DCT Issue

[dreamer]

I would take this case to Honda Japan if necessary. And if no response was obtainable, I would very well document the case with bills and quotes from Honda’s reps and offer the story to as many newspapers and magazines as possible. Honda bailed out on their product, does not honor their user manual which recommends to take their product to authorized dealer to resolve any faults it may have. I would also consider hiring a lawyer.

But if you rather not take such a combat route, then you should at least hire a competent mechanic willing to take a better look at the bike.

 

[670cc]

This episode made me think a bit more about the structure of motorcycle sales and service operations. Please correct me if I’m wrong, but Honda designs and manufactures motorcycles, markets them to the public, and sells them to dealers. At their discretion, Honda makes replacement parts available to the end user through dealers or parts vendors.

Honda does not service motorcycles. For warranty or recall service, Honda reimburses dealers. Honda makes no promise of serviceability nor guarantees parts availability beyond the warranty period. It is in Honda’s best interest, but not mandated, to make an effort to support their product throughout it’s usable service life, in order to maintain favor among consumers and promote future sales of motorcycles.

If the above is true, I guess it’s Honda’s call if they want to walk away from this situation, and aside from making the story public, fixing it yourself, discarding the motorcycle, or finding another dealer/mechanic, there’s not much you can do.

 

[showkey]

The above is exactly true........ dealer and franchise laws preclude Honda or any other manufacturer from having factory stores or factory service centers. ( nothing to do with motorcycles but these laws and regulations are what Tesla is trying change or get around)

Before everyone gets on the lawyer and law suit train........the bikes question is a 2014 NC700X has only 6,500 miles. It’s a used bike with low miles.

The bike is NOT under warranty and not subject to buy back, lemon law, days out service or breach of warranty.

The only real litigation or case so far would be in small claims against the dealer for improper or ineffective repairs. That’s not stretch as there are several repair attempts and the bike still has the exact same issue. The customer could only recover the cost of labor and parts spent at the dealer. This also really depends on the documentation. This is not a slam dunk on either side.......those modifications, relavent or not are going to part of the story.

Many forum members early in the post after the first and Second screw ups said “start witha another more competent dealer service dept”. In hindsight that has come so true.

 

[telecam]

Update 12 (Day 70): Dealer left an unusually nice an apologetic message on my voicemail saying that they want to come pickup the bike and look at it once more. That was a bit weird, maybe Honda talked to them... Face with limited options, I agreed but say I want to start from a clean slate and have all existing repair charges waived.

 

[kpinvt]

I've been looking at this thread from time to time and have found myself looking at the ID box on the left and seeing the year 2015 and thinking, "oh good, at least t's not a 2014, like my bike." It is like my bike.

I hope you have Honda's attention now. My bike "qualified" for the instrument cluster replacement recall.

 

[ld_rider]

I'm looking at this thread and thinking I'm glad my 2014 is still covered under an unlimited mileage, 5 year Honda factory warranty ;-)

OP: I hope you get those issues squared away before too much longer.

 

[Red Rider]

Update 12 (Day 70): Dealer left an unusually nice an apologetic message on my voicemail saying that they want to come pickup the bike and look at it once more. That was a bit weird, maybe Honda talked to them... Face with limited options, I agreed but say I want to start from a clean slate and have all existing repair charges waived.

Regardless of their motivation, thank goodness you still have a dealer willing to persevere and hopefully solve the problem. Honda, the dealer, and a lot of owners on this forum have something of a vested interest in having this turn out well for the OP. It seems reasonable to suggest that the dealer waive any charges that were paid but that did not ultimately fix the bike. They’re taking it on the chin if they agree to that in addition to doing further diagnostic work.

Would their be any interest from forum members to kick in and help by donating a modest amount to get this problem identified and fixed? As a fellow DCT owner, I, for one, would be willing as it would serve my own best interests should I ever have a similar problem with my bike. Telecam’s bike, when fixed, could possibly help all of us, current and future DCT owners. Everyone wins. The alternative, Telecam dumping the bike, just leaves us all in the dark - and at this point, I can’t say I’d blame him if that’s the route he takes. But it would be a missed opportunity.

 

[telecam]

RedRider, it’s awfully nice for you to offer to pitch in but we’ll be fine. I’ll pay my bill and depending of the type of failure and parts that need replacing, Honda can probably pitch in as well. But I agree, this case will benefit us all including dealer and Honda. This is just taking way too long, my riding season will be over soon [emoji80]

 

[MZ5]

This whole situation is disastrously sad. It's also almost certainly a fairly simple issue & fix, but very difficult to fix as are so many intermittent electrical or electronic faults. Yes, I think this is electrical or maybe electronic, to include connections and wiring.

Here's the only way I'd probably modify what you wrote:

Honda Japan designs and manufactures motorcycles. American Honda buys them, imports them, markets them to the public, and sells them to dealers. At their discretion and subject to requirements of federal (and maybe state) law, American Honda buys from Honda Japan and makes replacement parts available to the end user through dealers or parts vendors.

American Honda is a middle-man importer.

This episode made me think a bit more about the structure of motorcycle sales and service operations. Please correct me if I’m wrong, but Honda designs and manufactures motorcycles, markets them to the public, and sells them to dealers. At their discretion, Honda makes replacement parts available to the end user through dealers or parts vendors.

Honda does not service motorcycles. For warranty or recall service, Honda reimburses dealers. Honda makes no promise of serviceability nor guarantees parts availability beyond the warranty period. It is in Honda’s best interest, but not mandated, to make an effort to support their product throughout it’s usable service life, in order to maintain favor among consumers and promote future sales of motorcycles.

If the above is true, I guess it’s Honda’s call if they want to walk away from this situation, and aside from making the story public, fixing it yourself, discarding the motorcycle, or finding another dealer/mechanic, there’s not much you can do.

 

[telecam]

I'm looking at this thread and thinking I'm glad my 2014 is still covered under an unlimited mileage, 5 year Honda factory warranty ;-)

OP: I hope you get those issues squared away before too much longer.

Looking at my experience and should I ever get another new Honda, I would probably consider getting extending warranty but aside from the money, I am not sure it would make a big difference. They just need to fix the thing and put me back on the road. 70 days of waiting now!

 

[dduelin]

I don’t think I read any history on the bike. Did you buy it new, used, and where has it been since new?

 

[670cc]

Looking at my experience and should I ever get another new Honda, I would probably consider getting extending warranty but aside from the money, I am not sure it would make a big difference. They just need to fix the thing and put me back on the road. 70 days of waiting now!

Right. The problem so far is getting a completed diagnosis and repair. I don’t see how having an extended warranty would drastically improve the current situation. The warranty would just be a promise on paper, and a reimbursement of expenses, but still won’t necessarily solve the motorcycle’s problem in a timely manner. You could end up fighting with the group that issued the warranty, and it could be just as frustrating as dealing with Honda or the dealer. Sure, you would have some legal standing if the warranty is breached, but the people behind the extended warranty, sitting in an office somewhere, can’t fix your DCT. Either way, you’re still not riding.

 

[telecam]

Maybe that will get some attention...

NoLoveForHondaDCT (@no_dct) on Twitter

 

[telecam]

I don’t think I read any history on the bike. Did you buy it new, used, and where has it been since new?

I bought it new in 2015, has stayed in MD ever since.

 

[dduelin]

I bought it new in 2015, has stayed in MD ever since.

That rules out crash or flood damage, right?

 

[telecam]

Never dropped, crashed or flooded. Garage kept.

 

[lootzyan]

If there were any visible signs of damage from a flood or crash, the dealer's technician would surely have pointed it out as a potential cause of the transmission trouble. (Shifting the blame).
At this point, the dealer's technician is your best friend.

 

[telecam]

Tempted...

 

[b_rubenstein]

Might want to look at the Yamaha FZ-07 also.

 

[Erik-in-Denver]

Thanks to Telecam and all who have contributed to this thread. I unfortunately have a similar issue with my 2015 NC700 DCT ABS and after reading this thread decided to join the forum (I would like to increase my membership level but cant figure out how to pay)

Quick Question, Was the Shifter Pin ever checked (sorry if I missed it in the thread)

Also my issue has happened 3 times now. (FYI I have no after market electronics of any kind on bike and battery is 2 weeks old, all fluids checked, no lights on display, and oil changed 1 week ago)

1) (23 Sep 18) The first after a 30-40 min ride (90 degree afternoon, dry weather) came to a stop light and when it turned green and I attempted to accelerate bike rev'ed up but didn't go anywhere, gear selector switch showed "-" with no other dash lights or faults. walked bike to parking lot and attempted to start normally but wouldn't due to gear selector showing 6th gear. After reading forums discovered I could hold brake and push start, then use up/down manual gear selector to lower the bike back into Neutral then put up kick stand and hit the transmission selector to Drive allowing me to continue the ride (15 minutes) back home, no issues. (this began my search for answers)

2) (25 Sep 18) the second occurrence on my way to work this morning (55 degree morning, dry weather), this time I was paying attention to gear selection display and as I decelerated (in drive mode) in traffic and the bike automatically shifter from 4th to third the gear selection display "-" and went into what I now know as safe mode. I accelerated slightly to see if the engine would rev as it did before it did NOT, and limped in the last selected gear forward. Then as I came to a stop in traffic (2 sec and 10 feet later) and signaled to move to the shoulder I attempted to accelerate again but this time went nowhere. Walked the bike to shoulder and completed actions to get out of safe mode (hold brake and push start, then use up/down manual gear selector to lower the bike back into Neutral then put up kick stand and hit the transmission selector to Drive) Allowing me to continue the ride 30 min to work (admittedly I was babying the bike in the right lane worried it would happen again in morning traffic at highway speeds)

3) (25 Sep 18) the third occurrence. After reading forum and discovering the D-D-N-D-N Calibration I thought I would give it a try and since I had to get the bike up to operating temperature figured I would drive the bike to get fuel and not baby it but instead try Drive, Sport, and Manual modes in a variety of situations (including hard and soft accelerating and braking in different gears) to see if I could recreate the issue. I did... 10-15 minutes into ride (after accelerating and breaking hard in a variety of gears and modes) I was making a right turn from a stop and while in Sport mode changed automatically from 2 up to 3 gear the bike went into safe mode with "-" on the gear selection display. This time I maintained the ability to limp back to my office in the last gear (I never slowed down below 18 MPH) once stopped I could hear the bike change gear (presumably to neutral as the gear selection display shows "-") and the bike would rev as in neutral. I completed the steps as stated above to get the bike out of safe mode and attempted to do the D-D-N-D-N Calibration which I couldn't get to work because I do not see the MIL, engine light show and therefore cannot hold down the D button until it disappears. (maybe doing it wrong, I will try again after work)

Cheers, Erik