03/18/2024
Got a negative review from a guy who refused to understand and comply with my advice. His Road King was badly neglected and had been sitting and waiting for him to recover from a bad accident that he had had on another motorcycle.
He called me and told me that the bike wouldn't start at all and asked if I could come out and figure out why...It had really old fuel in it, and fouled plugs, so he had it towed to my place where I could work on on it since it needed tires really badly, and the brake fluid needed to be changed.. ( they were rotted to the point of crack showing the metal belts), the oil hadn't been changed in years.
So I got it running. As soon as I started it, the motor sounded terrible and ( I took a video of that).
I could hear all sorts of tapping and It wouldn't steadily idle So I pulled the plugs out and found that the compression in the front cylinder was only about 90 PSI. The other one was about 130. So neither of them were up to par but the front cylinder is definitely bad.
So I called and talked to him and I told him the situation.. I told him several times, that the only way that I could fix it was to rebuild or replace the motor.
Well he had told me multiple times that he was on a tight budget.. and he just needed it to be running enough to sell it. And I repeatedly explained to him that it wasn't going to run good or sound good no matter what I did...
WHERE I MADE MY MISTAKE:
I agreed to install the battery, change the oil
("all three holes") and the spark plugs, and the fuel filter so that it would at least start up and stay running, no matter how poorly.
I drained the oil which looked terrible, the filter had sludge in it, and I took the primary inspection cover off.. I put my finger in there and came out with all sorts of silt. So I had to take the primary cover off to clean out out (didn't see any metal debris but a lot of other debris) I dumped the tanks out and discovered that the lining inside which is like a paint, was peeling off. So I had to change the fuel filter inside the tank. I talked to him again and said that we needed to do a three-step treatment and get all the peeling liner and debris out and recoat the tanks as well as all the other stuff it needed...But once again he said he just didn't have the money to put into it and he just needed to do the minimum thing to make it start..
I emphasize to him that under no conditions was the motorcycle safe to ride, not only the tires on the verge of popping but, but inevitably the motor locks up which would also be dangerous...
so I told him to know uncertain terms that the bike was unrideable.
Well he showed up with a friend that wanted me to itemize everything and wanted to bargain on every charge line by line...I explained everything to him and he seemed to understand it better and against my strongest advice (and a signed paper waving my responsibility) his friend (who was colors wearing president of his club ) , against all sensibility started it up, and rode it across town, with tires cracked to the metal belts and 5-year-old brake fluid,and got it back home.
He called grumbling something about a spark plug wasn't tight enough and the oil was a quart low.. I know the plug was tight because I had to put it in twice. And the oil level on those bikes can be deceiving on the stick you have to check it with the bike leveled up and warmed up or you'll actually overfill it
Well anyways the next thing you know I see a bad review on my website. And unfortunately you can have a hundred happy customers and not one of them will post a review but one unhappy customer will certainly post a review.
So anyways there's my explanation of it. And why I would appreciate it if my many satisfied customers would give me some positive reviews to counterbalance the effect that his rating negatively impacted me... I have a video of how badly it was running before I did the work I did do (which in the future I will not do anything on someone's motorcycle if they aren't doing everything that will make it safe)..
IF YOU SKIP DOWN TO THIS YOU CAN SEE THE VIDEO OF HOW THIS GUY'S BIKE WAS RUNNING WHEN IT WAS TOWED IN AFTER I PUT A BATTERY IN IT..
HE GAVE ME A BAD REVIEW FOR CHARGING HIM $480 FOR PARTS AND LABOR. I CAME TO HIS HOUSE OUT TO HIS HOUSE, (determined that it was too much work to do at his home) arranged a tow and at my place proceeded to INSTALL A NEW BATTERY, DO A COMPRESSION TEST, INSTALL SPARK PLUGS, DO A THREE-HOLE OIL CHANGE, TAKE OFF HIS FUEL TANK, FLUSH IT OUT, PULL THE FUEL PUMP OUT TO CLEAN THE TANK AND FUEL STRAINER(the pump was compromised as well, I've got pics) AND PUT A NEW FUEL FILTER IN THE TANK..
(On the humanity side, I do feel for him because he was badly injured in a motorcycle crash and he is far from recovered. I know he's highly medicated and I'm sure that has a lot to do with his inability to understand what I was explaining to him, make a good decision, or have an accurate appraisal of what occurred)
