Extended Warranty

  Buying an extended warranty isn't something I normally do.  I figure if its a piece of crap its gonna break under regular use during the warranty period. When I bought my Ultra Limited I decided to get the extended warranty because so many individual pieces are so expensive. The radio was one such item I was thinking of but unless it konks out in the next couple months I guess I lost that gamble. So far my warranty claims were all under the original two year warranty so it was looking like that three year extended warranty was a waste of money...until two weeks ago. 

 I was riding home from work when an orange light on the dash caught my eye. Further investigation revealed a red light on the other side of the dash. Without my reading glasses I have no idea if these lights are warning me of a problem or suggesting my current dew rag is out of style. I thumbed through the menu and saw the oil pressure was normal. I was only a few miles from home so I continued on. Once in the garage I was able to determine that these lights represented "check engine" and "temperature". 

 I felt fortunate that this happened the week after returning from my week long vacation. A few days later I was able to investigate and determined the problem wasn't a simple fuse or relay and in fact the coolant overflow tank was empty. It wasn't like that while on vacation so I know this problem just occurred. BTW, most of you are familiar with Harley as being air and oil cooled but some of these bigger touring models also have water cooled heads. Traditionalists hate it and I'm not a big fan of all the extra garbage hanging on the bike but there are advantages to it. 

 I refilled the tank and tried to ride it to work one day but didn't make it far before the lights came back on. Now I knew I had a serious problem because the tank was still full. Was the electric water pump broken? Thermostat stuck? Dunno.

 The next step was to call and confirm my extended warranty covered this type of problem. I was told there is a $50 deductible and can I get it there or do I need it towed in. I let them know I didn't want to schedule it and would drop it off at my convenience. No problems. When I finally did drop it off the service writer told me they have redesigned the entire cooling system. He knew when I called just what the problem was because they have seen many before. I guess this is one of those cases where a crappy design may not reveal itself under the original warranty. Early in ownership I complained of a lot of noise from under the primary cover. Their response was to shim the compensator, a "shock absorbing" device in the primary chain assembly. What they shim I don't know. It sounded like a band aid repair but the noise was gone so I eventually put it out of my head. Recently that noise has returned and I mentioned that to the service writer. 

 A few days later, yesterday, he called and told me the bike was ready for pickup. He said they had fixed the cooling system, replaced the compensator and replaced one of the driving lights and that the total bill was $xxx. I told him I wasn't prepared to spend that much on a light bulb and asked it be removed. He was kind and agreed to do it but I know he was probably thinking I was cheap. While its true I may be budget minded, the fact is those lights don't offer a lot of benefit to seeing down the road or into the ditches. I believe I can put different bulbs in there and get better performance whether it be for the same money or not. 

 Thats all the info I have now. I'll run up there this week and get the bike and have a better idea of what these repairs actually consisted of and if my extended warranty was justified.

Later.