And That My Friends...

[Corsair]

... is a broken connecting rod (very not good)

No idea on how it happened but luckily it will be covered by my warranty, even though the guys at Genuine really seemed to try everything not to. "He must have got his rpms up too high and held it for too long" or some such "Maybe he let all the oil run out" no way in hell... whatever give me my parts. I don't even know how to get my rpms up too high, my engine is COMPLETELY stock. The time they've friggin wasted on that is costing me greatly on rental car fees and gas (imagine for more than a year not having to pay more than $4 to fill your tank then suddenly finding yourself having to pay $50+ !) Ok I do have to admit that Genuine is incredibly backed up and maybe overwhelmed with this latest scooter craze but dammit if it doesn't feel like they're kinda dragging their feet on giving the local dealer support and getting me the parts I need (ok, I'm venting)

So folks that is what a broken connecting rod looks like ...lol (I laugh to keep from crying... I MISS riding)

[BuddyRaton]

Wow...thats ugly!

[justscooten]

ho man that sucks!! BIG TIME how many miles on the old girl anyway. i really cant think of what would cause this to happen. more than likely a fine hair crack in the casting and as been there seens new. this can happen sorry to here about your engine man. maybe its time to squezzzzzzz in a 350 small block into the buddy

[jmazza]

wow- that sucks. I missed where this happened- is there a thread about it here?

I'm no mechanic but I can visually confirm that that connecting rod is, in fact, broken.

Sorry... hope they get it worked out soon!

[Corsair]

ho man that sucks!! BIG TIME how many miles on the old girl anyway.

I had something around 5 and 1/2 thousand miles.

wow- that sucks. I missed where this happened- is there a thread about it here?

Well before I found out about this bit of good news I was speaking about my engine not sounding quite right, build up around my oil catch, and loss of performance in a couple different threads. I took it to the shop and man were they slammed! They couldn't take a true look at it but thought it could be the valves, foul plug, etc. Told me to come back in a week or so (not running me off but being very sincere, they're great guys). I took it home, checked the air filter: not bad, check the spark plug: great, and changed my oil AGAIN (even though I just did it about 500 miles ago). So on about day 5 or 6 I'm riding to work, engine starts sounding not good at all, start losing speed rapidly (can't go over 30mph), then pllltthhh coasting to the side of the road: engine won't start.

After a 3 mile push (seriously) up hill and in Texas heat I make it home and call up a mechanic friend of mine (great great guy). He comes by and we try the simple things first (oil, spark, etc). I try kick starting it and the kick start is giving me no resistance (very very not good). He didn't have a compression tester with him but it was more than obvious that there was none. How? Well when you remove your spark plug hold you hand over the opening and have a friend try kick starting it. If everything is working the way it should you will feel a puff of air (basically gas being compressed into the spark plug causing it to ignite/combust which in turns pushes the piston back up making your engine do what it does). Well guess what we do that and there's nothing and I mean NOTHING... very very very not good.

So I take it to the shop and tell em what we've found. Some time later get a call dun dun dunnnn bad news... broken rod. Hopefully this will all soon have a happy ending.

[MikieTaps]

HOLY POOP!

[jrsjr]

So folks that is what a broken connecting rod looks like...

It sure is. There's a first time for everything, and that's the first broken con rod I've heard of on a Buddy. I wonder if the rod was just defective or if something else was going on here causing your loss of power in the weeks leading up to the catastrophic rod failure.

[Jake]

1) That sucks, sorry to see that.
2) How long did they give you the runaround before actually fixing the problem?
c) Are you just getting a whole new motor, or are they having your dealer replace/rebuild?

[Kaos]

Holy crap. Thats a very broken rod. I've only done that once, and that was in a race prepped big block V8! I've twisted them before, but only one snap. With as (relatively) low power as the Buddy's engine is, that had to be a manufacturing defect. Good luck on getting it back on the road!

[Corsair]

2) How long did they give you the runaround before actually fixing the problem?
c) Are you just getting a whole new motor, or are they having your dealer replace/rebuild?

2) well the dealer wants to fix it ASAP but it's up to Genuine to first send out the parts, which they haven't yet. They make the mechanics jump through hoops first in order to do a warranty claims (which seems to be the case with every auto manufacturer. They are a business that wants to make money after all). The proper paperwork has to be submitted, responses waited on, blah blah blah.

c) the dealer wants to replace the entire engine to ensure that nothing else is damaged/goes wrong BUT it seems like Genuine just wants to replace the parts... so the short answer: to be determined

Oh and I have to note that the Buddy is in such demand that most dealers don't have Buddys laying around to cannibalize parts from. Which is good for them but it does suck for me. Hopefully I'll have an update for you all by mid week.

[louie]

oh Corsair, i hate to hear that.

[Jake]

2) well the dealer wants to fix it ASAP but it's up to Genuine to first send out the parts, which they haven't yet. They make the mechanics jump through hoops first in order to do a warranty claims (which seems to be the case with every auto manufacturer. They are a business that wants to make money after all). The proper paperwork has to be submitted, responses waited on, blah blah blah.

c) the dealer wants to replace the entire engine to ensure that nothing else is damaged/goes wrong BUT it seems like Genuine just wants to replace the parts... so the short answer: to be determined

Oh and I have to note that the Buddy is in such demand that most dealers don't have Buddys laying around to cannibalize parts from. Which is good for them but it does suck for me. Hopefully I'll have an update for you all by mid week.

Sounds like it's about the same for me. Genuine thinks the crank could be bad, but my dealer says it would cost more to tear it apart and replace the crank than just replacing the whole engine. I guess it's just the waiting game...

[polianarchy]

Dang Corsair, bummer! Good luck getting it fixed ASAP.

[Corsair]

by the way here's where that broken rob is suppose to connect to:




that's located behind the silver cover pictured here: