Forum

[RoSy]

As I've mentioned I bought myself a new euro 4 Enfield , I've given it an oil change already at 400miles this was mainly to get any crap out of the engine and I'm loathed to part with £50 that my dealer wanted. But what is the situation with Enfield and Warranty if I do my own servicing ? anyone else do their own servicing on new Enfields ?

[papasmurf]

A first service should be free apart from materials and you have probably nullified the guarantee.

[Rattlebattle]

“Should be” and “is” are different things. I’ve bought five new bikes of different makes in the last seven years; all charged something for the first service, if only for the oil and filter. As for answering the OP’s question, I changed the oil and filter on my then new C5, using the specified make and grade of oil and filter. (Ironically the dealer would have put 10-40 in - one wonders how that would have affected the warranty...). I asked the dealer about home servicing and he was quite willing to pursue a warranty claim as long as it could not have arisen from anything I did. Be aware that motorcycles are not covered by the same conditions that apply to cars ie providing you use the specified parts an independent dealer or competent mechanic carrying out a service to the specified schedule cannot be cause for warranty claim rejection under EU law. Why this doesn’t apply to bikes I don’t know. Essentially you are taking a risk, but I got away with it ok...

[Rattlebattle]

The other point is that it is a warranty we are talking about, not a guarantee. They are different in law.

[Jamesy]

What timescale/mileage does a new Enfield get its first service/check?

[PeteF]

James, I would do an initial oil change at 100mls then follow what the book says. Some would say that's ott but it certainly can't do any harm.

[RoSy]

I often wonder what oil a dealer might use in an engine regardless of make/model, I can't imagine that they keep every make/grade of oil in stock for all the machines they might have to service, I bet there is a barrel of generic engine oil at the back of the workshop that serves a multitude of uses. Sorry to any dealers out there but feel free to defend yourselves. I used the correct grade and a quality make and filter all supplied by our host. The bike has to go back for a tank change at some time (paint Chip) so I'll see if I can get a "pretend first service" at a reduced rate.

On a different subject, I haven't seen any post by Mr Scalyback for a long time !! Very entertaining post there are .

[Jamesy]

I will rephrase my initial question Rosy.When is a new Royal Enfield due its first service at its dealership.

[ric]

It should be at 600 miles, the same as the EuroIII models.



Voiding the warranty by not taking your bike back to a dealer for servicing is a simple risk game. You have to weigh up how much you think you might pay out over the two years warranty period against the cost of dealer servicing during the same time.

After a shoddy first service I took the decision not to take the bike back to the dealers and sort out any possible warranty problems myself. Despite suffering a leaking tank and having to replace the swinging arm along with numerous other problems together with the cost of parts required for routine servicing over that time, the overall cost still came to a considerable amount less than paying out for the eight dealer services I would have needed to maintain the warranty.
As a bonus I never had to suffer the inconvenience of leaving the bike at the dealers for an indeterminable amount of time for the work to be carried out either.



If quality control is improving so much why is this production line detritus still appearing? Perhaps the current level of QC being bandied about is just sales pitch hyperbole and the assurance of a warranty is something we still need to pay for and that's when we go full circle back to the risk game.

[Chris [Stockport]]

For comparison, and this does not necessarily cover newer bikes, of course.
I've just had a look at the service record for my 2007 Bullet (the older engine type):

In order to meet conditions of the warranty, your bike should be serviced by and approved dealer according to the schedule described in the handbook.....The first service at 500km [=310miles] will be carried out free of charge excluding materials) by you [sic] SUPPLYING DEALER.