My Yamaha warranty history

[viewdvb]

I've had 8 Yamahas from new (or in the case of my S10, near new and lots of warranty left). Every one, so far, has needed something fixed under warranty. Most were minor faults, though irritating nonetheless - a fork seal, electrical plug/socket corrosion, oil seal weep, etc. Easily and quickly fixed (unlike Honda who refused to fix a failing preload adjuster on my ST1300 " they all do that"!) and never re-appearing. One was a leaky head gasket. That was never fixed to my satisfaction but the symptoms were so slight (a minor oil stain that needed cleaning off every 1000 miles) that I lived with it for 20,000 miles before selling. What's your warranty experience, especially with the Tenere?
On another tack, we keep hearing that manufacturers are having a hard time and profits are being squeezed. I reckon that every Yamaha I've bought has either severely damaged or maybe cancelled the manufacturer's working profit on that bike by costing them some parts but, more significantly, a slice of workshop time that doesn't come cheap. Wouldn't you think they'd be paying a lot more attention to quality control if they want to stay in business? Or are their margins much higher than they admit so they can afford to fix the problem after sale instead of before?

 

[Koinz]

Other than the fuel pump o-ring, I have had no issues. ::022::

 

[bloodline]

Retail is $656.00 on the instrument panel.

You should be able to buy it for around $550.00.

 

[Jerry]

Only the fuel pump " O" ring here. 7000 miles.

 

[s-flow]

3 fork seals
1 fork leg
1 Engine case gasket
1 Engine case (right side)

30000 km

 

[3putt]

Nothing here. Probably could do the trailtech switch mod for the dash, and it would be fixed, wouldn't need the dash switch then.

 

[stevepsd]

Nothing with mine.

 

[GrahamD]

Nothing.

Pre Fukushima Tenere.

And I'm not being a smart ass about that either. That whole event must have put a severe strain on the system. I'm amazed they did as well as they did. Plenty of poor sods on the East coast of the USA are getting some insight about what it's like to be dumped into a minor version of that. Feels a bit different than watching it on TV I bet.

Wouldn't you think they'd be paying a lot more attention to quality control if they want to stay in business? Or are their margins much higher than they admit so they can afford to fix the problem after sale instead of before?

I think they pay lots of attention to QA. It's just that S$!%T happens. I think that maybe expectations sometimes get ahead of reality when it comes to what are very complicated gadgets.

I am sure there are a bunch of people in the main office that crunch numbers about failures, cost of part (to them), etc etc. but the bottom line is they would all like a bike to be perfect for a reasonable time before it just falls to a pile of dust on the floor just in time for the next ground up model.

YAMAHA have done a good job of at least trying to give you value in the "owner experience". They are obviously chasing the "PERCEIVED" experience that people THINK they would be getting with a well know "quality" brand.

The other side of the coin is the market research figures. If you are selling into a market that thinks that having a 2 year old bike is just "so last year" and want the latest and greatest, the emphasis is going to be on REALLY tangible simple to grasp things like Horsepower gadgets 1/4 mile times. The crowd that goes for that usually don't care whether it lasts 4 years OR 20 as long as it lasts as long as 1 model cycle. I mean why would you own a bike with 200HP and 3 way traction control when there is one with 210HP and 7 way traction control.?? :

So the bean counters will be looking at "how much shit happens" and the Marketing department will be saying "We can't have shit happening" and the Engineers will be saying "you guys talk a lot of shit". Somewhere in there lies the compromise. All is good in corporate land because now everyone has the shits and a good compromise mans that everyone has the shits about equally and the customer gets the shits least.

I go on about perception a bit because that is what really counts to the bottom line. Reality is for scientists. You may have heard about a certain brand out there that continues to be refereed to as reliable, that hasn't really been for a while and often hear about people getting worried about their R1 with 30K on the clock wondering whether they should trade 'cause "it's really old for a Japanese bike".

Both of these views go back 30 years but they still persist.

So you have bean counters, Marketing research and supply chain management all in the mix.

I sometimes wonder when the Japanese are going to be allowed to charge as much as some European bikes, because I think they could do amazing stuff if they could be allowed to charge $60K for a bike.

 

[snakebitten]

17,500 miles.
Fuel pump O-ring.....but that was a waste of time and money for Yamaha because there was nothing wrong.

Your instrument button failure isn't a good example for "lack of quality control". As you stated, you haven't heard of that issue from anyone else. Neither have I. So let's say there are 8000 Teneres. (Total guess with no data. Just to make a point) that's 1 in 8000 that are faulty?

Really doesn't matter if that number is accurate. 5 in 8000 would still make the point.

In my opinion, the modern vehicle, be it car, truck, or motorcycle, is for the most part incredible examples of what human ingenuity has achieved. I have a 1997 Mercury Tracer wagon in the driveway that I choose to keep because it won't die. And things have progressed in the materials we make things out of remarkably since even then!

This bike appears to be one of the most reliable examples of current motorcycle technology. To find fault with it we have to take issue with the most minor of things. (Spokes, headlight connectors, and the random hard start) we aren't melting cams, dropping valves, blowing seals, or anything that leaves us stranded or stuck with expensive repairs.

I'm amazed with the engineering of this machine. Reminds me of the 7.3 Ford diesels. Over-engineered, under stressed, and left stock, will run until the truck just wears out underneath it.

Don't know if Yamaha made a profit off of me. But if they didn't, they should have charged me more. I would have paid more. I was getting one of these marvels. It was made for me. My favorite motorcycle of my adult life. (35 years or so)

 

[Dirt_Dad]

Blue Tenere: Fuel pump O-ring. I was told the seal inside the shaft drive where it connects to the rear wheel had leaked at one point but appears to have stopped. Mechanic thought it should be changed at some point, but no need to rush. He mentioned Yamaha had a new part number for the seal. Current mileage - 18K.

Black Tenere: I see signs of seepage where the shaft drive connects near the engine. I have not had them take a look yet, but might be something. Nothing else. Current mileage - 14.5K

 

[viewdvb]

Retail is $656.00 on the instrument panel.

You should be able to buy it for around $550.00.

That's typical of my experience with US v UK prices, bikes and parts. The retail in the UK is definitely over £600 ($1.60 per £). My business before retirement was importing parts from US to UK because the prices were so attractive. I twice crossed the US on 1800 Goldwings that cost 40% less, new, than the UK price. I did 7000 miles, shipped them back to the UK and got my money back. An exporter in California was supplying new Goldwings to UK dealers before Honda UK threw the full force of European copyright law at the dealers complete with 6 figure damages to protect their rip-off pricing policy. I know all about the economies of scale that the US market offers but the big four Japanese all work on a European scale and Europe is a vast market too. Yamaha is one of the biggest culprits and have only recently started to drop their bike prices because their sales were being damaged by their greed. They've dropped the price of the Super Tenere and the new FJR is considerably cheaper than the old one and that isn't because all its new gadgets make it cheaper to manufacture, They are obviously intent on making it up on spares prices judging by my recent bill for 2 o-rings and a gearchange rubber.

 

[creggur]

Projected warranty claims are calculated and included into the price of every bike they sell. Someone at Yamaha could probably tell you (pretty close to the penny) exactly what they expect that number to be and how far over or under each model performs.

In the case of mass-failure that causes the need for a campaign or recall (such as the fuel pump o-ring) the vendor of that part participates in the replacement costs. That is if they ever want to sell Yamaha an o-ring again.

 

[greg the pole]

fuel pump O-ring. Two rear spokes lost. One blown fork seal (no fork skins installed, very muddy ride, and some crap got in between the fork and seal, a seal mate could have save the day, but I did not find out about them till I rebuilt the front fork)
22xxxxkm of pretty much everything, i'm not a road only guy.
US bought bike imported to Canada.
This is my 4th new bike in 20 yrs of riding. I buy Japanese bikes for a reason, good quality is to be expected. Out of all the bikes they sold, some issues will arise, either because of
part failure (premature or otherwise), excessive abuse, bad maintenance.
My dealer was nice enough to ship me spokes even though the bike is out of warranty. Granted the rear wheel will need truing...(I did not use the correct technique to tighten the spokes)
othewise the bike has been faultless. I don't stay up at night worrying that my yamaha will break down

 

[jonboyf]

heated grip failure . is the fuel pump o ring a recall?? should i be worried??

 

[creggur]

heated grip failure . is the fuel pump o ring a recall?? should i be worried??

Yes. No.

 

[Colonel Panic]

I've had 8 Yamahas from new (or in the case of my S10, near new and lots of warranty left). Every one, so far, has needed something fixed under warranty. Most were minor faults, though irritating nonetheless - a fork seal, electrical plug/socket corrosion, oil seal weep, etc. Easily and quickly fixed (unlike Honda who refused to fix a failing preload adjuster on my ST1300 " they all do that"!) and never re-appearing. One was a leaky head gasket. That was never fixed to my satisfaction but the symptoms were so slight (a minor oil stain that needed cleaning off every 1000 miles) that I lived with it for 20,000 miles before selling. I have been waiting for the Super Tenere to reveal its quality control failure and now it has. Fortunately very minor but horrendously expensive without a warranty. The trip display change button on the main display console has failed. Just stopped working. No biggie but the dealer has ordered a complete replacement console since the switch is not a serviceable part. UK price over £600 (US near $1000?). I'm sure the replacement will cure the problem. It also sets the odometer back to zero. Not sure how to deal with that. So that's my warranty bug worked out for my latest Yamaha. I trust that it is completely random and will not happen again. My experience is that these faults have revealed themselves at 10-20,000 miles and always within the 2 year warranty - 1 per bike then years of trouble free operation. What's your warranty experience, especially with the Tenere?
On another tack, we keep hearing that manufacturers are having a hard time and profits are being squeezed. I reckon that every Yamaha I've bought has either severely damaged or maybe cancelled the manufacturer's working profit on that bike by costing them some parts but, more significantly, a slice of workshop time that doesn't come cheap. Wouldn't you think they'd be paying a lot more attention to quality control if they want to stay in business? Or are their margins much higher than they admit so they can afford to fix the problem after sale instead of before?

They make up their losses in the US by overcharging you blokes on the other side of the pond for your parts! )

 

[Brick]

No warranty... At 30,000 miles it started to make a noisy valve sound on cold start up. It went away after 3 or 4 ticks. Had the valves checked and was told all are within spec. They didn't change anything. It still ticks on cold start up but runs fine and is a blast to ride.
I got a 800 number for Yamaha Tech and was told if all valves are within spec to not worry and ride it. I've got over 32,000 now and still tick on cold state up. Anyone else experience this?
Of course warranty is up now... Over one year.

 

[BaldKnob]

No warranty... At 30,000 miles it started to make a noisy valve sound on cold start up. It went away after 3 or 4 ticks. Had the valves checked and was told all are within spec. They didn't change anything. It still ticks on cold start up but runs fine and is a blast to ride.
I got a 800 number for Yamaha Tech and was told if all valves are within spec to not worry and ride it. I've got over 32,000 now and still tick on cold state up. Anyone else experience this?
Of course warranty is up now... Over one year.

Brick, I have 15,000 on my engine and it still ticks at startup. These engines just make alot of topend clatter and without earplugs can be kinda annoying. As for other warranty issues... 1 spoke lost on the rear wheel.

 

[NDKromany]

Mine is brand new and makes the ticking sound. My Tiger 800 did this REALLY bad!! It would clatter for several seconds and sounded awful.

By the way. The Tiger 800 is a POS and not anywhere near as capable as this Tenere. Anyone who is considering buying a Tiger 800xc because you think the Tenere is TOO heavy you are making a big mistake!!!

 

[snakebitten]

That clatter is said to be the cam chain tensioner.

Mine will do it if it has sat for a few days. (Rare). More time for the oil to drain off the top end?

I also got it a few days straight after a servicing. The oil level was about a 1/2 quart low. Added oil and it went back to only doing it after more than a day of sitting.

Regardless, it goes away the second the oil pressure comes up. I suggest not worrying about it.