poor quality and customer service from Harley Davidson

[ESSGuy]

just heard this from a good friend who bought a 2012 hd ultra with 103 engine. had the bike to 3 different dealers because it always ran very hot, all three said it was normal,checked tuning and added heat deflectors and anything to get more airflow. at 11000 miles this past july it started to blow oil out the air filter. back to dealer, said too much oil in engine, friend; no there is not, dealer; we need to change oil to make sure.dealer changes oil. friend heads to sturgis in august,bike keeps blowing oil.brings bike back to dealer in mid august and they put in new piston and rings all covered under warranty. warranty ends in early september. friend puts on 1000 miles and bike is still blowing oil out the air filter and is now blowing blue smoke out the exhaust,when i rode behind him i could clearly see this. long story short, he takes bike to an independant performance shop who tore down the motor as it is now out of warranty.bike now has 16000 miles and they found engine completely shot, cylinders junk, cams junk, everything in this motor needed replacing. crank runout was really bad. so after much discussion, he is going with a new 111 S&S motor for 7500. The HD dealer clearly put a bandaid on this thing to get past warranty, with as bad as it was they would have known the condition if they have competent mechanics. hate to see this from a good american company.

[JOHNBIGDOG]

Before the new motor is bought call up H.D. customer service. H.D. may be able to help if there us a paper trail with the complaints and repairs.

[ESSGuy]

That's what I told him, but he has had such poor service from the dealer, who said he will not cover repairs once it ran out of warranty that he's ready to just pay out of pocket for the S&S. He loves the bike and has done a lot to it, thus the new motor. From what the shop says, this S&S will be night and day stronger than the original 103.