belfastguzzi

If you get the job, I'll come and be your butler. Really. I'll learn Italian and do your translation. I can cook and sew.

It's only really special guys that have both! boo hoo oh yeah, and the single plate Scura clutch too. Expect to hear more from me in the future. Bang Bang

Back to the bits: so what I called the 'sleeves' are what Guzzi calls the 'bowls'. Then they are replaced in the recall. Part no 13 in the diagram? EDIT Parts no 12 and 13? Is the 1200 parts doc available on the web? I have the 1100 Griso parts file. I have edited my main post (the one with the pics) now that it seems the sleeves are the bowls. My next question about that is: are 'the tappet bowls' actually the combination of the sleeve and the pushrod together as a set? I hope so, as the replacement part is the tappet bowl and there is no separate rod replacement. It's a pity that MG don't include a photo of these parts in their service document. OK ANOTHER EDIT I see now. I have always thought of tappets as the part of the rocker arm that does the bashing. So that's where the confusion has come from. Here (and in normal 21st Century tech-life) the tappets being talked about are the little push rods or perhaps the combination of the rod and the sleeve that they are in. I know Pete already said it, but I didn't grasp it until I had read the posts a number of times and looked more at the diagram and the photos. Sorry Once all this becomes clear, I think I'll do a sticky to post up. BTW, do you like my telephone directory feeler gauge in the photo! Is that the amount of powdered steel that is now washing around in the motor's system? Maybe the whole issue is just some weird optical illusion.

I was saying that other dealers wouldn't want to do it, because of my experience of trying to get warranty parts through dealers in England, when at the time there wasn't anyone dealing/servicing locally. Because I bought the Scura in England, I had parts ordered by that dealer: he posted them to me, I did the work, he claimed the warranty time allowance, everybody happy. But then when I tried to get the rear axle spacer and some bits and bobs (remember the episode of wrongly sized axle spacers being fitted by MG) I had this same experience of not being able to get help or a response (from my original English supplier). The order was lost, records were lost, parts were lost in transit from Italy etc etc allegedly. So that's when I contacted some other well-known English workshops to ask if they could supply. They wouldn't touch it – for the reason that you have given above. In the end I got the parts (just a simple little steel tube of course ): more than a year after I placed the order. Well yes, I just made up my own fix for the short spacer – but it's the principle of the thing. I think Anyone should be able to get such a simple part immediately, not after a year. Dealership here has been tossed around like a hot potato in the past few years. Practically speaking, there really hasn't been a dealer, certainly not with history - knowledge - experience. The current dealer, where I bought the Griso, only took the marque on relatively recently. Since I bought the Scura, about 5 years ago, this is the 4th! dealership here that MG has moved to. The others dropped it. In fact your example of the dealer-service agent position on warranty work is the type of thing that I had in mind and why I thought they wouldn't want to look at this. But you say any dealer is obliged to do the work, so maybe this would indeed be regarded in a different light. And Guzzirider indicates that should be the case too. Practically speaking, it's a bit mad to consider transporting an immobile bike across the water to get a small piece of work done. Hopefully it will not come to that. I'm sure the end result will be that at some indeterminable date, the local dealer will have to do the work. I'm sure you understand though, when I add that my problem with that – is that I just don't trust them now. :!: "Lor' luv a duck!"

Well, hey, thanks for the solidarity and support. It's a heck of a lot better than the...... *silence* ...... from the local guy! Cheers. On dealers: someone ventured the question before, are Aprilia dealers made to take Guzzi, even if they don't want them? I wonder. This place where my bike came from does Aprilia and has only recently had MG. Maybe Piaggio forces Guzzi onto dealers? And this lack of involvement, care, knowledge is the result. My only other option would be to go England. That's not a satisfactory solution and another dealer wouldn't want to deal with this anyway.

CRAP and double crap. When you say updated spring, you mean the one with a wider circumference coil? So the bigger coil broke, even on a 15mm boss? CRAP and double crap.

Pete thanks for the link to the tool. Is that similar to the special MG tool? Do you have an idea about that black pushrod sleeve? do you think it's normal for it to be loose and to move up and down with the rod, or could it be part of the problem? EDIT see below Paul I contacted my dealer straight away: that was more that a month ago. He has given me no response, no reply of any sort. I phoned again today. The person who answered said that they don't know anything and that the owner isn't there. He said that the owner will contact me next week. I have been waiting for more than a month, so clearly the dealer has no interest or concern at all. That means that I can have no faith or trust that the dealer will do anything to sort this out properly. For sure the fulll PDI was not done. For sure everything that is meant to be done at the first service was not done. I have tried to contact MG Customer services through their website contact form. It won't send. It doesn't work. I have tried to contact Customer Services by email. It doesn't work either. I got an error message. Does anyone know what it says? >> Il recapito non è riuscito per i seguenti destinatari o liste di distribuzione: CustomerService@piaggiogroup.com L'indirizzo di posta elettronica del destinatario non è stato trovato nel sistema di posta elettronica del destinatario. Non verranno effettuati ulteriori tentativi di recapito del messaggio. Controllare l'indirizzo di posta elettronica e provare a inviare di nuovo il messaggio oppure fornire il testo di diagnostica seguente all'amministratore di sistema. Well, I guess that Piaggio has changed or blocked their email system. So I am in the dark, with no one to contact and no one prepared to take responsibility. Edit Pete, you answered while I was typing. The sleeves are in the picture here: The two black tubes / sleeves that the rod runs through, from the cam below. It doesn't seem right that they should be loose. Surely that is going to generate a huge amount of friction? If that is still not clear, I'll put arrows on the photo. D

Ha! To cap it all, Guzzi's Customer Service website isn't working either. And not only that. In their model drop-down menu that the customer has to select from, the 8V models aren't even acknowledged as existing. The 8V Griso and Stelvio still do not appear there.

As I said previously, the top end suddenly seemed very noisy – too noisy. Now I've looked and: it's wrecked. I didn't have to look too hard: as soon as the cover was off and with the engine just in whatever position it happened to be sitting, I could see that the gap is sizable. In fact. a whole set of feeler leaves fit in with room to spare! So I'm pretty fed-up, with three Guzzis off the road because they need work: and this is a new and expensive one. Pete, a couple of questions, if I may. This time I just could not get the right side plug cap off. How do you do it? This is a terrible design with, as I've said before, little hope of getting them off at the roadside (without damage) if you ever need to. The rubber is split now on mine. Reading the service info in the Guzzi tech sheet, I get the impression that MG expect plug caps now to be 'use once' items! They should be replaced every time that they are removed. I say that because the service doc says to take off the plug caps using a special tool and then immediately fit new caps! It reads like an admission that this 'system' precludes re-use because of likely damage to the plug cap on removal. How daft. As I couldn't get the right side plug cap off, I didn't bother going through the whole procedure of turning the motor to find tdc and measure all the gaps in the correct position. It is enough to see that the left side is clearly knackered. What do you make of this? (Third pic down.) The black guide that the rod moves in is loose and moves up and down with the rod. Do you think that is normal, or should it remain tightly fixed in place? It's not on the recall replacement parts list. The rods aren't on the list either, so MG expect all the problem to be with the camshafts only? ** EDIT It seems that the black sleeve is what MG calls the 'bowl' – so it is on the replacement list. The rods aren't to be replaced though. *Unless they come as a set and the BOWL is the combination of sleeve and rod? The guide sleeves (Edit: BOWLS) that move up and down. You can see that one (on left) slightly protrudes more than the other here. The terrible plug cap system. The long black plug cap lodges tightly in the tube down to the plug. There is nothing solid to grasp to break the seal and pull the cap out, so the rubber gets torn. This then can lead to electricity taking a short-cut where the insulation is torn. People have previously reported that problem. This one won't budge, without the rubber tearing to bits.

If you can stand a bit of a read here is the financial crisis observed and explained.

In that case, what are the things to look out for? (Pete?) I'll get a look tomorrow. – wide tappet gap – swarf? – loose feel / tight feel to rotation? Whatever: if there is damage, or if it is on its way out, will it be obvious to see and if there is nothing obvious to the eye then I can get back on and ride again? It can be hard to judge what is normal noise and what is danger noise, when there is no direct point of reference.

Was yours making much rackety noise from the top end? One side more than the other?

It's only something like 7 days until Spring and it's 99 days until Summer And It's 69 Days Until Holiday Time It doesn't seem long since it was 200 days, when I first put up the other web pages. Have you booked yet?

Yaaaay a cool reply purrfecto (though the air-cooled lady pic was purtty coool too)

Didn't you used to be a RaceTafarian?

so, word of Guzzi[O']rider's garters has spread to America. They are lovely.

If I can overcome general fatigue, I'm going to get from behind the office desk and go look inside a rocker cover and see why it's so noisy. I wish that I could just get the parts direct to do my own too. My dealer still won't give me any reply whatsoever. The technical bulletin even seems to say that it is the dealer's responsibility to contact the customer to whom they sold the bike!

They've got Burns Night, wot they do make much ado about. "Touch Not ma Haggis, Lest I Do Something Ugly to Yer Bake, Chum... Wi' a Hammer." (rough translation from the Gaidhlig). St Andy? This is for Søren: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONO0bkpiXhM

Will you be there yourself, to see the surgery?

Ahha! Correct answer!

Er, don't believe everything you read on the internet, but, here: "From the Scotch Irish (or Ulster Scots as they are called in the British Isles) have been drawn more than a quarter of all the Presidents of the United States including the only three first generation Americans to achieve this office as well as State Governors, generals, writers, administrators, churchmen and teachers. Several signatories of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States were Scotch Irishmen from Ulster. Ulstermen moved to the New World in such numbers that they became the most important element in the colonial population of America after the English. By the time the United States became independent one American in five was of Scotch Irish, i.e., Ulster stock. Ideally suited for the new life by reason of their experience as pioneers in Ulster, their qualities of character and their Ulster Scottish background, they made a unique contribution to the land of their adoption. They became the frontiersmen of colonial America, clearing the forests to make their farms and, as one would expect, they had the defects as well as the qualities of pioneers. President Theodore Roosevelt described them us "a grim, stern people, strong and powerful for good and evil, swayed by gusts of stormy passion, the love of freedom rooted in their very hearts' core..." They suffered terrible injuries at the hands of the red men, and on their foes they waged terrible warfare in return. They were also upright, resolute, fearless, and loyal to their friends, devoted to their country. In spite of their many failings, they were of all men the best fitted to conquer the wilderness and hold it against all comers." They took with them into the wilderness their love of religion and learning, building churches and schools as they established each new settlement or fort. The primitive centres of further learning such as the Log College of Neshaminy in Pennsylvania which they early established achieved a notable reputation as "mothers" of new colleges, their graduates taking the lead in founding new institutions and providing the first presidents who gave them their character. Indeed it was in the field of education that the Scotch Irish made one of their most important contributions to American life. THE SCOTCH IRISH AND THE WHITE HOUSE Estimates of the number of Presidents of the United States of Scotch Irish origins vary, depending on the degree of relationship on which the claim is based. For the purposes of their search for ancestral homesteads the Ulster Scot Historical Foundation accepted only those of direct Scotch Irish descent. Even limited in this way the number amounts to eleven; a notable proportion when related to the very small group from which they sprang. They are Andrew Jackson, James Knox Polk, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses Simpson Grant, Chester Alan Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, and Woodrow Wilson. This list becomes all the more impressive when it is realized that three of the ten, Presidents Jackson, Buchanan and Arthur, were first generation Americans, i.e., Presidents whose fathers were born in Ulster. The United States Constitution lays it down that the President must be American born. In the long history of the United States these are the only three first generation Americans to achieve this high office. Andrew Jackson has left it on record that he only just made it since he was born soon after the ship in which his parents sailed from Ulster reached harbour in America. Three other Presidents, John Adams, James Monroe, and John Quincy Adams are reputed to have family links with Ulster. A further two presidents Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower claimed to have "Scotch Irish" blood in their veins. THE SCOTCH IRISH AND THE REVOLUTION The Scotch Irish were the servants and soldiers of the Revolution. President McKinley wrote of them that "they were the first to proclaim for freedom in these United States." President Theodore Roosevelt described them as "the men who before any other declared for American independence:''

Well now, if you check a previous thread on the Ulster Scotch connections with America, you may find that Ulster alone gave America something like 17 Presidents! And Davy Crockett. So I'm sure you're eternally grateful and will consider yourself proven wrong. >>The Scotch Irish were the servants and soldiers of the Revolution. President McKinley wrote of them that "they were the first to proclaim for freedom in these United States." President Theodore Roosevelt described them as "the men who before any other declared for American independence:'' "I think Ireland does nothing with respect to USA" – Pah! And have you forgotten so quickly the Old Bushmills Distillery!? PS Paddy's Day is on 17th

Brilliant, Badgoosey. Forgive me for posting these again: I just wonder did you see them in a previous thread, last December. It's the same sort of spirit and I think you'll enjoy them. Another bevvy? Classic. Atmospheric. circa 1977 Pt1 http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ430-CCpNI Pt2 http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-zb5HQEkIf8 Pt3 http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=o52GRZqtk10 And again, that Road Racing video thread started with this one, which includes Omobono Tenni. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ATV8c_ZkK3E I don't apologise too much, 'cos as I said at the time, there could be a case for 'stickifying' some of the best of these must-see vids!

Thanks GM, I have the info ok – MotoGuzzi mailed people directly. It's the dealer-service situation that I'm wondering about.

The Griso's left side head has become very noisy. Has anyone, particularly in the UK, been through the recall process yet? Does anyone know if parts have been available and if (UK) dealers are doing this work yet? As soon as the recall was issued, a month ago, I contacted my dealer and asked when parts would be available and when I could have the work done. I got no answer. I have asked again and still no reply. If I don't get any joy I may go to 'Customer Care', but they'll hardly supply me with the parts direct.