Joys of a LOW MILEAGE GEN 1

[Greenham]

So when I decided to buy the FJR, I went everywhere looking for the best deal I could find in my price range. I ended up w/ an 05' that had only 14,000 miles. An older rider who had the stealer do the service. Well so far I have found the following

1. Sticky throttle tube (dried up grease)

2. Sticky throttle cables (lubed them)

3. When replacing the tires, I found the rear axle nut only hand tight

4. When replacing the pea soup looking brake and clutch fluid the hand brake master cylinder screws are gaulled into the master Cyl stripping the screw heads (Still working on that)

5. 2 light bulbs burned out

Any other places I should look for gremlins? Spider bites have me nervous.

 

[MrZappo]

drive shaft spline lube ... U joint lube ... swingarm lube ... rear end oil ...

 

[Twigg]

Spiders are not wildlife associated with the Gen 1

 

[RadioHowie]

Double-posting's a *****, ain't it.

 

[escapefjrtist]

Change all the fluids including the coolant. Fix anything obvious (which you're doing) and enjoy the ride!

--G

 

[radiummadman]

and wipe that **** eating grin off your face

 

[SouthernCruizer]

I'd check anything and everything that is made of rubber or comes in contact with any fluids. Low mileage, old bikes are , in my opinion, the riskiest kinds of bikes to buy. Once you put them on the road and start the heat up/cool down cycles by actually riding them more than once a month, problems will rear their ugly heads. Good luck!

 

[beemerdons]

and wipe that **** eating grin off your face

+1, Gunny; especially when you are pulling wheelies, I still miss my 2003 Miss Lucy Liu FJR! JSNS, Wheelie Queen Lucy!

 

[FJReady]

Roll up your sleeves and dig into the rear suspension linkage, specifically the relay arm. There are 4 roller/neeedle bearings in there that need routine cleaning and lube. I let it go too long (once) and had to press out a rotten bearing. The first time you do this its a ***** (well documented here on the forum) because you have to get the right side center stand bracket off in order to remove the forward relay arm pivot bolt. (do a search for FJR relay arm removal). Once you install new bolts into centerstand from opposite direction of the factory the job is much easier, but still long.

As noted above, spider bites shouldn't be an issue. they haven't been on my well used '05 anyway. And I concur with complete fluid changes as noted.

Good luck and enjoy!

 

[ionbeam]

Get a set of JIS screwdrivers for the screws that look like Phillips but are a Japanese type to prevent future strip-outs. You may end up having to drill out the screw heads, remove the brake/clutch covers and then use something like vice grips on the screw stumps to remove them.

Call a dealer and check to see if the TPS has been changed and check to see if there are records of replacing the Cam Chain Tensioner. All a service department needs is your VIN, then they can look up the service history of your bike regardless of which dealer did the work. You *really* want both of these items replaced with updated parts.

Lube the bronze bushing on the clutch lever and lube the front brake lever. Take apart the right side brake lever and lube the shaft, take the left side peg assembly off and lube the pivot shaft of the shift lever. This prevents a lightly dragging rear brake and prevents shifting issues.

The plug caps may be stuck and very hard to pop off. Use care.

Check the air filter a.k.a. The Home for Little Wanderers, the perfect rodent habitat for nesting.

If your bike is an ABS type, you want to test the ABS to see if the solenoid for the rear brake is stuck and cycle the solenoids to move brake fluid through the metering block.

 

[Bungie]

I used a small torx driver to remove the stripped out master cylinder cover screws.

A couple of taps with a hammer to give them a good bite and then out they came.

Necessity is a mother.

 

[Bounce]

Duplicate thread removed.

Suggested reading:

https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php/topic/150102-avoiding-doubletriple-postings/

 

[Bounce]

drive shaft spline lube ... U joint lube ... swingarm lube ... rear end oil ...

https://www.fjr-tips.org/maint/spline/spline.html

https://www.fjr-tips.org/maint/ujoint/uj.html

https://www.fjr-tips.org/maint/sa/sa.html

https://www.fjr-tips.org/maint/levers/levers.html

 

[bhendron]

Make sure your Cam Chain Tensioner is the new up-to-date one.

 

[ionbeam]

Make sure your Cam Chain Tensioner is the new up-to-date one.

That would be consistent with the items listed in post #10 in this thread.

 

[Greenham]

Wow all great info, thanks guys... When I took off the wheels for a tire change I took the opportunity to remove the drive shaft, to Molylube the spines which were in decent shape. I have also done the rear end gear oil change. I will read up on the Relay Arm and doing the ******** on the cooling system.

Sorry about the double posting.

 

[ionbeam]

I will read up on ...doing the ******** on the cooling system...

As long as you aren't changing from one style of coolant like orange to green, IMO, the ******** is unnecessary. Even changing from one significantly different style to another it still isn't really necessary to get out every last drop of old coolant. This recommendation is free, take it for what it's worth :lol: