1200 Sports V8 problems

[Saparak]

Hi

Although I am aware that this topic has been discussed previously I thought it useful to inform you that the problem has never been solved. Apology for the length but........

My bike was purchased in October 2012 and is written on weekends through Hill was and stretches but with only one extensive along run over eight day period. At 13 months with 40,000 km at the service it was determined that the left side cam followers will significantly worn and required replacement. Without going into the painful details it took six weeks for the repairs to occur. Finally, on the road again I reached the 50,000 service within about three months and I was aware that the cams were excessively noisy. It was determined that the cam followers on the right-hand side that were not initially repaired last time had now worn away. The replacement time on this occasion was three weeks but still in my opinion far too long.

At the same time, I have been having trouble with the start and not engaging from time to time leaving me stranded at various places for up to 2 hours. It had reached the point were I would fill my tank around the corner and go out of the three hour ride and refused to stop and turn off the ignition for fear of being stranded. Although there is significant information to support that the Guzzis' have been having issues in this area the distributor in Australia is refusing to accept that there is a problem as it doesn't happen when I take it to the dealership. It seems to happen mainly well am well into a ride in particular on hot days although I don't know why!

I have written for 40+ years and have had mainly Japanese bikes until recent years when I have a Triumph Thruxton (60,000 km in two years without any issues) and my 1200 Guzzi that in my opinion is the most enjoyable bike of ever written but is the most demoralising with regard to getting any appropriate after sales service.

I am sure that I have encountered these problems because of the the kilometres I do into such a short period and possibly all the warranty issues with the cam followers would not have occurred for most until well after the warranty period was over.

I hope that I'm wrong and that the previous flaws had been corrected but I am an unlucky one who bought a flawed new bike.

What is the consensus out there?

 

[john zibell]

Can't comment on the cam issues. They do take time to resolve. As for the starting issue, Have you looked at the Modern no start thread and made the modification to the starter relay wiring? Also there are other threads that discuss issues with the starter and how to correct them.

What are the issues for no start? just a clunk and no spin? Have you tried to move the position of the ring gear by pushing the bike in gear? You may be hitting a bad spot on the ring gear causing the starter to jam. (I've observed this on some BMWs and older Guzzis).

 

[Saparak]

The starter button does not engage at all, no turnover or sound at all. I provided all the info from previous discussion including solutions etc and the distributor does not accept there is a problem unless I can get it to occur on demand! The dealership are not keen to use a relay even if i agree to pay. Tried stand down/up, in/gear, neutral start with clutch in/out but when it happens no go until an hour or more.

had my road side assist and they checked battery etc all perfect but no go. he was calling for a tow and i tried one more time and it started. Who knows why!

Had no problems last week so limited i can do. At some point i will get relay put in by auto electrician.

Thanks for the response.

 

[john zibell]

Here is the thread on the No start problem. https://www.guzzitech.com/forum/topic?f=160&t=4908 You don't add a relay, you just change the wiring to the existing relay.

If you can't hear or feel the starter relay (the one under the seat) click when the bike doesn't start it might actually be an intermittent issue with the starter button. Have you tried cleaning that switch? Also check all the connections to the starter relay.

 

[Saparak]

Thanks John in my search i never found past the need for a relay.

 

[Saparak]

Hi

Although I am aware that this topic has been discussed previously I thought it useful to inform you that the problem has never been solved. Apology for the length but........

My bike was purchased in October 2012 and is written on weekends through Hill was and stretches but with only one extensive along run over eight day period. At 13 months with 40,000 km at the service it was determined that the left side cam followers will significantly worn and required replacement. Without going into the painful details it took six weeks for the repairs to occur. Finally, on the road again I reached the 50,000 service within about three months and I was aware that the cams were excessively noisy. It was determined that the cam followers on the right-hand side that were not initially repaired last time had now worn away. The replacement time on this occasion was three weeks but still in my opinion far too long.

At the same time, I have been having trouble with the start and not engaging from time to time leaving me stranded at various places for up to 2 hours. It had reached the point were I would fill my tank around the corner and go out of the three hour ride and refused to stop and turn off the ignition for fear of being stranded. Although there is significant information to support that the Guzzis' have been having issues in this area the distributor in Australia is refusing to accept that there is a problem as it doesn't happen when I take it to the dealership. It seems to happen mainly well am well into a ride in particular on hot days although I don't know why!

I have written for 40+ years and have had mainly Japanese bikes until recent years when I have a Triumph Thruxton (60,000 km in two years without any issues) and my 1200 Guzzi that in my opinion is the most enjoyable bike of ever written but is the most demoralising with regard to getting any appropriate after sales service.

I am sure that I have encountered these problems because of the the kilometres I do into such a short period and possibly all the warranty issues with the cam followers would not have occurred for most until well after the warranty period was over.

I hope that I'm wrong and that the previous flaws had been corrected but I am an unlucky one who bought a flawed new bike.

What is the consensus out there?

 

[Saparak]

Update: apology in advance for my lack of proper technical knowledge.

The latest new cam and followers lasted 7,000 km luckily failed 10 days prior to my warrant expiring. This meant left>right>left sides had been replaced within 12 months it would seem due to a lack of sufficient follower hardening. I contacted the Guzzi distributor and to his credit although not responding directly to my email contacted the repairer and arranged to have a full roller rocker setup installed which I am told will or should end my top end troubles. I can only hope!!

Re the starter issues the problem continues but is intermittent and of course never occurs when you take it to the repair shop. The Guzzi distributor refused to acknowledge that there was any such problems and unless I could the produce the bike at the time of such a fault. Interestingly, my warranty expired I was at the repairer the other day and they acknowledged that they had a Guzzi currently in with the fault that actual occurred during a routine service. They ha no idea why but as the bike was also out of warranty were referring the owner to an auto electrician.

The bike is now 25 months old and has done 57k, has been in the repair shop for I know hard to believe but true 6 months, everyone tells me to get rid of it because it is a lemon but in my opinion if the top end issues are now properly resolved it will not cost much to have the starter issue resolved by an auto electrician. I sourced information about numerous replacement bikes (Kawasaki 1400, Yamaha 1300, BMW 1200 and even the Multistrada) but other the ducati their looks are plain boring and uninspiring.

So it looks like a keeper. Interested to hear any feedback on what you guys would do?

 

[Mackers]

 

[kiwi dave]

Seems like a backward step to me, having to remove your seat to start the bike. The startus interuptus solution works great, and is easy to implement.

 

[Saparak]

To right I took the bike to another dealer The Garage at Strathalbyn a small town in South Australia and he was aware of the problem and did the fix for just $50. I won't be seen at Bills Motorcycles ever again.

 

[GTM®]

So it looks like a keeper. Interested to hear any feedback on what you guys would do?

There is a well-known Italian motor company that is offering four levels of camshaft/power upgrades for the 1200 Sport (and ALL) 8V.
Standard Kit replacements (cams & lifters) for ~11hp increase up to their Full Race Kit with head-flow work, cams and rods offers up to a 25hp increase per below... and even crazier kits are available up to 140hp @11.2k RPM!

Contact me direct email for more info; Todd at GuzziTech.com

 

[PP-1753]

Having that sort of Horsepower available above 8000 RPM is largely pointless, in my opinion. Punters would be better off getting remapping done so all of the available power and torque is available through most of the rev range. Having to ring it's neck over 8k to see the extra ponies should only be left to the racetrack, methinks.

I would expect that reliability and longevity would also suffer. But hey, I would be interested in someone else doing it just to see the difference. Not for me though.

 

[GTM®]

Tony, agreed for the most part... However, don't discount that bump shown above in the 3-5k RPM range. These are drop-in cams and lifter kits for those who either have to, or choose to upgrade.

I know my work has been sh!t on other sites from a handful that post here... However, with some basic mods and mapping corrections show what can be achieved on a 2V-1200 that I've personally done the work on as seen HERE - graph below compared to stock on the same bike and dyno.

Since the Sport 8V isn't imported, I hope to have a Norge 8V one day soon to do the same mods and dyno-document as well.