First Service Complete

[kiteman11]

Just completed my own first service on my 08A. Got 553 miles on it and the rear drive oil was full of ****. The oil drain plug was tight as a sombitch and I ended up putting a piece of 3' pipe over the ratchet end to break it loose. Used the D&H Kawa 20w50 oil I bought the day I took the bike home. Glad this thing is fairly easy to work on.

The first miles on the bike have been fascinating. I'm learning the bike, it's learning me and it's breaking in. I can feel it start to smooth out in throttle response and in the gearbox. It's really cool now that it's all starting to mesh. I've come from a hardtail chopper to this bike and it's been a trip getting to know and respect it. I think the BT21 Bridgestones are a good sticky tire for the mountain roads up here in North GA. I commute from Cleveland, GA to Young Harris, GA everyday and enjoy the twisty roads. Cool bike. I just need to figure out now how the best way to listen to my Sirius Starmate Replay.

 

[Greb]

Thanks for sharing your experience because I have around 500 on mine and want to do my own service. I am just afraid to void my warranty. The only thing I want to let the dealership do is Valve adjustments. I am confident doing routine maintenance, but how is Yamaha about the warranty issue?

 

[MojaveFJR]

Now that is done get out there and wring its neck.

When you get above 6k RPM's, HTFO baby cause this thing launches and pulls like a sumb*tch!

 

[kiteman11]

Thanks for sharing your experience because I have around 500 on mine and want to do my own service. I am just afraid to void my warranty. The only thing I want to let the dealership do is Valve adjustments. I am confident doing routine maintenance, but how is Yamaha about the warranty issue?

The way I understand it, as long as you can provide receipts of the parts purchased, the warranty will hold. No manufacturer can force you into using them to service their product.

Now that is done get out there and wring its neck.
When you get above 6k RPM's, HTFO baby cause this thing launches and pulls like a sumb*tch!

Cool.

 

[Knifemaker]

....... I just need to figure out now how the best way to listen to my Sirius Starmate Replay.

https://tinyurl.com/yno7xh

KM

 

[ynotride]

I changed my oil at 40 miles because I'm anal like that and my plug was really tight. I ordered a magnetic plug to put in at the 600 mile change. I have 240 miles now and cant wait to hit the 1000 so I can open her up a little.

My dealer told me to do all of my own work because it is easy and he said as long as I kept the reciepts I would have no problems with my warranty.

 

[Greb]

The way I understand it, as long as you can provide receipts of the parts purchased, the warranty will hold. No manufacturer can force you into using them to service their product.

Thanks for the info

 

[Greb]

I changed my oil at 40 miles because I'm anal like that and my plug was really tight. I ordered a magnetic plug to put in at the 600 mile change. I have 240 miles now and cant wait to hit the 1000 so I can open her up a little.
My dealer told me to do all of my own work because it is easy and he said as long as I kept the reciepts I would have no problems with my warranty.

Why wait to open it up? IMO just ride it.

Thanks for the info on your dealer as well

 

[painman]

I changed my oil at 40 miles because I'm anal like that and my plug was really tight. I ordered a magnetic plug to put in at the 600 mile change. I have 240 miles now and cant wait to hit the 1000 so I can open her up a little.
My dealer told me to do all of my own work because it is easy and he said as long as I kept the reciepts I would have no problems with my warranty.

I thought the drain plugs were magnetic stock? First time I pulled the plug for the oil change noticed some small metallic pieces adhering to the plug. PM. <>< :blink:

 

[Silverbullet]

They aren't. But, the diff plugs are, and as I used to understand it, they are interchangeable with the oil drain. The torque spec is crap, and although only a guess, I'm betting the drain plug was installed in the pan dry, long before the engine was assembled, and therefore, it's mighty tight to remove now. If you replace the washer with each oil change, just tighten untill the washer compresses. Otherwise, do what you have done all your life on anything else, tighten untill it's good, and then ride.

 

[kiteman11]

....... I just need to figure out now how the best way to listen to my Sirius Starmate Replay.

https://tinyurl.com/yno7xh

KM

Thanks for the link on this. I was actually looking at these yesterday online. My question is, can I just plug them into the radio unit and go or will I need some sort of additional amplification? Thanks for the help.

 

[YooperDick]

I had more of a problem getting the oil filter off the '08. Must have been put on by Arnold Schwarzamotto. Eventually had to wrap the end of the OEM filter with two layers of electrician tape to grab and keep the filter wrench from slipping off the filter. Other than that, a piece of cake.

 

[sl_1300]

I just did my own 600 mile service and the filter was easy to remove with a cap type filter wrench from walmart. Also I didn't think the drain bolt was too tight on mine but I do think the factory spec is a little much. The pumpkin oil was really nasty and the TB's were way out of sync and the antifreeze was a little low and the RH mirror was about to fall off. Other than that every thing is good to go.

 

[ShawnKing]

I've come from a hardtail chopper to this bike and it's been a trip getting to know and respect it.

It really is a remarkable difference, isn't it? I'm just getting off a Royal Star Cruiser and the differences are remarkable - and not just in the tons of fun we both seem to be having riding it.

 

[Greb]

Just did my 600 mile service. Took me alot longer than I thought it would.

The oil drain plug was way too tight on mine as well.

Syncing the TBs took longer than I hoped for. The 2nd gens have a T-bar and heat shield under the tank that made it harder than it looked on FJRtech. So you pretty much have to remove the entire tank to remove the heat shield. If you plan on doing this make sure your tank is almost empty; makes it much easier.

Of course I accidently put a hole in one of the TB rubber caps trying to get them off. I used some super glue to fill it and I hope that holds up. I will order some more for extras as they are easy to rip I found out. I used safety wire to make sure I didn't drop the snap rings. The rubber cap on cylinder #2 is a ****** to get to.

I used my SyncPro to set my throttle bodies and I guess it worked okay but I would rather have a trusy old mercury manometer. They weren't even that far out of sync but I feel better knowing they are synced up.

Changing the final drive oil is a snap, but I decided to take off the rear wheel to do it and check all the splines for proper amount of grease. I was surprised everything still had a substantial amount of lubrication but added some more grease to all splines. I took the drive shaft out and lubed up the splines that mate in the transmission as well.

Overall an easy bike to maintain, I am sure even easier after a couple more services.

 

[vmaxed]

Just completed my own first service on my 08A. Got 553 miles on it and the rear drive oil was full of ****. The oil drain plug was tight as a sombitch and I ended up putting a piece of 3' pipe over the ratchet end to break it loose.

I did my 08 today,The oil drain plug was way too tight I had to use a 1/2IN. breaker bar to loosen it.. :exclamation: :dntknw:

Ed.. :big_boss:

 

[El Cajone]

Just completed my own first service on my 08A. Got 553 miles on it and the rear drive oil was full of ****. The oil drain plug was tight as a sombitch and I ended up putting a piece of 3' pipe over the ratchet end to break it loose. Used the D&H Kawa 20w50 oil I bought the day I took the bike home. Glad this thing is fairly easy to work on. The first miles on the bike have been fascinating. I'm learning the bike, it's learning me and it's breaking in. I can feel it start to smooth out in throttle response and in the gearbox. It's really cool now that it's all starting to mesh. I've come from a hardtail chopper to this bike and it's been a trip getting to know and respect it. I think the BT21 Bridgestones are a good sticky tire for the mountain roads up here in North GA. I commute from Cleveland, GA to Young Harris, GA everyday and enjoy the twisty roads. Cool bike. I just need to figure out now how the best way to listen to my Sirius Starmate Replay.

I just did an early oil change at 250 mi. and had a similar experience. I had to really crank on the oil drain plug to release it. Changed the shaft drive oil as well. It looked a lot worse than the crankcase oil. Used the opportunity to put a magnetic drain plug in the crankcase and upgraded the engine oil, shaft drive oil and oil filter to better than the OEM stuff. My bike is getting smoother all the time, good feeling.

 

[Parkerspop]

Just did the same to my 07. The oil drain plug was very tight but the final drive was a snap except that it was hard to manuever oil funnel in that small of a space, got more oil in the pan than in the bike!

So after this was all done I decide let the bike idle to check for leaks and it's running rough, just idling is ok but when I hit the throttle it hesitates and sometimes dies. I am hoping it just needs the recommended synch up, any thoughts?