[o2lily]

ok SO! I am checking to see if anyone else has had this problem or if this is a known prob by Suzuki...bc my dealership isnt owning up to it. I checked the recall and warnings on the Suzuki website and didnt see anything about the 08SVSF.


About 2 months after riding my bike I started riding it to work. So I come out one day and see a droplet under my bike. Like you would see with an oil leak on your car but much smaller. it was under the right side of the bike. I touch it and smell it, it had the smell and consistency of an oil/fuel mixture. So OF COURSE I start freaking out bc this is a brand new bike, still under 600 miles! I ask a couple of the boys to come out with me and look and they say the same thing - oil/fuel mix. But we cant find where it is coming from!
So I go out one day and I am talking with another coworker about it and I am like 2 parking spots away and I see what look like drops that are about to come off the bike so I run over to see where its coming from and I touch it and...its on my ******* underbelly faring and WHATEVER the mix is, it has started to eat away at the paint! Again I touch, feel and smell and again oil/fuel mix.
I call up my dealership and tell them about it and they come and pick up the bike. The next day I go and grab her from the dealership and they tell me "Dont know where it came from we cant find a problem and we couldnt find the leak." I say ok...what about the fairing, its gonna need to be replaced "Oh lemme see" (guy goes off for a few min & comes bck) "well We are gonna have to get ahold of Suzuki and see if this is a known issue." I explain that its an 08, they have sold ALL of theirs and IF it were a known issue they would have encountered it already before mine since it is now sept/nov. Pretty much I leave there feeling like NOTHING is going to happen about it. But when I get home I notice something...the vent hoses...WERE in FRONT of the cover...NOW they are OVER the cover and held in by the top part of the underbelly of the fairing...I go in for my 600mi svc and same thing. I ask about it again and they say they havent heard anything from Suzuki yet.

What do I think it is?
I think some idiot placed the venthoses in JUST the right spot to where the vapors of the oil and fuel vent hoses condensated and turned into liquid which ruined my fairing which my dealership wont own up to. I dont know much about bikes mechanically but its the ONLY conclusion I can come up with given the facts.



Anyone have any idea or know about this or can back me up in my theory?

 

[o2lily]

oh yeah here are the pics of it

Notice where the hoses are. When I got the bike back, instead of those being where they are on the side they were OVER the cover and pinned by the fairing below the cover...You can see the bubbling JUST above the exhaust and the two drops on the ground from that day & the day before when I first noticed it.

This is directly under the bike & the damage it did.

Closeup side view

Closeup underside view (even tho my phone zoomed in in the wrong area)

imma beat the dealership's head in dude! Granted its not very noticeable BUT its a BRAND new bike 0 miles on the Odo when I got her, this should not have happened to begin with!

 

[leaftye]

Go there today when they are hoping to have customers walking thru the door. If they ignore you, it'll give you a chance to chat up other customers about your problem. They can kick you out, or help you out, but they'll be forced to address your problem either way.

 

[SVSmiles]

The two hoses in that area are the vent and overflow hoses to the fuel tank on my '03. The oil/gas smell is probably the fuel mixing with the paint and the fender and gradually breaking it down. Looks to my like a bad engineering flaw and that they should just bite the bullet and replace the fairing and reroute the hoses away from the fairing so it won't happen again.
I say that since they are not getting anywhere, I would contact a Suzuki Rep for your region and inform them of the situation and how the treatment is from your dealership.
Trust me, I would be crawling all up someones A$$ over something like that. My OCD would not just shrugg it off and go on!!
Good luck and keep me informed!

 

[SVSmiles]

Go there today when they are hoping to have customers walking thru the door. If they ignore you, it'll give you a chance to chat up other customers about your problem. They can kick you out, or help you out, but they'll be forced to address your problem either way.

That is something I reserve as a last resort because I will probably never be doing business there again unless they really start kissin my a$$!!

 

[Verbal Kint]

Good luck.

As soon as you crash it, you won't really give a rats patootie about the little bubbling paint.

If this bothers you that much, have it repainted. Then put the bike in the garage, and crate it up. Never remove the bike from the crate or the garage. Never. That way, nothing bad will ever happen to it, and the paint will remain pristine.

 

[Jthmeffy]

Good luck.

As soon as you crash it, you won't really give a rats patootie about the little bubbling paint.

If this bothers you that much, have it repainted. Then put the bike in the garage, and crate it up. Never remove the bike from the crate or the garage. Never. That way, nothing bad will ever happen to it, and the paint will remain pristine.

Sounds like a plan. BTW, im gonna come over and p!ss on your bike. You shouldnt worry; it could be worse.

It looks to me like they fu cked up and didn't place the vent hoses correctly when they set it up. Thats what messed up your paint. I would head down there and ***** their asses our for noticing their fu ckup and not owning up to it. I assume they are gonna try to completely weasel out of any responsibility, but you have the pictures on how it was set up.

 

[zabrow187]

Good luck.

As soon as you crash it, you won't really give a rats patootie about the little bubbling paint.

If this bothers you that much, have it repainted. Then put the bike in the garage, and crate it up. Never remove the bike from the crate or the garage. Never. That way, nothing bad will ever happen to it, and the paint will remain pristine.

Why would you automatically give someone such a jacka$$ answer? Who says he'll ever crash (besides you), and even if he did at least it would be his error not someone elses. I will say with confidence that if you had a practically brand new bike you wouldn't be more than a little irked if something like this happened.

Some people like to have the nice things that they buy stay nice, or at least have the right to be the one who damages it if it is going to be damaged. Not to have some lazy tech at a dealership cut corners which gets him a damaged new bike.

IMO ride the dealerships a$$ about this until your problem is fixed.

 

[SirReal187]

Why would you automatically give someone such a jacka$$ answer? Who says he'll ever crash (besides you), and even if he did at least it would be his error not someone elses. I will say with confidence that if you had a practically brand new bike you wouldn't be more than a little irked if something like this happened.

Some people like to have the nice things that they buy stay nice, or at least have the right to be the one who damages it if it is going to be damaged. Not to have some lazy tech at a dealership cut corners which gets him a damaged new bike.

IMO ride the dealerships a$$ about this until your problem is fixed.

+1

I think it's a "She" though....

People pay good money for what they have and it's not cool to have something you take good care of get messed up...

I would just take it in to a shop and just be cool about it and have some one look at it. If it turns out to be a serious problem with only 600 miles on it whatever needs to be done should be free IMO...

 

[Verbal Kint]

Sounds like a plan. BTW, im gonna come over and p!ss on your bike. You shouldnt worry; it could be worse.

It looks to me like they fu cked up and didn't place the vent hoses correctly when they set it up. Thats what messed up your paint. I would head down there and ***** their asses our for noticing their fu ckup and not owning up to it. I assume they are gonna try to completely weasel out of any responsibility, but you have the pictures on how it was set up.

Exsqueeze me? You're going to pee on my bike? How mature of you. I sure hope this isn't the solution for all of your problems.

I agree that it appears the dealership made an error when they routed the vent hoses. My "good luck" statement was made in reference to getting the dealership to admit thier error and agree to correct it at no charge. I wish the OP the best of luck in getting this to happen, and I will say again, good luck.

My 'crate it up" comment was a bit harsh. If you are going to ride a motorcycle, things are going to happen to it. It's going to get dirty, it will get dead bugs splattered on it, it will get rained on. At some point, you will crash it. It may be a simple tip over in a parking lot, it may be more severe. It may happen in six months, it may happen in ten years. At some point, that bike, and many many others, will end up on the ground, in a position that bikes are not meant to be in.

Where the bubbleing paint is located, along the very lower aft portion of the plastic, is not very noticable.

Why would you automatically give someone such a jacka$$ answer? Who says he'll ever crash (besides you), and even if he did at least it would be his error not someone elses. I will say with confidence that if you had a practically brand new bike you wouldn't be more than a little irked if something like this happened.

Some people like to have the nice things that they buy stay nice, or at least have the right to be the one who damages it if it is going to be damaged. Not to have some lazy tech at a dealership cut corners which gets him a damaged new bike.

IMO ride the dealerships a$$ about this until your problem is fixed.

I had a pratically brand new bike, and I crashed it. A slow speed, target fixation, crash. I was angry for about ten, fifteen minutes. After that, I was rather pleased. It had been crashed. It survived. I really didn't need to care, or fret over the slightest scratch or nick on the bike.

The best chance to get the dealership, to correct this problem, is to be persistent, and to be polite. If the dealership keeps giving the run around, over the phone, then the OP should go there in person. Don't scream and yell. Be polite, but persistent.


Screw it, let's ride.

 

[DWS909]

same problem on mine its the vapor hose from the fuel tank. they finally fixed it those hoses are not supposed to be sitting on the fairing they are supposed to be sitting to the side pointed straight down it was whoever assembled the bike that did it wrong they have to fix it, it is a crappy design and they fixed it on the 09 models.

 

[erstadw]

I have a 08 too, I just seen that hose today when I was cleaning my bike but I didnt see any bubbling on the paint. Time to go and check it out again just to make sure.

 

[erstadw]

just went out to look at it and did find the bubbles. called up the dealership and made an appointment to bring it in Tuesday. Good thing I found it before the warranty ran out, only got about two months left on it. Well keep us posted 02lily if the dealership replaces your fairing or not. Cause if they fix yours and my dealership refuses to replace mine, I wont be very happy. Anyways, good luck on getting it fixed.

 

[o2lily]

I am over that the bike has some damage to it, but its the principal of the thing. Its a brand spankin new bike, that shouldnt have been an issue at all especially with less than 600 mi on it.

thanks for the heads up thp! specially you Erst!

 

[phlosar]

I have an 06 svs, and I just put on the OEM fairings (as you may know, they were not standard back then). My vapor hoses were routed similar to where yours seemed to be -- there was even a rubber covered metal bracket under one of the bolts to hold them in place. The instructions for the OEM fairings said to reroute the hoses so that they go straight down, and they end being to the left of the fairing (when that side of the bike is looked at). The hardware for the fairings included a plastic bracket and wire tie to hold the hoses in their new place.

Basically, if your bike has the holder positioned so that the hoses go in back of the fairing, then the dealer should admit that they were improperly routed. If the dealer states that that routing is appropriate, then tell him about the re-routing instructions for installing fairings. If you want the relevant instruction page/pic, send me a PM. I can scan the instructions at work and shoot a PDF to you.

You should get a new right fairing, assuming that you bought the bike with the hoses set to release liquid on the fairing. Total price for both sides was about $433 plus shipping from oneida. They should order a new one for you.

Sure your bike will get some scratches in due course, and perhaps more, but new means new. I bought my bike new in 2006, and it still looks great. I have some minor scratches from gravel roads (removed the rear shovel). That however is different than degradation from a bad chemical reaction of vapors and my plastics.

 

[08sv]

If the bike is financed I would recommend at this stage to go in the dealership and "inform" them that you have already contacted the lender with this issue and this is their last chance to correct issues.

On another note you have the option to go to other places to obtain repairs under warranty work.

 

[leaftye]

Who says he'll ever crash (besides you), and even if he did at least it would be his error not someone elses.

It's not a question of "if" but "when".

 

[Maviryk]

It's not a question of "if" but "when".

+1.

If you don't plan on crashing, cancel the full coverage insurance and get rid of your motorcycle gear.

 

[o2lily]

Ya crashing is enevitable sooner or later it happens even to the best of us. im glad i got thru the 3 mo mark unscathed tho! (stats say a new bike is more likely to be in an accident within the within the 1st 3 months) so im happy with each day and each ride i get home safe. but i realize it will happen so i might as well enjoy it while i can!

 

[Jaice]

same problem on my 08 svs. guess i should bring it in this spring before the warranty runs out