2018 Goldwing broken engine case from small rock on road

[Ol Dan]

Not sure if this is the place to start a new thread but I was wondering if anyone had experienced a broken engine case with the new 2018 wing. A friend of mine kicked up a small rock on the road and broke a hole in the case by the shifter. $9200 later he's back on the road. I had a problem with the suspension on my 2010 Goldwing trike after I returned from the rally in Ruidoso and took it in to a dealer in the Dallas area and was told it would be next in line with the Goldwing mechanic after he finished putting a 2018 Goldwing back together after a rock had knocked a hole in the engine case. I thought this might be the place for that discussion.

[capttwb]

So I assume if a "rock' puts a hole in your engine case it isn't covered by the warranty. I had a similar case with a Saturn automobile. Something came loose in the transmission and cracked it. Saturn dealer claimed a rock did it and would not cover it. I wound up putting in a used tranny, cost 900 bucks plus install. Saturn wanted 4 grand.

[Ol Dan]

I don't know about the one at the dealership but I think his insurance covered my buddy's run in with the rock.

[Viking]

But are both owners sure that a small rock kicked up and broke the engine case? Could it have made a noise as the case cracked on its own, which sounded like the crack of a rock hitting the case? This is interesting enough that perhaps there is a problem with too thin cases and shifter area support on the 2018 Goldwing. This is two cases that a single member is aware of. Anybody else aware of any? I do not wish to be a conspiracy theorist, but stranger things have been covered up by manufacturers in the past. How bout anyone who knows of a 2018 with a cracked case, let us know.

[Ol Dan]

My buddy said he felt the rock or whatever it was hit his foot then he lost oil pressure. If he took a pic of the damage I'll try to post it. This seemed like quite a coincidence to me and I was wondering if anyone else had experienced this.

[Ol Dan]

This is a shot of the engine on a work bench at the Honda shop prior to disassembly. You can see the shifter area broken out. The other shot is a closer look at the broken casting.

[AZgl1800]

just needs a little bit of Brylcreem. a little dab will do ya....

don't thing JB Weld Steel will fix that one.

that is a very good reason to have a Belly Pan on the 1800s.
not sure though, if it would have helped in this particular case?

going back and looking again, a belly pan covers the full bottom of the engine, and the Oil Filter is right there.

I think this is where $100 for a good Belly Pan would have paid dividends.

[Ol Dan]

I've checked a few aftermarket websites a few weeks ago and I'm not aware of anyone making one for the "18 1800 yet.

[virgilmobile]

File a damage claim with that states Department of transportation and roads.
Some will take responsibility for this problem if it can be proven that the damage was caused by there material.

[Ol Dan]

Thanks Virgilmobil, I'll pass that info on to the owner.

[virgilmobile]

Worth checking.Louisiana DOTD won't take responsibility for vehicle damage caused by defects or there road conditions.
However another state I worked in did..A defect in a metal crossing guard shreaded a tire on my truck.The State road people paid for a new tire and all labor costs involved.I did prove there road caused the problem.This even happened when a truck kicked up a large rock and punctured it's oil pan.The state roads replaced his engine.

[Big Blue UK]

But are both owners sure that a small rock kicked up and broke the engine case? Could it have made a noise as the case cracked on its own, which sounded like the crack of a rock hitting the case? This is interesting enough that perhaps there is a problem with too thin cases and shifter area support on the 2018 Goldwing.

Viking nocks it for a six. Rock made a hole in it my arse. I am with Viking all the way on this one, without a shadow of doubt. No way that was done by any stone hitting it, where is the damage caused by the rock, there is none, and just happened to be where the shaft bearing is. I reckon the rock hitting the foot sensation, was shock from the casing breaking. That broke all on its own, cause, cheap as chips production, casing looks about as thick and strong as a shoe box. Hope the owner has another $9000 handy. A belly pan will never appear on the market , if it did, how could Honda blame it on a rock.

[mberk01]

If the damage pictured was caused by a rock, the rock must have been the size of a softball, and the velocity must have been 70 MPH.

[quasi2008]

from the angle of the chamfer on the broke off piece i'd bet the farm it broke from the inside out. don't think a hit from the outside did this.

[89 1500]

A lot could have caused that but a rock strike isn't one of them. Poor cast (flawed), bumped something hard at the factory while handling and not inspected, thin cast etc... Time for owners to take a closer look though.

[WingAdmin]

from the angle of the chamfer on the broke off piece i'd bet the farm it broke from the inside out. don't think a hit from the outside did this.

100% right, that's exactly what I thought when I saw that. That is not a piece that broke off due to an external impact. It looks like it was pulled off, hit from inside or...pried off. You know, the kind of pry force that you might see from, oh, kicking a lever hard.

If it was a rock that hit that shift lever and caused that damage, it must have been a BIG one. Is there damage to the shift lever?

[Ol Dan]

I've wondered about that myself. I'd like to see an assembly drawing to see how the shifter shaft is supported on the inboard side. Also how the standard differs from the automatic in this area. But a close look at 1 pic below the oil filter there appears to be a gouge in the case which may indicate damage from a rock or could be when the broken piece made an exit. At any rate it's good reason to speculate. But what I really wanted to do was start this thread to see if there was anyone else out there that may have experienced anything similar.

[MikeB]

I saw a post by Max McAllister of Traxxion Dynamics (the suspension guys) over on the GL1800 board today. He posted a You Tube about it. He was curious if anyone had any further information about these broken cases.
The post is here: https://gl1800riders.com/forums/193-201 ... ion=thread



   Never miss a video: Subscribe to the GoldwingDocs YouTube channel today!

[WingAdmin]

So it looks like Honda wanted to avoid the problem they had with the GL1500 type shifter, where there was a long shift shaft coming out the side of the engine with a bearing at its base. That problem causes too much free play and force on the bearing, leading to leaks (and solved by the Shift Pivot aftermarket support).

So instead, they created a supported boss sticking out the side of the engine, and mounted the bearing at the end of it - effectively doing what the GL1500 Shift Pivot does, supporting the lever at the end. However...in doing so, they also created a lever out of the case itself, so that if enough force is applied (particularly a striking force) to the end of that boss, it amplifies that force and pries a hole in the engine case as it is levered backward.

I'd call that a design defect.

They either need to reinforce the case in that area, or add more web support, or both.

[Ol Dan]

Very interesting video. It appears that there are other occurrences.

[Big Blue UK]

Only been on sale 5 minutes, be interesting to see how much rock damage is caused when more hit the road next year.

Blaming that on a rock is like calling a chicken a horse because it hatched in a stable

[Asphaltmaniac]

My buddy said he felt the rock or whatever it was hit his foot then he lost oil pressure. If he took a pic of the damage I'll try to post it. This seemed like quite a coincidence to me and I was wondering if anyone else had experienced this.

There is something of a belly pan under the 2018 bikes..Did that get smashed as well? Got any pictures of that?

[Ol Dan]

He didn't have any other pictures but I'm thinking that area is pretty much exposed.

[Asphaltmaniac]

He didn't have any other pictures but I'm thinking that area is pretty much exposed.

There is a tupperware belly pan on the 18teens. I just find it hard to believe he hit something that big to knock that boss off and still keep the bike upright...Seems to me that maybe he just thought he hit something. Because if he says the tupperware is ok...then its a manf defect...Its a shame to spend $10K to fix a bike you just bought for what 25K or more.
I feel really bad for your friend there.

[Ol Dan]

Yea, he was sick about it. He's had it back several months now and put a few thousand miles on it now and so far so good. I would have thought that Honda would have replaced the engine rather than replaced the case.