2003 Aluminum -no recalls question

[Kiwi Dave]

That shot of the rockers is showing that it is a hydraulic motor that has never had the upgrade kit.

[Dnaj]

That shot of the rockers is showing that it is a hydraulic motor that has never had the upgrade kit.

Yes, that is pretty clear. It's an un modified hydro yet Guzzi claims the VIN is not one of those affected with the problem. The VIN is ZGUKDD0084MXXXXXX versus the affected US titanium which begin ZGUKDD0074M. The ninth digit is an 8, not a 7, which knocks it out, otherwise it would be squarely in the Titanium USA subset.

What's the ninth digit? Any other 2003 aluminum owners out there with 7s or 8s in that place?

[Dnaj]

What is the VIN?

ZGUKDD0083M133409

[Chuck in Indiana]

However, that assumption however is wrong.

Welcome to the weird world of Guzzi record keeping. Those kits are getting scarcer by the day, btw.

[Dnaj]

Welcome to the weird world of Guzzi record keeping. Those kits are getting scarcer by the day, btw.

The story and mileage actually make sense now. The original or second owner had it and it developed a valve tick. Guzzi told him it was not one of the affected bikes and he could not afford the 2-4K to fix it. So he parked it. Valve tick or no, it's clearly one of their hydro valve problem bikes, but they haven't acknowledged that and the years went by.

I may be stupid enough to fix it, but it would be nice if they threw in the parts. I'm hoping for some mercy but don't expect a free ride. I knew what it was when I bought it.

[johnr]

What is the VIN?

Vehical Identification Number

[Dnaj]

Vehical Identification Number

PS. On further checking, my VIN would fall under the recall but for
the 9th digit in the VIn, which is an  8 instead of a 7. However on
reading the VIN the 9th digit is merely a check digit, to confirm the
other digits. Does this mean my VIN should actually fall under the program?

[johnr]

  I think Curtis was asking what the numbers are John.

  Dusty

Oops!    That's what happens if you're half asleep.

[Vasco DG]

PS. On further checking, my VIN would fall under the recall but for
the 9th digit in the VIn, which is an  8 instead of a 7. However on
reading the VIN the 9th digit is merely a check digit, to confirm the
other digits. Does this mean my VIN should actually fall under the program?

Who knows? But even if it does you have to convince the 'Powers that be' of it. Good luck with that.

Look, it's a 12/13 year old machine with an inadequate service history. It doesn't matter what thee or me or Uncle Tom Cobbley thinks is *Right* or *Fair* the bottom line is you either buy a kit and fit it, or pay someone else to fit it, or you waste far more money chasing the issue with lawyers and at the end of the day you don't have an adequate *Book* service history so you'll end up loosing and taking it up the arse.

You have a variety of options.

1.) Do as suggested, suck it up and fix it yourself regardless of whether this is right or wrong.

2.) Get up on your high horse and pursue it, almost certainly unsuccessfully, waste a lot of time, money and your life and come out of it a bitter, resentful, poorer person.

3.) Do as John did, buy a fleabay solid lifter motor and slot it into the bike! No, it won't be as nice as a *Fixed* Hydro but it will be a lot cheaper and less hassle. Cali motors are a dime a dozen on the Bay of Fleas!

Pete

[Wayne Orwig]

It's an un modified hydro yet Guzzi claims the VIN is not one of those affected with the problem.

That is crap.
ALL hydraulic lifter bikes should get the upgrade. 100% of them.
The upgrade came out LONG AFTER the hydraulics were made. Mine was installed in 2006.
And of course your photos tells the whole story. Bad. hopefully the oil pump isn't packed with metal bits.

MPH in Houston USED to have a good deal on the cam kits. Give them a call ASAP, but that may be long gone.

[Curtis Harper]

Piaggios warranty was down yesterday, so I could not check the vin. Since then you have found out that it is in fact a PI motor. Recalls for mechanical updates do expire which is why a VIN check shows it to be not affected. So the other dealer who told you this was relying on what his Piaggio rep told him.  The steering stem recall  is a federal safety recall and will never expire until carried out. If the lifter upgrade had been completed it would still be shown in the history. It is possible although doubtful, Piaggio may still cover it. But the bike would have to be at a dealer for the service, not in a home garage.

[Dnaj]

That's interesting. The rep told me my warranty date began in February 2003. He must not have seen the 1 in front of the 2.

I'm still attempting to work something out with the regional rep through my local dealer, but Im not holding my breath. The rep insists, however, my VIN was never part of the program, which is why the previous owner parked it once it began to tap. Guzzi said it was not recalled and he could not afford to fix it. So it sat.

I phoned two dealers before I purchased it. They did as you did. They looked up the VIN in their computer. The VIN did not show a tappet recall in the dealer database, so they said it was OK. I don't blame the dealers though, they relied upon Guzzi's database.

If there was an open but expired recall, the database should have shown that. Instead it showed that the bike was not one of the affected models, which they repeated to me, twice. They surmised it was fixed prior to sale.

I believe this bike was never part of the voluntary recall, but it should have been. If it was recalled, they might honor a portion of that recall, and I would be happy to take it to a Guzzi dealer.

Only the check-sum digit is off. The check-sum digit is not part of the sequence number. This was clearly an affected model.

The check-sum digit is only used on North American models, which tells me one of two things. Either the computer programmer was not smart enough to recognize the North American check-sum, or worse, Guzzi purposely decided to leave out a number of North American customers. The Euro models have no checksum. Their 9th digit is 0, so this error only affects N.A. customers

I would not be as quick as others to defend MG here. The first scheduled service is largely a oil and fluid change at 1000 miles, and does not need to be done at the dealer. This bike has 1200 miles, while their database continues to mislead dealers, which alone would give me pause if I thought to buy a new Goose.

If I go the route to fix it myself. Does anyone have the special tools to lend? That kit is $340. Thank you.

[canuguzzi]

Saw the post that you bought the bike so this might be applicable to others.

Why not make it a contingent or conditional sale? Agree on the price if everything under the valve covers is as you expect. Sign a contract to buy based on that price and condition, one of the conditions being that a dealer opens it up and verifies the state of recalls.

Hopefully you haven't told the seller what the dealer told you, loose lips sink ships.

This thing about popping off valve covers without a contract to buy if it looks good doesn't fly too well. Yeah you can walk or run away, like bikes, there is always another buyer.

You can also have the dealer provide in writing that that particular bike was not subject to any recalls or that service records show all were done.

Too many lookie looks around to let people take a wrench to your bike without a written contract to buy unless specific defects are discovered or it amounts to a fishing expedition. You open up the covers and decide something else doesn't look right but it wasn't the stated purpose of the inspection.

Lookie looks are all over the place, they show up, want to touch this and that, and then they want to open it up? Sorry, go to a dealer, ask them to open up the engine so you can look around on one of their used bikes.

Contract to buy subject to specific conditions? Go right ahead, you pay for a dealer to do it ( not you, don't know if you tied your own shoe laces). You're also going to give me $50 for my time, it ain't a $500,000 house.

Moto Guzzi or not, without my interests being protected, no one takes a wrench to the bike, you could be one of those tighten till it spins idiots and then you walk away because your underwear is too tight?

As for MG, what are they standing behind other than the customers wallet? Flat tappets, swingarm? Design or manufacturing recall over defect, fix it. MG doesn't need defending, they have lawyers, do you?