Oil seal leaking

[umjwh]

The oil seal behind the bottom alternator pulley on my 2008 Norge showed signs of leaking after the ride home from the showroom. It continued to leak. I have now taken it in for its first service and have brought the leak to the service manager's attention. I just called him about it because the dealer has had the bike for over a week. He said the first service work was done and that he was waiting to hear back from Moto Guzzi on what to do about the seal leaking cause he has not run into this problem before. Has anybody else had problems with the front oil seal?

On another note, Moto Guzzi is going to replace the gas tank on this Norge due to poor craftmanship. Have not bought a new motorcycle since 1972. I am beginning to wish I could still say that.

 

[Penis Rotor]

The front crank seal on my Griso weeps a tiny bit in hot weather. I can't be arsed to fix it! I will at some point, probably when belt time comes around.

In your case it should of course be fixed and to be honest, apart from the embuggerance of the fairing it isn't that big a job. Probably the biggest PITA is that Guzzi have gone back to installing the oil seal from INSIDE the timing chest which means that rather tan simply flipping out the seal and pressing a new one in you have to take the poxy timing chest cover off. Boring, but anyone with 1/4 of a brain can do it in a couple of hours.

why do they have to wait for word from Guzzi? The seal and gasket combined are only about $20-30 US I'd guess plus a couple of hours labour? I do that sort of stuff the whole time and argue the toss with Guzzi later. Makes sense for customer relations in my book. The day I'm so poor I can't carry a dud seal on the bottom line is the day I shut up shop and I don't even make anything from selling the poxy things!!!

Pete

 

[umjwh]

I do not think this shop has ever put one of these seals in before. This shop sells a hell of alot more of Piaggo's scooters than Moto Guzzis. I guess they thought new Guzzis do not break and we can change oil and adjust valves. So, the service manager put a call out to their Piaggo regional service manager on what needs to be done to replace the seal. So I guess they played phone tag for awhile before it got replaced. To make a long story short, the seal was replaced, and the Norge was test driven for 50+ miles by the service manager with no leaks. This took 4wks which also included the first service and repairing another oil leak behind the transmission which turned out to be the o-ring for the hydraulic clutch.

Now after 250 miles the new seal is leaking. I really do not think this shop knows what it is doing when comes to working and repairing the big bikes; they are scooter techs. I guess I will take it back there and rise hundred dollars worth of hell about the fact the seal is leaking because either they installed it wrong or there is a defect that is causing it to leak. Oh there one other thing the left valve cover leaks after they did the valve adjustment too.

 

[kiwi dave]

Sounds like you should have purchased a Piaggo scooter instead.

 

[umjwh]

Forums always seem to have there funny guys.

 

[Bill Hagan]

Where are you?

It's odd (even to me), I suppose, but I just don't get very excited about such things on my Guzzis.

I have a 2007 Norge, one of the first brought in. Bought it new from MPH on 2 Jan 07. Have had a couple of serious-by-any-measure "issues," i.e. failed oil pump and, recently, failed CARC.

Of course, I am blessed with great dealers -- MPH in Houston for sale and oil-pump fix, and Riders Hill in Dahlonega for CARC replacement, and I have to add that Piaggio was pretty darn responsive in the both, tho Fiero Agusto made the first fix much longer than any of us might have wished.

I regret your experience, and hope you can make peace with dealer (adversarial relationships with dealers are like same with restaurant waitstaff; the latter spit in your soup in the kitchen, and the former can make life miserble, too.

I am NOT excusing an incompetent dealer, but maybe you can work with 'em a bit. If not, there are several dealers -- the two I mentioned, Moto-International, Speakers, Steelhorese Classics, Harpers, come to mind, and there are others. If you can't live with that or can't do some wrenching yourself, I suspect you are doomed to unhappiness and frustration. Too bad, too, cuz when the Norge sings as mine does, depending on the kind of road, it's like having [fill in the blank as desired] croon, moan, or scream joy in your ear. :lol:

Best wishes.

Bill

 

[umjwh]

I am located south of Chicago in Glenwood Il. I am glad you brought that up, the hint about going to a different dealership/shop, there is a pretty good one, I hear, fairly close to me that has told me off the record that his shop would not work on the warranty items cause I did not buy the bike from his dealership. Stuff other than warranty work would be worked in after his customers. As I said in the other thread, I would not buy another Guzzi. And as for wrenching on it myself, what is the 2yr warranty for?

 

[Penis Rotor]

To replace the front crank seal requires the removal of the timing chest. this in turn requires removal of the alternator, most of the fairing and a host of other munt. It's not an easy job like on the earlier bikes. Likewise getting to the slave cylinder and thrust piece for the clutch is a right royal PITA. It's a real drag to have to do it again.

pete

 

[Brian UK]

There seems to be a real problem with the Guzzi warranty. A lot of dealers refuse to honour it unless they sold the bike. Happened to me in the UK too, causing a 5 month delay in getting a CARC bearing replaced. It was only done when Piaggio UK TOLD the dealer to do it, and even then they didn't exactly put heart and soul into the work. Bike handed back with almost no oil in the CARC. And this is one of the top dealers in the UK.

 

[john zibell]

umjwh wrote:

I am located south of Chicago in Glenwood Il. I am glad you brought that up, the hint about going to a different dealership/shop, there is a pretty good one, I hear, fairly close to me that has told me off the record that his shop would not work on the warranty items cause I did not buy the bike from his dealership. Stuff other than warranty work would be worked in after his customers. As I said in the other thread, I would not buy another Guzzi. And as for wrenching on it myself, what is the 2yr warranty for?

The only way this makes sense is if Piaggio is not paying dealers to do the warranty work. As I see it, billing hours is profit for the shop no matter who pays. The warranty issue may be a problem with the dealer, but if Piaggio does not pay up, or is very slow to do so I can understand the dealers reluctance to do the work. It is a shame that a good machine has this kind of "reputation" not because of it's design, but from a suspect corporate mentality.

 

[Brian UK]

I can't speak for the way things are un the US, but here in the UK dealers get a fixed rate for warranty work which can be less than half their normal rate. They can also be kept waiting for that payment for 3 or more months. This includes the reimbursement for the parts too.
So yes, there does seem to be a corporate mentality issue.

 

[Charlie7]

Has anybody else had problems with the front oil seal?

My 2008 1200 Sport had the same problem. When the shop removed the seal they noticed it had some foreign material on it which prevented it from seating properly. Had it replaced in a few hours and now 8,000 miles later no problems.

Charlie