Possible 650 Stator recall

[Mitch]

Does it matter what the dealer is doing? Are you expecting to have the oil changed? 

Yes it does when Suzuki are paying the dealer to change the oil. Its OK them being able to change the part well within the 2.5 hours they get paid for and pocket this , but robbing the customer of oil they are also being paid for is criminal. Mine had new oil in it anyway so didn't need to be changed but its the principle. My bike won't see that dealership ever again. Neither will I go there when I upgrade my bike.

[Hondaman]

I have not yet seen it stated that Suzuki pay for an oil change, things like 'drain & replace' are open to interpretation.

Personally, I think a worldwide recall for a few seemingly isolated issues re the cam issue and the possiblility of stator failure is mighty fine of them and is no doubt further than many other manufacturers would go to look after their customers.
It's a shame these things happen but they do, Suzuki have gone to rectify things and that's fine by me.

[Dave L]

HI,

The official reply from Suzuki UK is attached. They are responsible to replace the oil in your DL650, ALL of it, not just a top up.
Use the contact details on the e mail to contact them if your local dealer tells you otherwise. I had my £41 refunded as I decided to pay for an oil change when they initially told me they would just top the engine up.

[Rusty Nuts]

Hondaman, I agree. Small number of failing units, massive recall programme, good on Suzuki. It's the issue of whether dealers are performing work off-spec, and their reasons for the deviation from spec that concerns me. If Suzuki state xxxx  there will be a reason for it. Now if dealers are being given ambiguous instructions then Suzuki need a rewrite with clear point by point directions which should, again, be followed to the letter. ( in my opinion)

[Hondaman]

Unfortunately my phone won't open the above pdf but I haven't yet seen any specific comment by Suzuki to drain all the oil and replace with new, although that woukd be the correct/logical thing to do.

[Little Thumper]

Suzuki GB have informed me that stators are now on backorder and further stock is not expected until April.
So there may be a little bit of a wait.

[greywolf]

The recall isn't just nice of Suzuki, it's a legal requirement. Suzuki has to replace the stators as they can cause the dangerous situations of losing ABS and stalling in traffic. It's a mandated safety recall instituted my government safety agencies, not by Suzuki. Suzuki was ordered to do the recall based on many reports of failures. Some dealers may see the language as ambiguous but a check with Suzuki would make it clear that Suzuki is paying dealers to drain the oil in order to do the job properly and then refill it but not to change the filter as that is not required to do the job.

[Joe Rocket]

alibx11   Thanks for your comment, I appreciate you bringing to the fore what Greywolf has since confirmed.

What I stated before was the opinion of my 'dealer', both from the sales front and the workshop. There was no intent on my part to suggest "others are on the lamb" as you put it. I'll take greater care when expressing a view in the future as others can take it differently.

I shall send a mail to Vannes asking for their position on the work specified by Suzuki and be happy to let you know their response. How's your French..... 

[alibx11]

Bloody terrible... just like me english...

Like I said before if dealers can get away with it they will short change you on warranty work.
I've worked in quite a few main dealers (cars) and have seen some shortcuts taken with warranty work.
They get paid a discounted labour rate than retail customers pay but as I have said the labour hours allowed tend to be on the generous side to compensate, but as they consider that the customer paying is Suzuki and not the customer they do tend to cut corners.

I have seen "mechanics" only fitting half the supplied parts before in warranty work because some of them were a pain to fit and "didn't really need fitting" so they ended up in the bin, saved on labour times, job was done in less time and mechanic was able to move onto another job, they earn money for the garage for the hours billed, not hours actually worked, they can bill for 11 or 12 hours a day but only work for 8.

I would imagine that the Suzuki France procedure would be the same as elsewhere, but again it could have been a communucation error between Suzuki and the dealers instructions that have caused the discrepancy.
Although my experience lends me to my first opinion, unfortunately. 

[vstroman]

Dealer changed my oil and filter, wonder is there any way of knowing if they really changed the stator?
I trust few people, especially main dealers.
they don't give or show you the old part and there is no receipt or paperwork of any kind.
only thing the bike doesn't show on Suzuki's system anymore as needing a recall.

[mrp192]

My dealer showed me the old stator and said they don't get paid until it is returned to Suzuki. He couldn't see anything wrong with it but said apparently there was one  batch of stators that were faulty but Suzuki can't say on to which bikes they were fitted hence the general recall.
You would think that they would barcode an item on to a particular bike so they could trace them later?

[greywolf]

Since failures have been occurring at an unacceptable rate from 2008 models through 2016 models, I call BS on the single batch idea. Suzuki has admitted to a problem caused by gluing the output wires before resin coating the entire coil area so it was a lately discovered poor manufacturing practice rather than poor execution of a single batch. Heat expansion and contraction allowed too much movement in the glued area as the resin could not penetrate the glue to eliminate movement of the wires there.

[vstroman]

Sounds a bit like a problem I read about with the stator on the SV1000 a while back.

[UK_Vstrom650]

Following my bike breaking down with an unknown electrical issue on the A1 (http://www.v-strom.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=12233.msg311624#msg311624) I've emailed Suzuki and asked they swap my recently replaced stator given the first one that was installed was faulty, and the bike has had no issues prior to the recall work - the voltmeter has never shown above 13.6ish since the swap where the old one ran at 14.3ish.

Am hoping something will be done tomorrow otherwise the bike will be stuck 100 miles away from my house.

[Hondaman]

Same here, my new & old ones both at ~14.2/.3v, the new stator has better voltage at tickover than the old one (13.7-14.2v vs 12.7-13.6v depending on powered accessories)

Having said that, 13.6v wouldn't cause the battery to flatten.

[UK_Vstrom650]

I may just have to chance running back to Leeds with all the accessories unplugged. So long as the headlights work...

(Should probably avoid the A1 as if I breakdown in the roadworks on the opposite carriageway that won't be pretty!)

[Charmin]

Recall has arrived to Mexico, today I had to go and visit local Suzuki dealer to provide VIN number, they don't really have clear how to proceed, they ask me to phone them next week to check if they have an estimate about when stators will arrive so they can start to change it.

Mine is a 16 XT, so I call directly to Suzuki Mexico they checked the VIN and says that stator needs to be replaced. Other sources says that issue is not present on units manufactured after Oct 2015, mine is May 2016 and anyway they have to change it.

Seems that they prefer to change all units because is not clear which ones are defective and which ones are not.

Sent from my XT1063 using Tapatalk

[doboy]

 I contacted my local Suzuki dealer as soon as I read about the recall wks ago , they sent for the new stator that came next day . since then the weather has been rubbish and roads either covered in salt or raining ...so the other day they forecast a dry day and I  rang the dealer, they said you can bring it in tomorrow and take out a loan bike if you like ..arrived at 9am and the first thing I was greeted with was "good morning " would you like a coffee ... I left the bike, it was ready at dinner time .. good job done ...two wheeled centre mansfield....

[trip67]

Took my 61 AL2 in for stator recall at Streetbike, Halesowen Saturday 21/1/17. Dropped off in morning and collected 7 hours later. Next day I noticed front headlight was acting erratically, first time ever. This continued for a few days till the Wednesday when it stopped working completely. Took it back into Streetbike who looked it over for free, told me the stator could not possibly have had anything to do with the headlight and would continue working on it .... but at £66 p/h+vat. I refused and left, slightly miffed that they were absolving themselves of any blame whatsoever. The headlight eventually kicked back into life and, fingers crossed, it stays that way but wasn't happy with Streetbike's attitude.

[greywolf]

They were correct. The stator replacement does not involve the headlight circuitry in any way. The stock headlight wiring is marginal. Headlight failure and stator failure are the two most common electrical issues with a third being water getting into connectors besides the headlight connectors. Installing headlight relays early on will head off later headlight problems, primarily caused by the headlight bypass contacts in the starter switch but secondarily by connectors behind the radiator.