target. Saying you are "seeking advice regarding your consumer rights" often makes these companies realise you are not some weekend fanboy they can buy off with free coffee in their boutique.

I did my run in in 3 days and needed it for work on the fourth. I did tell the dealer this and effectively used it as a contactual point when I bought, so the definition of what is reasonable will vary. I don't think more than a week is acceptable in any circumstances, they sold the bike so knew an hours labour needed scheduling sometime to drop the oil.

Name and shame this dealer too IMHO. They need to spend less time selling are more on service.

Andy

[Rocker66 34,371]

The dealers represent Honda and their brand is all over everything. The contract may strictly be with the dealers and Honda UK will be a marketing company etc. but they have more to lose so that's who I'd target. Saying you are "seeking advice regarding your consumer rights" often makes these companies realise you are not some weekend fanboy they can buy off with free coffee in their boutique.

I did my run in in 3 days and needed it for work on the fourth. I did tell the dealer this and effectively used it as a contactual point when I bought, so the definition of what is reasonable will vary. I don't think more than a week is acceptable in any circumstances, they sold the bike so knew an hours labour needed scheduling sometime to drop the oil.

Name and shame this dealer too IMHO. They need to spend less time selling are more on service.

Andy

Are you serious?? How is the dealer supposed to know how long each customer will take to complete 600 miles. When I was commuting I would do this in just over a week now it could up to a month.As I said it just needs a bit of forethought by the buyer. The fact that the dealer is busy shows that he is popular which is surely a good thing.At the end of the day he has many customers to please and he is not there just to service your machine. 

[DaveM59 1,603]

If you bought a car and used it to commute for work, and after a couple of weeks couldn't use it because dealers couldn't service it, there would be a public outcry.  They are staffed to cope but when it comes to bikes they are falling short as even they consider bikes as a 'hobby' and so not important.

I noticed at my Honda dealership that they had 4 car service bays and several mechanics working on most of them, but only 2 bike tables and one guy seemed to be dealing with both of them.

 

As a new owner you should have some idea how long it will take to rack up 600 miles, I mean it isn't a huge mileage so you could book it in at time of collection and aim to be around the required mileage mark by that date, and after all don't you want to get out and ride a new bike perhaps more than you might once the novelty wears off?

[Mike5100 2,061]

Honda Newcastle - who sold me my bike 10 days ago - have made room for me on Friday to have the 600 service.  And because I couldn't get there until about 2pm have offered to pick the bike up on Thursday PM and deliver it back Friday afternoon (for free and it's an 80 mile round trip).

They deserve our business

Mike

[Guest Dunny65]

OK lots more venom there than I thought. I did have the bike booked in on sale day for the earliest time which was 4 weeks time the bike had 300 on the clock at point of sale so to be fair to the dealer I had 4 weeks to cover 300 miles....it took just 10 days. I tried to get in in earlier and they brought it forward a week but couldn'the do it earlier. My gripe isn'the that the dealer couldn'the fit it in, it's that Honda wouldn't put a "bracket" on the allowable mileage and to be fair although they have suggested between 600-800 they gave the 'rider' that the late service would be taken into account if there were a warranty claim.

All I wanted to know was as I couldn'the get it serviced at what point would I have to park it up?

Thx for the input hopefully you can see it was not my fault or the dealer really it was simply the earliest they could do it and I didn't have much room for manoeuvre with the miles but Honda really could be a bit more accommodating 1000 miles probably would be OK they are just a little cagey with the warranty....just like every other company!

Edited May 5, 2016 by Dunny65

[Guest Dunny65]

after all don't you want to get out and ride a new bike perhaps more than you might once the novelty wears off?

Yep get the novelty thing but I ride all year round...primary mode of transport!

[Mike5100 2,061]

It's probably too late now but you could pay any VAT registered automotive business to change your oil and filter (that's all that is ticked as being needed at the 600 service)/.  legally I don't think Honda could argue about the warranty under EU rules.

Mike

[DaveM59 1,603]

Why worry excessively about warranty? If you do the right thing and put the bike through it's paces fully, teach the ECU a proper mapping and if nothing fails by 600 miles then there is every chance that you will never need the warranty. If you did all your own servicing from then on, the savings on labour alone would offset any possible failures that you may have used warranty for.

My Integra came with balance of an extended warranty paid for by the previous owner which extended it to 4 years and it cost him £360 of which he got nothing back, and shelled out for a dealer service every year and paid three figures for each of those, and still only covered 14,000 miles in three and a half years. He spent more on servicing per mile than he did on fuel. The only items that failed were bulbs which aren't covered.

 

I suppose you could have a lemon in which case warranty may be useful but after a few expensive claims they would try to wriggle out of further costs using any cop outs and clauses they can find. You should know quite quickly if you have a good or a dud bike. If a dud then you will probably trade in as the warranty ends and any second owners only get the three months cover and inherits the money pit. Second hand buyers should always be wary of any vehicle which has previous owners that average less then 2 years apiece.

[Rocker66 34,371]

Why worry excessively about warranty? If you do the right thing and put the bike through it's paces fully, teach the ECU a proper mapping and if nothing fails by 600 miles then there is every chance that you will never need the warranty. If you did all your own servicing from then on, the savings on labour alone would offset any possible failures that you may have used warranty for.

My Integra came with balance of an extended warranty paid for by the previous owner which extended it to 4 years and it cost him £360 of which he got nothing back, and shelled out for a dealer service every year and paid three figures for each of those, and still only covered 14,000 miles in three and a half years. He spent more on servicing per mile than he did on fuel. The only items that failed were bulbs which aren't covered.

 

I suppose you could have a lemon in which case warranty may be useful but after a few expensive claims they would try to wriggle out of further costs using any cop outs and clauses they can find. You should know quite quickly if you have a good or a dud bike. If a dud then you will probably trade in as the warranty ends and any second owners only get the three months cover and inherits the money pit. Second hand buyers should always be wary of any vehicle which has previous owners that average less then 2 years apiece.

But then there are those that have not got the time or maybe the inclination to do their own servicing.

[Rocker66 34,371]

OK lots more venom there than I thought. I did have the bike booked in on sale day for the earliest time which was 4 weeks time the bike had 300 on the clock at point of sale so to be fair to the dealer I had 4 weeks to cover 300 miles....it took just 10 days. I tried to get in in earlier and they brought it forward a week but couldn'the do it earlier. My gripe isn'the that the dealer couldn'the fit it in, it's that Honda wouldn't put a "bracket" on the allowable mileage and to be fair although they have suggested between 600-800 they gave the 'rider' that the late service would be taken into account if there were a warranty claim.

All I wanted to know was as I couldn'the get it serviced at what point would I have to park it up?

Thx for the input hopefully you can see it was not my fault or the dealer really it was simply the earliest they could do it and I didn't have much room for manoeuvre with the miles but Honda really could be a bit more accommodating 1000 miles probably would be OK they are just a little cagey with the warranty....just like every other company!

Can't blame Honda and other companies for being cautious these days with so many people wanting to sue at the drop of a hat as was exhibited by one members response. Both Sue and I have had warranty work done by Honda after the warranty period had expired.