frazerrobbo
New Member
Hey folks,
Im looking for some advice,
Bought a Vitus E sommet from CRC first week in March and after approx 1 month of ownership I dinged the underside of the motor on a rock. It cracked the black plastic housing on the drive side which I manged to replace easily for less than £20.
Fast forward 2 months to the start of June Friday 7th the bike started cutting out on me, intermittently not powering up, and throwing error codes constantly. Occasionally it would turn on and say I was in eco or trail or boost but no power from motor. I emailed CRC that evening to initiate a warranty job. Didn't get a reply from them for the weeks despite chasing them via email and live chat (impossible to speak to someone there and service is shocking to say the least).
That same week after the fault, I dropped the motor and cleaned everything up as usual with regard to battery terminals, power connection lead etc. Also worth mentioning that its incredible the amount of dirt and grime and water that gets into the drive side casing on the Shimano E7000. Every wet ride is covered in pine needles and dirt. Terrible design in my opinion. Anyway, after cleaning, It seemed to work again for a day or two and then same issues again. Battery charged okay and seemed to power on when removed form bike too.
Fast forward to last night, I finally received an email from CRC saying they would send out a box, so I decided to take motor casing off again and give it a clean prior to sending it back, and to my surprise I saw the black plastic connector block where the smaller cables for speed sensor and display connect into which is sealed against the motor with black silicone sealant was all cracked at the hex screw points and the silicone sealant was broken away from the motor. Its possible i didn't notice until now and that it has been like that since my rock strike months before but I now suspect moisture and dirt has ingressed inside the motor causing the short outs and failures.
Photo attached. Red circles are where cracked are and green highlight is where is should be sealed again the motor housing.
I was open with CRC about it and they are refusing to accept bike back now saying accidental damage not covered under warranty. While gutted about that, I am so fed up dealing with CRC and I do accept responsibility for the rock strike, I am now left wondering what I should do.
I could a) take it to local bike shop and pay for repair which might cost a fortune, or b) now that warranty seems void, I could drop motor again and removed plastic block. Get internals all cleaned up and dried out using hairdryer and glue plastic peice back together, and re-seal everything with gasket sealant and di-electric grease. I wonder if that is worth trying now and is still not working then go to LBS for repair quote.
Any opinions on here about what you would do if this was your bike ?
I think I've exhausted my options with CRC and Shimano ebikes facebook group just suggest going to local repair shop.
I guess I'm looking for anyone's experience if anyone has has similar issue with water ingress or has some knowledge about whether that would infact cause my issues, as I have not opened the motor and do not know what I should expect to find in there with regard to connections or wires that could be affected by water and dirt.
Any thoughts welcomed.
Cheers,
Fraz
Im looking for some advice,
Bought a Vitus E sommet from CRC first week in March and after approx 1 month of ownership I dinged the underside of the motor on a rock. It cracked the black plastic housing on the drive side which I manged to replace easily for less than £20.
Fast forward 2 months to the start of June Friday 7th the bike started cutting out on me, intermittently not powering up, and throwing error codes constantly. Occasionally it would turn on and say I was in eco or trail or boost but no power from motor. I emailed CRC that evening to initiate a warranty job. Didn't get a reply from them for the weeks despite chasing them via email and live chat (impossible to speak to someone there and service is shocking to say the least).
That same week after the fault, I dropped the motor and cleaned everything up as usual with regard to battery terminals, power connection lead etc. Also worth mentioning that its incredible the amount of dirt and grime and water that gets into the drive side casing on the Shimano E7000. Every wet ride is covered in pine needles and dirt. Terrible design in my opinion. Anyway, after cleaning, It seemed to work again for a day or two and then same issues again. Battery charged okay and seemed to power on when removed form bike too.
Fast forward to last night, I finally received an email from CRC saying they would send out a box, so I decided to take motor casing off again and give it a clean prior to sending it back, and to my surprise I saw the black plastic connector block where the smaller cables for speed sensor and display connect into which is sealed against the motor with black silicone sealant was all cracked at the hex screw points and the silicone sealant was broken away from the motor. Its possible i didn't notice until now and that it has been like that since my rock strike months before but I now suspect moisture and dirt has ingressed inside the motor causing the short outs and failures.
Photo attached. Red circles are where cracked are and green highlight is where is should be sealed again the motor housing.
I was open with CRC about it and they are refusing to accept bike back now saying accidental damage not covered under warranty. While gutted about that, I am so fed up dealing with CRC and I do accept responsibility for the rock strike, I am now left wondering what I should do.
I could a) take it to local bike shop and pay for repair which might cost a fortune, or b) now that warranty seems void, I could drop motor again and removed plastic block. Get internals all cleaned up and dried out using hairdryer and glue plastic peice back together, and re-seal everything with gasket sealant and di-electric grease. I wonder if that is worth trying now and is still not working then go to LBS for repair quote.
Any opinions on here about what you would do if this was your bike ?
I think I've exhausted my options with CRC and Shimano ebikes facebook group just suggest going to local repair shop.
I guess I'm looking for anyone's experience if anyone has has similar issue with water ingress or has some knowledge about whether that would infact cause my issues, as I have not opened the motor and do not know what I should expect to find in there with regard to connections or wires that could be affected by water and dirt.
Any thoughts welcomed.
Cheers,
Fraz
