3200 Miles and No Services Done

[buzzbomb]

So. When I bought the bike, the PO said all the services were done and I chose to believe her. The service records and owner's manual were in storage, as she is recently divorced and about to move again, yada, yada, yada. Been there, done that. Perhaps it was a misunderstanding. She WAS hot. AND recently divorced. I've been a single dad for a LONG time.... I can cut her some slack. Anyways:

I sent her an email a couple days ago asking if she'd found the manual and service records. The following is copied from her reply:

"As for maintenance my ex-husband owned a garage with this brother. I had him change the oil twice since I have owned the bike - no other service has been done on the motorcycle."

Frack. With the 1433 miles she had on it, plus the miles I've put on it, I'm now over 3200 miles and no services done except the oil changes (thank God for that, anyway)!

I downloaded a pdf of the Owner's Manual the day I brought the bike home. I've looked through the recommended maintenance schedule and it's no problem, except for the injector synch.

But DAMN! :rant:

 

[roadrat]

The oil changes are the most important in my opinion... I've come to believe these bikes are tough as nails.

 

[leprecaun jon]

:rtfm: <-----right? hahah shes :zombie:

 

[alaskanflyboy]

So. When I bought the bike, the PO said all the services were done and I chose to believe her. The service records and owner's manual were in storage, as she is recently divorced and about to move again, yada, yada, yada. Been there, done that. Perhaps it was a misunderstanding. She WAS hot. AND recently divorced. I've been a single dad for a LONG time.... I can cut her some slack. Anyways:

I sent her an email a couple days ago asking if she'd found the manual and service records. The following is copied from her reply:

"As for maintenance my ex-husband owned a garage with this brother. I had him change the oil twice since I have owned the bike - no other service has been done on the motorcycle."

Frack. With the 1433 miles she had on it, plus the miles I've put on it, I'm now over 3200 miles and no services done except the oil changes (thank God for that, anyway)!

I downloaded a pdf of the Owner's Manual the day I brought the bike home. I've looked through the recommended maintenance schedule and it's no problem, except for the injector synch.

But DAMN! :rant:

I recently synced my throttle bodies and they weren't off by much at all. I agree that oil seems to be the big one. Most of the stuff listed in the manual is visual inspection stuff and lubrication.

 

[Nastybutler]

Yeah, I wouldn't worry too much about it. I didn't take my bike in for a service until well after 3000 miles. Just changed the oil several times while I broke it in. When I did take it in the dealer didn't do much besides take a bunch of my money. And get grease all over my instrument cluster. I guess they got carried away when they lubed my levers.

 

[SpawnXX]

I must agree, keep chain lubricated, but oil changes is most important by far... especially the very first one. The first set of oil that dealerships put in the bike is break in oil. Completely different from what they change it to after the 1st time. I'd get it done but I think you'll be Aiiiiight!

 

[Blue-Sun]

I took my bike to the dealer for it's 600 and 4,000 mile service. The only thing the mechanic had to do, besides change the oil was lubricate the clutch cable. He noticed my clutch cable was a little stiff but after some cable lube it was back to par.

We do have a bit more dust in Arizona, then other places and I did ride through a "haboob" (dust storm) which may have contributed to drying out & contaminating the cable, but it also may have just needed lubricating.

So, I might suggest lubricating the cables. (YMMV)

Like others have posted upthread, I think you are fine.

 

[alaskanflyboy]

You've got one more oil change in than the book recommends, since you've got 3,200 miles. The book calls for one at 600 and then another at 4,000. So you're good to go there, I've changed mine at the book's intervals and I did the 4k and 8k myself. For around $21-24 a gallon for oil and $4 a piece for my spark plugs, I've spent a total of about $45 on the 4k and 8k services. I spent $129 on the 600 service taking it to the shop.

 

[Fizzer6R]

oh no, your bikes is now a ticking time-bomb and completely not safe. since i'm close, i'll be right over to take it away and spare your life. you can thank me later

 

[buzzbomb]

oh no, your bikes is now a ticking time-bomb and completely not safe. since i'm close, i'll be right over to take it away and spare your life. you can thank me later

LOL!!

Thanks for the input, everyone. Except for a certain post, which I've quoted while chuckling, those were my thoughts on the situation as well, once I got over the :rant:

 

[Rawknrohl]

Yeah, I wouldn't worry too much about it. I didn't take my bike in for a service until well after 3000 miles. Just changed the oil several times while I broke it in. When I did take it in the dealer didn't do much besides take a bunch of my money. And get grease all over my instrument cluster. I guess they got carried away when they lubed my levers.

The one time I brought mine to the dealer was just a quick look over 1k miles after I bought it, all they did was change my tire pressure to a wildly inappropriate psi, and scold me for "daring to change my own oil and service the bike at home", oh and somehow put a nick in the top of my right hand bar riser. Also that took exactly one hour apparently at over $100 an hour. Bleh good reminder of why no one every touches my vehicles but me. Six hours spent scrubbing myself with steel wool while fetal position crying in the corner of the bathroom and I still felt dirty. Yes, it's true...I was raped by my dealership.:surrender:

 

[Nastybutler]

The one time I brought mine to the dealer was just a quick look over 1k miles after I bought it, all they did was change my tire pressure to a wildly inappropriate 44/48 psi, and scold me for "daring to change my own oil and service the bike at home", oh and somehow put a nick in the top of my right hand bar riser. Also that took exactly one hour apparently at over $100 an hour. Bleh good reminder of why no one every touches my vehicles but me. Six hours spent scrubbing myself with steel wool while fetal position crying in the corner of the bathroom and I still felt dirty. Yes, it's true...I was raped by my dealership.:surrender:

I know the feeling. For what the stealership charges, I can buy any special tools to do whatever it is that is needed. I'm not a mechanic, but I've learned enough over the years to be able to figure most things out. Whenever I'm stumped, I always have you guys here to fall back on.

 

[KeysRider3]

Lubrication, lubrication, lubrication. You may want to check the color of your brake fluid too if the bike "sat" for a while. Congrats on the bike, and "the purchase process".

 

[FitZ6R]

Like everyone has said, no big. Check the crucial stuff like tires, brakes, and chain. The bike probably wasn't stored proerply, but if it started right up, sounds like no major harm was done.

So, the seller is hot, eh? Hope you didn't overpay b/c of that, but at least you have her email!

 

[Marthy]

No worry! As long as the oil changes are made kind of on schedule you're fine. Throttle body sync are over rated... idle stuff. I did mine for the first time it was almost 10K miles if I can remember... and they were within very close, or close enough not to worry about it.

 

[buzzbomb]

Mileage is now at 3438. I did all the checks and services today, up through the 24 month period. Everything checked out just fine. I've got to get the recommended grease to lube where indicated, and I didn't do the injector synch. Not really worried about the synch, as per Marthy's post reply - the idle is just fine.

Spark plugs looked good, but all were right at the outer limit of the gap, so I re-gapped them to middle. I figure I'm just going to replace all the plugs and do an oil change and lube, next. The oil change comes not from ugly oil, but because I've no clue what the PO's exhusband put into it.

Overall it's no big deal for anyone with some tools and care. The biggest issue was getting to the spark plugs. Roaddawg's excellent write up was invaluable. It's a shame the pictures are gone.

http://www.600cc.org/forum/f91/fz6r-spark-plug-replacement-18979/

The biggest problems I ran into were the large rubber tray beneath the air box and getting the screws back into what the owner's manual calls Panels B and C. To both I say: What a frickin' PIA!

I didn't get to ride today, but I feel good that everything was in spec. I had ordered a pair of paddock stands and they arrived today, as well. Just in time to strip her down for her checkup.

All in all, I'm pretty darn happy with how it went.

 

[buzzbomb]

So I did the oil and spark plug change today. The center electrode on the old plugs actually looked comparable to the new, but she seems to start quicker, and run a lot smoother now.

As for the oil? What came out of the drain plug looked clean and new, nearly clear. But the filter was so stuck that I had to hammer a large screwdriver through the filter, from the front of the bike and bang it down with the hammer, to get a fraction of a turn, and repeat.

The oil that came out of the filter was BLACK. Not only was it really black, it had lots of bits of gold colored metal in it.

What do I think? The bike had an oil change just before I went to look at it. The filter was never changed, and was factory. I am SO glad I took the time to do this. Lord only knows what type of oil it was. And the original filter! The oil that came out of it was different than what was in the crank case. That thing must have been nearly plugged solid.

I never mentioned it, but I was feeling some clutch slippage in 3rd and 4th gears. I didn't get to ride today, but I'm betting it's gone. Also, the bike used to get really hot, really fast at idle. After I was done, and was letting her idle to warm, so I could check the oil level, that didn't happen. There is definitely a moral to the story here. But it's so obvious, I'll leave it unsaid. Cheers.

 

[alaskanflyboy]

As for the oil? What came out of the drain plug looked clean and new, nearly clear. But the filter was so stuck that I had to hammer a large screwdriver through the filter, from the front of the bike and bang it down with the hammer, to get a fraction of a turn, and repeat.

The oil that came out of the filter was BLACK. Not only was it really black, it had lots of bits of gold colored metal in it.

What do I think? The bike had an oil change just before I went to look at it. The filter was never changed, and was factory. I am SO glad I took the time to do this. Lord only knows what type of oil it was. And the original filter! The oil that came out of it was different than what was in the crank case. That thing must have been nearly plugged solid.

Yeah. I change the filter on each change. The book says to replace it every 8k, but I just don't feel comfortable with that. Even at $15 for the K&N, it's relatively cheap.

 

[buzzbomb]

Yeah. I change the filter on each change. The book says to replace it every 8k, but I just don't feel comfortable with that. Even at $15 for the K&N, it's relatively cheap.

I'm with you. I can't see changing the oil and not the filter. It kind of defeats the purpose. This experience was definitely on the extreme side, but it's a good illustration of why they should be changed together.