I have been riding the bike quite a lot in the last few days, including stopping every 15 - 20 minutes and checking the heat to see whether the fan was working or not. In between, I checked the level of the new Motul Moto Cool coolant at the cap of the radiator as well as the reservoir tank and topped it up to the right amount.
My findings after riding the bike extensively in mixed conditions, are consistent with what I had posted
earlier (Triumph Cochin - Repeated service issues)
- the fan running continuously with the brand new Triumph HD4X coolant (
which the dealer could / would not spot but at the same time said is incorrect while also refusing to investigate) issue has disappeared conclusively after I changed over to the Motul coolant.
- with the Motul coolant, the bike's display mostly shows 5 temperature bars , it does sometimes show 6 bars if it has been running for some time. Even with 6 bars displayed, the fan does not run automatically. For reference, the dealership said 6 bars always was normal and that the fan was behaving normally (
i.e. running continuously) as per their extended testing.
- only if I am waiting at a signal for a few minutes, after having ridden for some time, does the fan come on but it goes off within a minute of two of riding. This is normal behaviour.
So, the bike is running perfectly fine now and I dont have to worry about the heat management issue anymore.
It has been an exhausting two months in terms of dealing with the Triumph Cochin dealership. Despite having extended every bit of support from my side, time and again, I have been the one left getting a raw deal. For those who have been cherry picking points to argue and find fault with me (
!!!!), it will be good to read this recap,
- I booked a slot for service in September when their workload was less and was told work on my bike will take 2 days. It took 4.5 days.
- Service team helped themselves / pocketed / stole 800 ml of engine oil which I gave them, without informing me about it in advance and lied about it when questioned. They also lied about work that they forgot.
- I posted about it on TBHP, got responses from helpful TBHPians confirming my suspicions and despite the truth being out in the open, and the dealership staff reading all the posts (
by their own admission!), none of them reached out to me.
- Writing to Triumph India magically made the dealership call me and admit to their falsehoods and home grown processes. I think this in itself speaks volumes for how things are run on the ground. I decided to let bygone be bygones and move forward with the dealership, on a positive note.
- The heat management issue that suddenly got introduced during the first top up and subsequent coolant change, were repeatedly ignored by the dealership. They outright refused to accept it despite admitting that things such as fan running continuously for hours was not normal. Again, despite being rebuked by the dealership, I told them that I will keep them updated if I find anything that sorts out the issues with my bike.
- Removing the new Triumph HD4X coolant and seeing feedback from fellow riders led to suspicions that the quality of coolant was not normal and this, along with the dealerships refusal to support me, led to this thread. Suddenly, the dealership guys wanted to meet me to prove that there was no wrong doing and wanted to help fix my bike. These were the same folks who just a few days before this, had washed their hands off my bike and basically said that I was on my own.
- The only positive experience that I have had with them in the last 2 months was when I spoke to the dealer principal, who patiently listed to all the well documented issues.
To be frank, I have wasted a lot of time and more importantly, peace of mind by repeatedly giving the benefit of the doubt to the dealership team and offering them chance after chance to sort things out. Even the home minister got so annoyed with the grossly incompetent dealership folks that she said it is better to sell this bike and move to a brand that treats customers well, given that we were getting taken for ride after ride by them, even after spending over Rs 26,000 in September.
Keeping aside the stealing and deceit from the first service experience (
not that these are minor things, they are indefensible and confidence breaking, especially when customers spend big bucks), all the dealership had to do was perform a simple coolant change to fix this final issue. But they either didnt have the right competency to do this and then later, identify evident symptoms that a customer was pointing out, or, they willingly looked the other way when the tell tale signs of improper heat management were clearly in front of them. Neither option is a reassuring one.
Anyways, it is time to put this service debacle behind me and carry on enjoying the bike like I used to. A big thank you to everyone who has helped me resolve this issue and supported me.
And for those who thought that some magic or sorcery was needed to fix the heat management issues, fortunately I didnt have to go that far to get my bike back to normal.