More fun with the taillight housing on my '17 CB1100 EX

[VLJ_imp]

Two months ago. after keeping my new CB1100 EX for six weeks, my local dealer replaced the taillight housing assembly. They said that the original two-piece housing was loose and floppy due to stripped threads. The replacement unit was nice and solid. Problem solved.

Well, for a month or so, anyway. After this weekend's ride I checked the taillight, and it was loose and floppy. Obviously, the plastic threads for the mounting screws had failed again.

I just took the bike back to the same dealer. After performing a brief inspection, they called Honda to report that the replacement assembly had failed in the exact same manner as the original piece. Honda is going to send them another taillight housing, and they want the dealer to send back the failed piece so they can inspect it.

The dealer is rightly a bit p.o.'d at Honda. They know Honda is going to send them another identical assembly, with plastic threads. This piece will surely fail again, and will continue to fail until Honda replaces the plastic threads with metal parts. Honda informed the dealer that yes, they have had other reports of failed taillight housings on this model, but this is the first time their replacement assembly also failed.

The dealer and I agree that Honda needs to issue a formal recall to replace this assembly with a sturdier unit. Simply replacing the unit over and over with the same flawed piece serves no good purpose. We also agree that there doesn't seem to be any sound reason for making the housing a two-piece unit in the first place. All the previous-year CB1100 models have single-piece taillight assemblies. Nothing can wobble, because there are no joined assemblies.

I'm genuinely surprised by this series of events. Squealing brakes and poorly designed taillight housings, on a high-dollar/corporate-pride showpiece like the CB1100EX? This is so wildly uncharacteristic of Honda.

It's a good thing the rest of the bike is so excellent. If everything else on this bike didn't work so beautifully, I would be losing patience with Honda over these small, niggling design flaws.

[alprider]

becomes the material wide bcos very warm climate ?

loctite ?

i have now 6000km with my one and know nothing about such kind problem
well i have never extra pulled and pushed on it....

[apex1_imp]

What part had the stripped threads? Is it the taillight cover (part number 80110-MGC-AA0) or is it the Stanley taillight unit (part number 33701-MGC-JB1)?

[LongRanger_imp]

VLJ, that stinks. So sorry to hear it. Sounds like Honda is sourcing their taillights from BMW...

[CBRider_imp]

Hope it gets resolved quickly and correctly this time.

Did the dealer also replace the bolts when they installed the new taillight assembly? It’s unlikely, but maybe they are stripped or damaged.

[Guth_imp]

Sorry to learn of your headaches with the EX. Focusing on all of the other positives is definitely the healthiest approach. But maybe you file this one away and the next time someone claims that Honda's have no soul, just point out your taillight assembly?

[FLYTYM_imp]

Not too uncharacteristic of Honda? They cut corners just not as blatantly as the others. A few years ago I bought a new CR-Z only to find out after I bought it the car had no spare. So I start digging and find that Honda offers a spare tire kit for the car,I’ll buy the spare no big deal. So after I buy all of the hardware I relies with everything in place the rear floor section no longer fits. How can that be,there is no mention of this anywhere but Honda clearly shows this spare tire kit in the dealer accessory catalog and in the accessory brochure,show complete instructions with the floor section fitting flush in the floor of the car once everything is installed. So,after some more digging I solved the mystery. The CR-Z is a little hybrid turd that has a large battery in the back of the car,right where the tire goes. In 2014 the battery was redesigned,made taller so now the tire that once fit in the car over the smaller battery in the earlier models no longer fits. Honda was so greatful to me for pointing this out that they gave me a $500 gift card,can only be used at a Honda AUTOMOBILE dealership,thought I got lucky and buy some bike parts,no dice. So,the question I have is if somebody bought one of these cars knowing beforehand that a spare was extra,bought the spare,waited to take delivery until after the spare kit was installed only to find out the spare doesn’t fit in the car,would Honda be obligated to take the car back? Honda cuts corners,they just do it a little sneakier than most. Back on subject,I have a taillight I cut up and don’t see anywhere that has a plastic threaded bore. The actual taillight slips and not the housing and there are metal inserts in this part and there are 2 speed nut type jobbers in the housing that bolt to the black trim part. Now the long chrome part of the housing that is closest to the back of the seat I cut up and threw away so I don’t know how that part is bolted down.

[VLJ_imp]

Sorry to learn of your headaches with the EX. Focusing on all of the other positives is definitely the healthiest approach. But maybe you file this one away and the next time someone claims that Honda's have no soul, just point out your taillight assembly?

[pdedse]

Unfortunate, VLJ. I hope with a healthy dose of persistence the fix is truly that. The rubber washer thing I did has held since March. I think I may have got lucky though in that the threads never stripped out on me. Squeaky brakes are still there at 3k miles...but there's no way I'm giving up my bike to a dealer at this time of summer...maybe during the winter.

[VLJ_imp]

pdedse, with 6,000 miles on the odo my squeaky-brakes issue is almost down to nothing. When I walk the bike backwards with the brakes on, they squeal every time. Almost any time I'm going forward, there's no squeal. Maybe once per week they might do the faintest of squeaks—we're talking barely audible, and only for that last fraction of a second before the come comes to a complete stop—but for the most part they're silent now. It's really only when I go backwards that they still squeak.