Service Recommendation?

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danarielle

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Dec 23, 2011
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Location
Albuquerque NM
Hi, I hope that someone could give me some advice -- since while I love my FJR, I have little mechanical aptitude.

I purchased an '05 in December with about 13,000 miles on it, and just rode it from New Mexico to NY (roundabout route, 2700 miles in 9 days). The bike now has 17,000 miles on it. THE BIKE IS WONDERFUL.

I have a new rear tire, and I added some coolant before my trip. Other than that, I have had no service done.

While everything seems to be working fabulously well, I would like to have the bike serviced now and plan to have an oil and oil filter change, new coolant (since I plan to ride for most of the winter in and around NYC).

IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE THAT YOU WOULD RECOMMEND ME DOING? Thanks very much.

 
Strongly recommend you locate and acquire an owners manual which has the maintenance intervals. In truth I couldn't find the periodic maintenance at the link provided by Ignacio and I'm sure he meant to link you to the FJR 1300 Periodic Maintenance page. You might also try here and scroll to page 6-3.

You're due tor spark plugs, air filter, oil and filter, final drive gear oil, and coolant. The manual recommends rear suspension pivot point maintenance, which is something you may or may not want to do depending on your budget and how your bike is used. Since you say you drive in NY in winter, I would do it since the joints are exposed to corrosive materials and water. There are numerous inspections and function safety checks due as noted in the manual. Note at 26000 miles you're due for a valve check, and it's easier and more logical to do the coolant at that time.

You can save a lot of money by learning the basics of maintenance. An oil change and final drive maintenance on this bike takes about 5-minutes and is pretty hard to mess up. Good luck with this, and if you choose to do some if the checks and maintenance yourself, this forum is a great resource. It's all here and in the FJR Service Manual.

 
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Strongly recommend you locate and acquire an owners manual which has the maintenance intervals. In truth I couldn't find the periodic maintenance at the link provided by Ignacio and I'm sure he meant to link you to the FJR 1300 Periodic Maintenance page. You might also try here and scroll to page 6-3.

You're due tor spark plugs, air filter, oil and filter, final drive gear oil, and coolant. The manual recommends rear suspension pivot point maintenance, which is something you may or may not want to do depending on your budget and how your bike is used. Since you say you drive in NY in winter, I would do it since the joints are exposed to corrosive materials and water. There are numerous inspections and function safety checks due as noted in the manual. Note at 26000 miles you're due for a valve check, and it's easier and more logical to do the coolant at that time.

You can save a lot of money by learning the basics of maintenance. An oil change and final drive maintenance on this bike takes about 5-minutes and is pretty hard to mess up. Good luck with this, and if you choose to do some if the checks and maintenance yourself, this forum is a great resource. It's all here and in the FJR Service Manual.
Thanks very much -- you are right -- I should learn some basic MC maintenance skills. But your suggestions are right on! The only additional items I am thinking of are to replace the clutch fluid and fork oil....

I am going to be curious as to whether I will notice any difference in the way the bike handles/rides etc.

 
Bought my bike used 6 months ago from a dealer and now has 10800 or so miles on it.I haven't done much in the way of actual maintenance apart from lubing brake, gear and stand pivot points and checking oil levels etc.

Thing is, I paid up front for the 3 year service package, something I'm now thinking I regret doing, and tomorrow I'm taking it for the first service visit.

I'd rather be having a tooth pulled. I'm fretting over what the dealer should do and whether it will get done and get done properly. I take care of all servicing on our cars and vans, but I think I was fazed by having just bought the FJ and not having owned a bike for 30+ years, concerned that all that technology was beyond me.

Oh well, it's too late now,the deal is paid for and non cancelable, so I have to suck it up and see what happens.

Anybody else found themselves in a similar position or am I just a sad old git who needs to get out more? :unsure:

 
I think the biggest problem with the prepaid plan is that you end up with your bike in the shop, and no control over getting it back quickly, even for simple maintenance. I would always question exactly what was done, and the quality of the work, but then again, it's your faith in the dealer or service department. If they are good, you should have no problem. I'm sure the maintenance agreement is for routine stuff, and if you want forks rebuilt, or tires changed or other non-routine repairs (electrical), you are S.O.L.

Is the 3-year policy worded like 3 years or 30K miles or is it actually unlimited? The closest I came to this was an extended warranty. That actually worked out in my favor as it was unlimited miles and I had things like a stator, regulator and brake rotor replaced...I still would have preferred doing the work myself.

 
Yeah I totally agree with your last comment. I have no history with the dealer so don't anything about the quality and thoroughness of their work. Because of their location WR to my home I'm going to wait around while they do the service which they're saying will take around 3hrs, but I will certainly take your advice and ask exactly what they have done.

You're right about the routine nature of the work....the contract states, " 6 scheduled services as per owners manual or 3 years". Looking at the manual it's a little difficult to determine a 'scheduled service', depending whether you go by mileage or time period as there is no record of any previous servicing to use in comparison.

I don't put many miles on the bike so servicing in my case will pretty much be scheduled by time.

Hopefully any major problems such as you experienced will be covered for 2 years as I bought the YES warranty at the same time!

Must have had a rush of blood to the head!!

 
I follow the maintenance to a tee, except the spark plugs. I checked them at different intervals and saw no reason to change than at 8k. I am installing iridiums as soon as they came in for my first change at 36k. No adverse running or problems from the bike yet.

Bash away....

 
YES sucks, the PO bought the warranty and transfered it to me, Yamaha refused ti fix or even tighten the head bearings at 13k and would even consider the leaking fork seal as warranty so I replaced te seals and installed roller bearings in the head myself. Stealerships suck. Once they have your money, they treat you likr the plagur when it comes to warranty work. Never again will a dealership see my bike.

 
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Hmmm. Well I'm hoping this is another insurance I've paid for and will never need.

I certainly empathize with the PO and can only reiterate other forum members posts, i.e. obtain a service manual and use the excellent facilities and contributors here on the Forum.

Thanks for your comments all. I will be sure and let you know what I think of the upcoming service work.

 
If this plan covers the upcoming valve clearance check, I would inquire about chipping in a few bucks and getting the upgraded timing chain tensioner at that time. A "fair" dealership would charge for the parts needed and the additional labor required allowing for overlap (they are already there). Crooks will want full pop for the job.

 
YES sucks,
Disagree. Paid for itself many times over on my first FJR.

IMHO, head bearing and fork seals are 'iffy' items when it comes to warranty as those can be more of 'service' type items.

Loose bearings at 13k miles is wear? Thats ridiculous..They wont even retorque them under warranty, Valve seals go bad, but at 13k miles thats a failed part.

Yes still sucks.

 
Loose bearings at 13k miles is wear? Thats ridiculous..They wont even retorque them under warranty, Valve seals go bad, but at 13k miles thats a failed part.

Yes still sucks.
It's not "wear", but completely normal....much ike lubrcating pivot points. It's in the 4,000 service schedule. There's no way they should cover them under warranty unless they fail...they're not sealed bearings. And you don't see valve seal replacement anywhere in the service schedule.

You have unrealistic expectation if you think that should be covered by any warranty. You want Yamaha to remove metal particles from your oil under warranty too? :huh:

 
Yeah I totally agree with your last comment. I have no history with the dealer so don't anything about the quality and thoroughness of their work. Because of their location WR to my home I'm going to wait around while they do the service which they're saying will take around 3hrs, but I will certainly take your advice and ask exactly what they have done.

You're right about the routine nature of the work....the contract states, " 6 scheduled services as per owners manual or 3 years". Looking at the manual it's a little difficult to determine a 'scheduled service', depending whether you go by mileage or time period as there is no record of any previous servicing to use in comparison.

I don't put many miles on the bike so servicing in my case will pretty much be scheduled by time.

Hopefully any major problems such as you experienced will be covered for 2 years as I bought the YES warranty at the same time!

Must have had a rush of blood to the head!!
Maybe you'll get lucky. First time I wandered into my dealership they sold me on an unlimited service plan for 3 years for something like $1300. I was kicking myself for being a fool the next day. However, just happened to be a 5-star Yamaha shop. They kept the '05 running like a top for the first 55K miles, including the big services (2 valve adjusts). I've taken on some of the chores since (oil, rear end oil, air filter, and spark plug changes as well as TBS are a cinch on this bike). Same dealer still gets all my valve adjust and tire change work, plus odds and ends. It's a nice fit for me. Hope yours works out as well.

As to the YES, it paid for itself many times over - again, having an excellent dealer in my corner helped - plus the YES being good for unlimited miles...

 
Ah ****.. Yet another reason to eliminate this POS Platform.. I can't understand why we keep buying these fukers.

Because its the best bike I have ever owned. Love the bike, hate the support. I have had several other small issues that i just chose to address myself instead of letting the stealership touch it. They will never see my bike again.

Its far from unrealistic to expcet them to support the product when there was money spent for an extended warranty. The fork seals I can alomst buy off on, the head bearing so loose there was substantial play in the head, and them ignoring it. Not so much. I was in the dealership buying parts for my other bike that I purchased new thru that same dealership, It had a TPS problem they refused to fix as well. Warranties are for people that like wasting money becasue dealerships will worm out of doing any work they can.

I love my FJr, Gonne ride it till the wheels fall off. I did have a moment where I thought of moving to another bike. but have since decided to just keep on rolling on the 05 FJR.

 
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