Archive: Maintenance
Table of contents
- Oil change
- Headlights
- Valve check and spark plugs
- Oil change re-do
- Oil change
- Oil change
- New front tire
- New headlights
- FJR Owners Manual in PDF
- Parts and supplies
- FJR maintenance 101
- New rear tire
- New rear tire
- 34,000 mile service
- GPSuspensions - Penske Shock, rebuilt fork
- Why I can't get to Portland
- Maintenance
- Maintenance
Oil change
I did an oil and filter change this afternoon. Mileage is 57,865.
Headlights
Between refereeing on weekday afternoons during the high school soccer season and SoCal's unusually heavy rainfall this winter, the FJR hasn't gotten a lot of work in the last few months. On the few times I've taken her out lately, I noticed that both high-beams were out. It seemed weird that the high-beams in both lights would go at the same time, but it happens. I chose the high-output bulbs for the last change, and bulb life is inversely proportional to light output.
I bought replacement bulbs a few weeks back, but work has been especially heavy lately, and I just got to it this morning. Removing the dash panels becomes second nature after a while — the A and D panels don't even come off the bike anymore unless I'm doing something directly underneath them. I've added a lot of wiring under my panels which adds to the standard hassle of removing the bulbs, but they eventually came out.
I put the new right bulb in, and hooked it up for a test that was successful. The left bulb was the same. Before I could put the boots on and close everything up, a rain shower rolled through, so I moved the bike back into the garage behind Carole's car. When the rain stops, I'll put the boots on, reconnect the plugs, retest everything, then put the dash panels back on.
I'm hoping to get in a long-ish ride on Sunday, so if the weather cooperates today I'll probably mount my hydration base too. Doug and I are planning for an in-state SS1K later this month, and I need a few rides of increasing distance to prepare. (The SS1K is itself a prep ride. I'm prepping for my long-planned/oft-postponed BBG, and Doug [the lucky dog] is prepping for the IBA5000 later this year.)
I also have some audio issues to work on. If I plug my e2c's directly into the Zumo cradle, the sound is good, but if I plug into the audio mixer the sounds is messed up in a weird way. I've already replaced the M-F patch cable that runs out from under the seat, so I may need to either replace the cable that runs under the tank from the cradle to the mixer, or possibly even replace the mixer itself.
Valve check and spark plugs
I finally got the bike into Pasadena Yamaha for the 52,000 mile valve check - only about 2,500 miles late. As expected, it was well within the specified tolerances.
While they were in there, I had them replace the spark plugs. Kel showed me all four of the old plugs, and they all had that light brown coloring that indicates everything is well inside the engine.
As always, I was very pleased with the service I got from Pasadena Yamaha.
Oil change re-do
At my last oil change, I put in a few ounces of EOS, an additive that was recommended on the Forum for use with standard Rotella. Due to my knee, I only rode a few times, but shifting was noticeably clunkier.
I changed the oil and filter today before leaving for Yosemite tomorrow morning. Standard Rotella T, 15w40, with no additives. If it's good enough for Skooter, it's good enough for me. Mileage is 53,127.
Follow-up: shifting felt much better on the trip to Yosemite.
Oil change
I changed the oil and filter today. Mileage was 52.916. Rotella T dino, 15W-40. I'll add 4 oz. of EOS on Monday.
I changed out the stock drain bolt for a magnetic one. One of Hal's tips was that the magnetic drain bolt used in the rear end is the same size as the engine oil drain bolt. I ordered one from Gary McCoy of MonDak Motorsports in my last set of supplies.
I think I need to get a better filter wrench. The cheap one I got at Wal-Mart just isn't up to snuff.
Oil change
I did my first ever FJR oil change today, before heading out to WFO. Hal's tips were even better in practice than in theory.
I had a problem with the drain pan. I thought the central plug on the top was open, but it really wasn't. When I pulled the drain plug, the oil did not drain into the reservoir, but mostly got all over the driveway. About half-way along, I yanked on the plug enough to get it open, but the damage was done. I started with cat sand, and got some oil-dry at Pep Boys.
Mileage was 49,409.
New front tire
Back in September of last year, I bought a set of Michelin Pilot Road 2 tires from Derby Cycles in Kentucky. At the time, the front tire was doing okay, so I took the rear tire out to a place in Rancho Cucamonga for mounting and balancing.
Even after I had to replace that rear tire, the front was still in pretty good shape. After last weekend's ride to Big Bear Lake, I knew it was done. Like usual, there's still more than enough tread left, but the cupping is intense, and it rides like crap.
On a fluke I called up Kel, the owner at Pasadena Yamaha and asked if he'd mount the new front tire I had in a box in my garage, and he said sure, and for the bargain basement price of only $20 otd. The guy in Rancho charged me $25 for the rear mount, plus I had to drive it out there, so this was a deal I couldn't pass up.
I had never taken off the front wheel before, so I was maybe overly meticulous, but by following the instructions on the FJRTech.com site, everything worked out. I dabbled with a couple of methods for keeping the front end up, but wound up using my floor jack with a piece of wood under the front headers.
I drove the wheel and the new tire up to Kel, who got it mounted and balanced while I ran to Sears.
Reassembly got a little exciting. While I was wrangling the axle back in, the bike slipped a little on the jack. I got Justin to help stabilize it while I realigned everything, and there were no further incidents.
Since I had mistakenly pulled in the brake lever after the wheel was off, I made sure to pump the lever a few times to get the pads set (per HMarc's posted directions). The short test ride was uneventful.
Mileage at the tire change is 49,407. I should hit 50,000 on the way to WFO-8.
New headlights
On the way back from CFR, I noticed that the high beam was out on the right headlight. I picked up a pair of Sylvania Silver Star 9003/HB2 headlights at Pep Boys, and installed them this afternoon. Odometer is 49197.
FJR Owners Manual in PDF
While trying to figure out how to remove the headlight bulbs, I decided I needed to rtfm. Here's the online version of the owner's manual from the Yamaha site:
Yamaha FJR1300A Owners Manual, Model Year 2005
Parts and supplies
Since I decided to do most of my own routine maintenance, I ordered a bunch of supplies from Gary McCoy at MonDak Motorsports:
- A couple of half-liter bottles of final drive gear oil
- Six crush washers, for both the engine oil and the final drive oil
- A magnetic drain plug for the engine oil
- Three OEM oil filters
- The nut and holder for the right panel underneath the fuel tank
The drain plug in the final drive is the same size as the one for the engine oil, but is magnetized to attract metallic gunk. When I went down to Hal's house for FJR Maintenance 101, he passed on the hint to replace the engine drain plug with a magnetized one.
I've been working with my local dealer for months to get the right part to attach the panel below the fuel tank on the right side. They place an order, then I go check it out, and it's not right, so they place a new order. We've done this a few times now, so I thought I could save a little aggravation (and some coin, with Gary's forum discount). Gary's the best!
FJR maintenance 101
I've always taken my FJR to the shop for routine maintenance - all but once to Pasadena Yamaha, who have always done a good, professional job. (See this post for that one other time...) But I came to the inescapable conclusion that I just couldn't continue to ride 10,000 miles a year unless I started doing most of my own maintenance work. My last 4,000 mile service at the shop was over $400, and only $40 or so was parts and fluid.
My friend Doug just bought a pre-owned Gen II that had been very well maintained by the original owner. I sent him an e-mail a few weeks back asking if he was going to be doing his own work, and saying I was interested in learning how to do some more of my own work. We chatted a little, and he called up our friend Hal, who graciously invited us to come down to his house in Orange for a mini tech day.
I felt comfortable doing an oil change and a rear-end oil change, but was particularly interested in seeing a throttle-body sync. A couple of weeks beforehand, I chatted with Hal about his recommendation for a sync tool. He highly recommended the Carbtune, so I ordered one from the vendor in the U.K. and hoped it would arrive in time. Luckily, it came last Thursday, via Royal Post no less.
When I got to Hal's house, he and Doug were doing a TBS on Doug's bike using Hal's Carbtune unit. For the next three hours, Doug and I moved from his bike to mine, soaking in all the wisdom Hal could give us - and let me tell you, there's a lot of wisdom going on there. To top it all off, Hal has a fantastic array of tools, organized like a professional. Great stuff.
After Doug's TBS, Hal helped me do the initial setup of my Carbtune, and then helped me with my TBS. Even though the shop did a TBS (or at least they charged me for one) about 600 miles ago, a couple of intakes were off by a bunch. Hal showed me how to use the Carbtune to balance them out at 240 millibars each.
Doug had a few other jobs in line for Hal - running power to his Escort radar detector, and an oil change. Hal's tips on ways to make the oil change clean and efficient were fantastic.
Our whole tech day was just a great experience for me, and I now feel much more confident on doing more of my own maintenance. I really appreciate the time and effort Hal put into teaching us, and Doug for arranging everything.
New rear tire
I had a new rear tire put on, to replace the one with the double puncture from the shortened trip to Arkansas. I called around to all the usual local shops — Bert's, CalCoast, Chaparral, but my local shop Pasadena Yamaha gave me the best out-the-door price, and I didn't have to schlep out to Ventura or San Bernadino, which made the deal even better. Mileage is 44738.
New rear tire
On my way back from Canada last year, the both tires got so cupped that I had to change them for new Michelin Pilot Road's at a shop in southern Washington. About 10,000 miles later, the rear was down to the metal, and needed to be changed. In the past I've used Pasadena Yamaha for tires and mounting, but their tire prices are not great, and their mounting prices are way high.
Earlier this year Toecutter from the Forum had put together a group buy for Pilot Road II's. I was too late for that, but the shop Toe used still had a great deal, so I had them ship me a front and a rear. Derby Cycles in Kentucky gave me a good price and quick shipping.
I haven't found a shop near me that will just mount and balance a tire, so I started asking around. My friend Rob at work gave me the name of a place in Rancho Cucamonga that he's used - ASAP Powersports. I arranged with Paul, the owner, to bring the wheel and tire out on Saturday.
First, I had to remove the rear wheel from the bike. Fortunately, H Marc Lewis' FJR site has a complete write-up on the process, including photos. On Friday afternoon, everthing went smoothly once I found something to use a a breaker-bar to loosen the main axle bolt.
I loaded everything up on Saturday morning and drove out to Rancho. Paul's got a busy shop, mostly targeting ATVs, dirt bikes and PWC's, but with all the machines needed for general motorcycle maintenance. I planned on dropping everything off and heading out for breakfast, but Paul's mechanic (and partner) started right in, and by the time I paid the bill he was done. Quick, professional mounting and balancing at a reasonable price - very nice.
I was still hungry, and found a Carrow's. It had to be the noisiest, darkest restaurant I've ever gone to for breakfast. Three little kids - all at different tables - screamed off and on the whole time. The food was good, service was not, and I was ready to leave once I finished my food but had to wait about 10 minutes to get my check.
On the way home I stopped at Bert's for some Plexus and some Honda Spray cleaner. Then I hit the Sears for a set of socket adapters. By early afternoon I had the wheel back on the bike. The next time I need to pull the rear wheel it should only take five minutes off and ten minutes on.
Mileage at the tire change was 41,055.
ASAP Powersports
8333 Rochester Ave. #102
Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730
909-944-8010
Derby Cycles
6323 Midland Industrial Drive
Shelbyville, KY 40065
1-502-633-7100
34,000 mile service
On April 24, 2008, Pasadena Yamaha did a 34,000 mile service, with an air filter change, plus front and rear brake pads, but no spark plugs. Actual mileage was 34,656 miles.
GPSuspensions - Penske Shock, rebuilt fork
I rode up to Portland, and the great guys at GPSuspensions.com installed a new Penske 8983 rear shock and rebuilt my fork with their in-house internal components.
Why I can't get to Portland
Last December, some of the senior guys on the FJR Forum put together a discounted group buy for new suspensions with a well-respected shop in the Portland area. GP Suspensions spends the spring, summer, and fall doing race and track setups for sports bikes, so they agreed to a nice discount to get some business during their slow winter period.
My original suspension is nearing the 36,000 mile mark, and really needs to be changed. I never really got a good setup going with the OEM shock and forks, and the new aftermarket pieces are top-of-the-line. Most of the guys in the group buy had their parts shipped to them, but the shop also offered a discount on installation service, so I decided to head up to their shop to have them do the work.
I've been trying to get up their for about six weeks now, and have just not been able to find an opening in the weather. I was all set to go a week ago Wednesday, but a storm rolled in at the last minute to blanket the passes in the Siskiyou's.
Here's today's highway cam pic of the Siskiyou Summit on I-5, six miles north of the California border in southern Oregon.
Maintenance
Mileage 10399 - Chaparral Motorsports
Warranty work to correct ABS problem.
Called Yamaha - spoke to Stan. Yamaha isn't sure of what's causing the issue so they want us to replace the ABS ECU unit. 8/2/05 RACalled Yamaha - spoke to Victor. Told him we did need to replace the ABS ECM. Victor said to go ahead and replace the parts needed and make sure that if fixes the problem. Then call back for final authorization #. 8/2/05 RA.
Recommendations: Found broken wires inside front wheel abs sensor; very close to sensor - very delicate.
Resolution: Repaired broken wire on ABS sensor. Solder and heat shrink procedure. Added 2 cm of wire to compensate for damaged section. Re-route wire. Re-install ABS sensor; Test ride unit - runs good. ABS works good.
Maintenance
Mileage 21328 - Pasadena Yamaha.
20000 mile service; new Michelin Pilot Road rear tire.
Oil/filter changed; throttle bodies re-synced; steering bearings retorqued; swingarm pivot retorqued; final drive fluid changed; tire pressure corrected; all points lubed and tightened as needed; controls adjusted.