JUNK on the shaft drain plug

Today I dropped the shaft gear oil. The drain plug had a black greasy substance on it plus the normal fine shavings. The oil that came out had a bad smell to it. I know the Wing I had didn`t have any black greasy shit nor did the oil smell that bad. This was the 600 mile service plus other things, So, any of you people that do your service on the 08 experience this same greasy shit on the drain plug. Also, the dealer wanted $28.95 for a bottle of the Yamaha gear oil which they didn`t have in stock. I hope I won`t have any regrets using the Mobil 1 75W-90 gear oil.

Dave

All normal Dave. The factory fill has a moly additive to aid in lubrication the first few miles. A lot of folks (me included) use Mobil 1 as well, good stuff and not as expensive as the ahamaY recommended lube.

--G

Looked the same on my 08. Replaced with royal purple. About 10 bucks a quart. Will last a long time. They have two weights. I used the lighter.

dave3d said:

The drain plug had a black greasy substance on it plus the normal fine shavings. The oil that came out had a bad smell to it. Also, the dealer wanted $28.95 for a bottle of the Yamaha gear oil which they didn`t have in stock.

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The black greasy stuff stuck to the magnet is actually very very fine steel worn off during the final finishing of the gear teeth (which occurs as they run in). Its perfectly normal.

Assembly lube is not magnetic. It gets worn off with loading of the parts and become suspended in the lube. You can see variations in the drained lube, but even that is pretty homogeneous.

I noticed the smell too. To me it smelled like fish oil. It does not have the sulpher smell that I pick up in lubes with molybdenumdisulfide. I have wondered if it included some component of whale oil. The Japanese are still whaling, the stuff's incredibly expensive, they package it in small bottles, and Yamaha isn't saying what it is or giving any normal spec for it. There's a lot of irrational mystery surrounding it. One of my other hobbies is muzzleloading, and back when I was a kid you could still get whale oil as a patch lube. Also, whale oil was used in early automotive automatic transmissions, so it must take loading well and maintain properties over a significant temperature range.

BTW, the $28.95 is a good price. The dealers I've priced it with all wanted $32+.... and no one seems to stock it. Yamaha badges an 80W90 for the ATV rear ends. I went ahead and got a bottle of the final drive lube. Its only got to be changed every 8000 miles, so a bottle will take you 16000 miles. Not too expensive by the mile.

El Toro said:

BTW, the $28.95 is a good price. The dealers I've priced it with all wanted $32+.... and no one seems to stock it. Yamaha badges an 80W90 for the ATV rear ends. I went ahead and got a bottle of the final drive lube. Its only got to be changed every 8000 miles, so a bottle will take you 16000 miles. Not too expensive by the mile.

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This must be for a gallon,..as i think i paid $9 ish CDN for may last liter otherwise i'm taking orders.

-Don

DonRed7 said:

El Toro said:

BTW, the $28.95 is a good price. The dealers I've priced it with all wanted $32+.... and no one seems to stock it. Yamaha badges an 80W90 for the ATV rear ends. I went ahead and got a bottle of the final drive lube. Its only got to be changed every 8000 miles, so a bottle will take you 16000 miles. Not too expensive by the mile.

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This must be for a gallon,..as i think i paid $9 ish CDN for may last liter otherwise i'm taking orders.

-Don

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If you can get it for $9 Canadian for the real Yamaha part number, I'd take a case. They are selling it in .5L bottles for $32+ down here. Are you sure you're not using the Yamaha Final Drive Lube 80W90? That's about $10/qt here.

DonRed7 said:

This must be for a gallon,..as i think i paid $9 ish CDN for may last liter otherwise i'm taking orders.

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Are you sure it's Yamalube? It's $30+ per quart here in the U.S. My dealer also didn't stock it ("nobody buys that"), and set me up with Bel Ray Gearsaver 80w90 (<$10/quart).

El Toro said:

<snip>I noticed the smell too. ...There's a lot of irrational mystery surrounding it. ...Also, whale oil was used in early automotive automatic transmissions, so it must take loading well and maintain properties over a significant temperature range.

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In days gone by -- 'pre-environmental' -- the EP additive commonly used in Hypoid gear oil was Lead Napthenate (very odiferous). I imagine that all similar replacements for dangerous EP additives will probably still smell bad?

One of the all-time-great engine lubes was castor oil (made from the castor bean); also called 'bean oil'. It was difficult to use because it readily oxidized when left sitting in an engine and gummed-up the works -- but it was a great load bearing lubricant that was particularly good at preventing piston skirt seizure.

Kudos to Mama Yama for having a 'secret' lube -- no patent or specs -- just a secret.....

charismaticmegafauna said:

El Toro said:

<snip>I noticed the smell too. ...There's a lot of irrational mystery surrounding it. ...Also, whale oil was used in early automotive automatic transmissions, so it must take loading well and maintain properties over a significant temperature range.

Click to expand...

In days gone by -- 'pre-environmental' -- the EP additive commonly used in Hypoid gear oil was Lead Napthenate (very odiferous). I imagine that all similar replacements for dangerous EP additives will probably still smell bad?

One of the all-time-great engine lubes was castor oil (made from the castor bean); also called 'bean oil'. It was difficult to use because it readily oxidized when left sitting in an engine and gummed-up the works -- but it was a great load bearing lubricant that was particularly good at preventing piston skirt seizure.

Kudos to Mama Yama for having a 'secret' lube -- no patent or specs -- just a secret.....

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The other really oddball lube that showed up but hasn't caught on is jojoba oil. We tried this as a patch lube too, but went back to spit. :dribble:

SEA-FJR said:

DonRed7 said:

This must be for a gallon,..as i think i paid $9 ish CDN for may last liter otherwise i'm taking orders.

Click to expand...

Are you sure it's Yamalube? It's $30+ per quart here in the U.S. My dealer also didn't stock it ("nobody buys that"), and set me up with Bel Ray Gearsaver 80w90 (<$10/quart).

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I'll wager he got the conventional final drive oil and not the special stuff that they make specifically for the FJR. The label will say FJR1300 on it - I'm curious.

Mine smelled like rotten fish - I've changed it 5 times in 24,000 km (the first at 100 miles) using Mobil-1 Synthetis GL75-90 hypoid oil - still smells bad when I drain and fill. I suspect that it will until the very last molecule of whatever it is that Yamaha wants us to use has been washed out of the final drive.

bramfrank said:

I've changed it 5 times in 24,000 km (the first at 100 miles) using Mobil-1 Synthetis GL75-90 hypoid oil - still smells bad when I drain and fill. I suspect that it will until the very last molecule of whatever it is that Yamaha wants us to use has been washed out of the final drive.

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Wow - the synt. gear oil will last a very long time - Guys it's not the space shuttle here. I'm sure there are a lot of riders here that will attest to 10's of thousands of miles on synt gear oil (non-yama) with good results.

Herkypilot

That special Yami oil always reminds me of that Adam and Eve joke, where God goes looking for Eve, finds Adam, and Adam says, "Last time I saw her she was bathing in the creek." God replies, "Now I'll never get that smell outta those fish!"



That smell is just now starting to leave my final drive on the 07. I've been running Mobil-1 for over 20,000 miles. The first 20,000 was special Yami FJR fish lube.

HaulinAshe said:

That special Yami oil always reminds me of that Adam and Eve joke, where God goes looking for Eve, finds Adam, and Adam says, "Last time I saw her she was bathing in the creek." God replies, "Now I'll never get that smell outta those fish!"

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So where do you teach Sunday School? Sound like a fun class?

JW

bramfrank said:

SEA-FJR said:

DonRed7 said:

This must be for a gallon,..as i think i paid $9 ish CDN for may last liter otherwise i'm taking orders.

Click to expand...

Are you sure it's Yamalube? It's $30+ per quart here in the U.S. My dealer also didn't stock it ("nobody buys that"), and set me up with Bel Ray Gearsaver 80w90 (<$10/quart).

Click to expand...

I'll wager he got the conventional final drive oil and not the special stuff that they make specifically for the FJR. The label will say FJR1300 on it - I'm curious.

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Yes it just 80/90W,... was what the dealer put in my hands,....I feel so cheated,....Shit,...just what i need something else to worry about. Just wait till' i get him on the phone tomorrow.

-Don

Just to be clear............

Yamaha has a normal 'gear oil' that they spec for many of their shaft drive bikes. However, Yamaha calls for a specific gear oil for the FJR:



And I know the whale gizz can be expensive, but prudent shopping will pay big dividends. I just ordered a bunch of stuff from ZanottiMotors.com including oil and air filters, fasteners, crush washers and of course some proverbial whale gizz FJR specific gear oil. So how much did this liquid gold cost me? $18.42. While still not cheap, a heck of a lot better than what most charge.

SkooterG said:

Just to be clear............
Yamaha has a normal 'gear oil' that they spec for many of their shaft drive bikes. However, Yamaha calls for a specific gear oil for the FJR:

And I know the whale gizz can be expensive, but prudent shopping will pay big dividends. I just ordered a bunch of stuff from ZanottiMotors.com including oil and air filters, fasteners, crush washers and of course some proverbial whale gizz FJR specific gear oil. So how much did this liquid gold cost me? $18.42. While still not cheap, a heck of a lot better than what most charge.

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Geeeeezzzz! you just ruined my day. I just changed my gear oil some kind of special GL5 crap. Now i gotta go dump it out and get some of FJRsynth shit. Sad part is the Yami dealer wont evan have it.

So, if the dealers don't stock the official FJR Lubricant, (mine incluced) what do they pour into your bike when you take it in for service? The parts guy at the local dealer said "this" and handed me a bottle of GoldenSpecto 80/90 gl-5 gear lube when I bought my bike. Hmmm OK. What the heck. So I change it more frequently than stated in manual. When I went in recently for more gear lube all they had was the $10.00 Yamaha Shaft Drive Lube.

Correct website is https://zanottimotor.com/