Motorcycle Forum banner

Transmission problems

59K views 39 replies 12 participants last post by  Jammin'John 
#1 · (Edited)
Gentlemen,

It appears to me that Yamaha is refusing to acknowledge a problem with early-model (2006-2008) Stratoliner transmission gridning problems. I have a '06 Strat with 23K on it and my 3rd Gear is near useless. When in 3td gear (from 25-45mph) the gear whines so loud...you can hear everything but the bike. Never saw any shaving in my oil nor on the magnetic oil plug. I use Mobil-1 20W-50 (special for air/oil coooled V-Twins) Full Synthetic oil, and change it every 3000 miles along with my transfer case fluid (Royal Purple full synthetic). The gear whine/grind in 3rd in unbelievable and my local DOUCHEBAG dealer told me it "sounds just fine for a bike with large cogs in it". Obviously he's an idiot, but that's besides the point. Bike is still under warranty until 2011. HELP!

Does anyone know a decent/trustworthy dealer anywhere near Virginia/Maryland/Pennsylvania/DC area who would help me get this fixed under warranty? Thank you in advance for any help on this.

BTW, I have two other Strat riders with an identical issue! I have not contacted Yamaha directly as I thought they would simply send me back to the dealer.
 
#2 ·
It appears to me that Yamaha is refusing to acknowledge a problem with early-model (2006-2008) Stratoliner transmission gridning problems.
This should be a good venue to see how many others you can scrape up to add to your list of failures; it might help your case.

You didn't say for sure but it sounds like you have not contacted Yamaha directly; if not, you should. Contact information should be in your owner's manual or a warranty book that came with the bike.

If your factory warranty has expired, then you're gonna have to fight with your 3rd party warranty supplier.

Good luck.
 
#4 ·
Go directly to Yamaha. I have an early 06 and so far I have no problems. Their are 6 other bikes in my area without any problems. Most dealers don't or can't have any idea what they are hearing. The bike is still to new on the market for them to have gained any sound knowledge of the bikes operation sounds. Bikes showing up here and on other forms with this problem are only a small percentage of the bikes sold. Dealers can only guess and its a big job to repair. So they are very reluctant to take it on, on there own. In comparison to some other Yamaha bikes we with Strats and Roadliners are a very small number. Again go directly to Yamaha. Good luck.

Willie
 
#7 ·
3rd Gear in Roadliners

I own a 2006 Roadliner that I purchased new in 2007 ....I though I was getting a good bike since Yamaha was praising it up so much...1900cc...........well I paid close $20,0000 for that piece of junk........... cause this year ...my 3rd gear went and I was told it could lock up your bike while driving....and would cost me over $4,000 to fix....not to meantion endangering my life while I ride my Roadliner...wow.;..


I fealt like I wanted to trade it in right away......but the dealer said he wouldn't look at it until it is fixed........then he could give me a good deal....what a joker...... I wanted to trade it in then when I found out it was not safe to drive........but couldn't......and I did not want to trade it in on a harley or go to another dealer unless I was up front and told then too...since i was worried someone could get killed on that bike...... I do have a conscience.....

I contacted both the dealer and Yamaha and both refused to do anything for me (well the dealer gave me a $50 per hr rate instead of $85...but it still took a week to do..and waited a month for parts on back order....) stating that they never heard of such as issue with the roadliner....... and I am the only one with this problem....RIGHT ....the Yamaha rep... said it must be the way I drive.....yes...by...I am 52 years old and drive carefully.....but I said it must be the low quality steal they are using..... well I wasted my time dealing with Yahama Canada but however I did come up with a rather discovery......... After paying $20,000 plus $3,000 for my 3rd gear plus other costs....I concluded that I would never EVER EVER buy a piece of junk like that and if thats the best bike Yamaha got then I will never buy another Yamaha as long as I live....and I tell all my friends the story so they don't get burned either......now I am stuck with a bike I am afraid to drive and have to trade it in soon as I can justify that the bike is worth nothing.....


lets do the math to see if a roadliner is worth it....


in 2007 I paid close to $20,000

2012 paid $3,000 for 3rd gear (cause it lost a tooth)...

thats $23,000 ...expensive I think
since it is worth about 6-7 on a trade in so it cost me $18,000 to drive a Roadliner for 5 yrs........Wow...


and BTW,.....I also purchased a truck the same year and drive it every day without issues.........thank god ..they diodn't make my truc k like that bike....whick in my option is a piece of junk for thew price..

I would never buy another one.......I think I would get more fun out of burning your $15,000 instead of giving it away to a billion dollar company.....


signed
Ripper off and burned

PS...I can be contacted anytime to chat about my dealing with Yamaha and the Roadliner issue with 3rd gear....
 
#8 ·
3rd Gear

First: YamahaRoadliner2006,you paid WAY too much for your bike. ;)
I got my '06 Midnight as a leftover at the end of '06 for less than $13k !

Second: The repair is a major one BUT is closer to $2k to fix.

Third: The tranny won't lock up & kill you. That's not true.

My gear went at 108K.
I had just run out of my extended Y.E.S. warranty and yamaha would not help.
The local dealer offered to fix it at a much reduced rate even though I didn't buy it from him.

I have 114K on the bike now.
It runs great. I just skip 3rd gear and all is good.

JJ
 
#9 · (Edited)
First: YamahaRoadliner2006,you paid WAY too much for your bike. ;)
I got my '06 Midnight as a leftover at the end of '06 for less than $13k !

Second: The repair is a major one BUT is closer to $2k to fix.
Those prices are Canadian.

The thing that strikes me about his tirade is:
The bike is fixed now but he still somehow thinks that it is unsafe.

Maybe you do too......since you skip 3rd gear.
 
#10 ·
Safe

Naw,I think it's just fine.
Bike runs good. I own it. Life is good.
The Strato is hard to work on though & even though it has dedicated gear oil you have to pull the whole motor & take it apart to fix it.
NOT so great for the owner.

JJ
 
#11 ·
Your dealer should help you. I had third gear go out not once, but TWICE! Yamaha has made a replacement third gear that will hold up. the first time third gear failed (20,000 miles) my dealer called the Yamaha rep and they came out and fixed my bike for FREE! i was 6 months off warranty. when they fixed my bike, the upgraded replacement gear was not availible yet, we missed it by 2 months. third gear failed again with 11,000 miles on it. they fixed it again for free and installed the new gear this time. so far i have 8500 miles on it and so far so good. still smooth as silk. when the 3rd gear was failing it made a strange noise at first. didnt sound that bad but when you put you hand on the final drive unit it felt like you threw a handle full of rocks in the tranny. i know for a FACT Yamaha will fix this. they did it to mine TWICE for FREE. if you are having a hard time print out some of the stuff you find on the forums INCLUDING this post so they can see that Yamaha is fixing this issue. is will be much harder to ignore when they can see it is common knowledge that there is a problem.
 
#17 ·
3rd Gear

Join the club cj.
I had a couple nice rides on the Strato this week.
I just got it out of storage since I ride my trusty Valk during the crapiest of crappy weather.
I'll NEVER get to fix mine so I just have to keep riding it.
I have 118k on her now & she runs fine.
I WISH mine had broken during the warranty.
I probably didn't hear it 'cause of the noisey BAK.

JJ
 
#18 ·
Our local Yamaha dealer has a new unsold Roadliner I believe at least 5 years. The reduced price is around $5000 off. I asked why it was still there and he said "it just hasn't found the right person yet". This issue explains why and I'm disappointed that he tried to get me to buy it. I asked him his opinion on the Roadliner compaired to the M109R. Of course he put down the M as I expected.
 
#20 ·
The reduced price is around $5000 off. I asked why it was still there and he said "it just hasn't found the right person yet".
Looks like a reasonable opportunity to me.....for a person who wants a bike like that.
Take ~$1K of that savings and plow it back into an extended warranty.
Then you have a brand new bike at $4,000 below list, (which might be about the fair "used" price).......and if 3rd gear does go, you've got that covered too.
 
#26 ·
All the makers have stuff that goes wrong.
The problem with jap v twins is that the motor has to come out of the frame to do many of the repairs.
If you put a lot of miles on the bike and it has a major repair it ends up not worth doing.Throw it away !
In my case I can at least keep riding so that's just what I'll do.

JJ
 
#29 ·
The british bikes that they trashed were junk compared to a Stratoliner.
I would be on my 4th or 5th top end by now as well as leaking motor,crappy electrics,awful carbs,etc.
The new Triumphs are as good as the Strat but parts/service are pricey.

JJ
 
#30 ·
Well i guess it's my turn. 06 Stratoliner with 28,750 miles on it. Not just a third gear problem, the whole transmission gave out. I live in NE Wisconsin so I don't get to ride as much as I would like but my bike is in pristine condition until this calamity. Dealer is telling me 1500 to 2Gs to fix. Absolutely love this bike and I have owned 3 yamahas, a gold wing, a heritage softtail classic and a full assortment of dirt bikes. This road bike fits me the best and is a pleasure to drive. Purchased it in 2007 with 3,000 miles on it and is the first catastrophic failure I have ever had with riding over 35 years. Biggest problem is losing the three weeks of precious riding time while waiting for the diagnosis, parts and repairs to complete. :(
 
Top