Something All FJR Owners Should Know

[El Toro]

Nothing to add. I added something, but I see above that its already been said. Nevermind

 

[RichardS]

Deleted by poster 2/23-too many negative vibes

 

[rok312]

Is it me, or did I miss a post or two between September OF LAST YEAR and now? :dntknw:

 

[Fred W]

Is it me, or did I miss a post or two between September OF LAST YEAR and now? :dntknw:

Yeah... you missed the part (in another thread) where the OP replaced his engine because it had lost compression. He believes this was due to a hose being left off of the airbox (by some dealership shoptards) and the engine breathing unfiltered air for a long time.

 

[user 213]

Actually, all of the hoses from the airbox to the throttlebodies were left completely loose. One of the clamps wasn't even attached at the ends. In addition, the vent line at the bottom of the air box was also not attached. All of this was allowing significant amounts of dirty air and crap into the engine. My last ride with that motor, prior to pulling it, was a torrential rain ride and steam was coming out of both exhausts. At the time, it was believed to be a sign of the head gasket failing. In actuality, it was simply rain water entering the system at the loose hoses and being fed into and thru the engine. Scary, huh?

I had previously run some different de-carbonizing agents through the engine over 3k miles. I do not believe a carbon build up problem existed, or exists, on that motor. My compression continued to drop approx. 5 psi per 1k miles ridden during this time. I didn't check it again just prior to pulling the motor, but the previous test was in the 150 psi range.

The shop doing the diagnosis was not the same shop that left the hoses loose. As previously stated, there was no reason to pull the airbox to do the valve check/adjust service, but a junior tech did so because she was following the Yamaha shop manual which essentially is running you through the engine removal procedure.

What you need to know here is that Yamaha won't go looking for suspect issues on a low compression motor due to suspected ring wear after about 60k miles. Ring wear is specifically listed in the YES warranty as a non covered issue.

You also need it know that the FJR motor will last far longer than 60k, or even 90k. There are multiple examples of 150k+ motors still running strong, though I do not have compression reading info on those. I did do compression readings myself on motors in a similar range to mine and found them still in spec, though approaching the bottom of the spec, 198 psi on one cylinder.

This experience was a bit of a roller coaster ride for me. As you might guess from the tone of the earlier posts where I was rather upset and at a loss to wtf was going on and why I was being blown off by Mother Yamaha.

Currently I have about 3600 miles on a replacement motor that had 7k on it. No problems and I look forward to at least another 100k on this bike. I was lucky to score a good used motor for a price I could afford, and much less than even a valve job, never mind a rebuild.

Any other questions, don't hesitate to PM me, but this thread is essentially dead and closed now.

 

[RichardS]

Hey, easy guys, I'm/newbie just catching up on all the forum posts.

 

[RichardS]

Fred W,

My post above (#141) was directed to this thread, as a possible solution to post #15's carbon build-up on the valve seat. Guess I did skip a lot of pages ( and time!) between the last post prior to #141. Sorry about that.

 

[John from CT]

This is hard. I really, really hard, I like my FJR. A lot. I currently have 88k on my '04A. My extended YES warranty was due to expire on 7/16/08, five years after I picked my baby up from Sunyside Motorsports, A.K.A. Desert Valley Powersports. I have used my FJR to go places. Places near and far, but mostly far. I only rode 5k in '05 since my Da was dying of cancer, but still managed to get to Hyder and do White Stag that year. The road quiets the voices in my head, and the FJR has been there through a lot over the last five years.
Just before NAFO, before my warranty was about to expire, I noted some cam chain noise. Having suffered a previous cam chain tensioner failure that was replaced under warranty at 68k, I knew well the sounds of cam chain slop. I took my FJR to the local preferred dealer, Action Motorsports in Fairview, OR. An excellent dealership with not one, but two five star rated Yamaha techs. They have done right by me on valve adjustments and warranty work in the past. I have no complaints with them.

They opened a Repair Order and called Yamaha. Yamaha reviewed my history and requested that the bike be opened up prior to ordering a tensioner, as there was some concern that the chain or cam gears may be worn, rather than just a tensioner since the first one lasted 68k and it had only been <20k on the replacement. M'kay, that's fine with me, but I had NAFO to go to, so I arranged to drop the bike off on the 29th of July, upon return from NAFO. The deal was that since the RO was initiated prior to the end of my YES, I was still covered under warranty. Cool.

I dropped the bike off on the 28th, literally on the way home from NAFO. A good friend gave me a ride home from the dealership and I worked a couple of days, then hopped on the Road King and headed for Sturgis. Somewhere in MT I had a voice mail that my cam chain, cam gears and tensioner appeared to be fine, but there was an intermittant low idle that they were trying to track down.

This became an O2 sensor that was dead. They replaced the O2 sensor and put the bike on an EGA to re-set the CO settings. Hmm, come to find out I had very high CO and HC readings. After further consulting Yamaha, an ECU was swapped in to see if there was an issue with the brain. No change. At this point a compression test and leak down test were performed. The FJR spec for compression is 198-228 psi. Mine was 155/157/165/152. Leak down was 18%/16%/15%/25%. Acceptable leak down is 3-5%. Give or take. Over 10% is usually indicative of a problem. Leakage was occurring past the rings and the valves, both in significant amounts.

The conclusion? "Your motor is worn out". (both from the dealership techs and the Yamaha RTA), The YES specifically states that low compression due to ring wear is not covered. The dealer spent a lot of time talking with Yamaha's tech people, essentially saying that this motor should not be worn out. My tire log shows 10k or close to it on all my rear tires. I'm a smooth rider that rides the PACE and spends a lot of time at relatively constant highway speeds. Well, there is some variation in riders, but this is still considered normal wear by Yamaha. No warranty coverage. I spent about three hours talking to the customer service reps. Multiple calls. I tried my best to argue my points that this was not "normal" wear, but premature wear. Never would they give me a solid number on how long the motor was expected to last, just that mine was worn out and that was not a covered condition. Had it failed, then I may have had a leg to stand on, as that is a different issue. Failure is covered.

Hell, my Oxtar Matrix boots have more miles and are still 100% waterproof.

So, what should every FJR owner know? Your motor was designed to last about 60k. Near as I can tell at least. I strongly recommend that every FJR owner have their FJR tested for compression at every valve adjustment period and have these values documented by the dealer. Maybe, just maybe, it will save you some suffering and bring to your attention that compression is falling off before your YES expires. And just maybe you'll have a shot and getting some "help" in fixing that.

Today I picked up my FJR. No motor work done. As I got to the first light, half a block from the dealership, I heard the cam chain noise clear as day. I 'flipped a bitch' and rode back to the dealership and got the manager to listen to it. He is ordering a tensioner, under warranty, and will replace it free when it comes in.

I can't afford to replace the FJR right now. Most likely I'll just keep riding it until it won't run any more. It doesn't burn or blow oil at this point and seems fine, except for the cam chain noise and some erratic idle issues still present. I'm hoping some fresh plugs and an air filter will cure that. I don't know how long it will continue to perform well enough to ride, but there are a bunch of FJRs with over 100k out there, so you would think it would continue for a while.

I never thought my FJR was a disposable bike. Had Yamaha told me the motor was expected to last 60k, I probably would not have bought the bike. The only other things that have worn out on the bike have been the front brake pads at 77k and I did upgrade the shock at 25k or so. Oh yeah, and that first cam chain tensioner at 68k. I still have the original rear pads, (getting there), and the original battery. Never mind things like clutch plates, pumps and any number of things that wouldn't have caused me a moments lost sleep if they had worn out by now. Those are all fine! The motor wore out first!!!

FWIW, Kawasaki will tell you that the C-14 motor should easily last 100k. And Yamaha doesn't sell crate motors. Buyer beware.

I haven't read the latest post on this thread, maybe you have decided not to do an upper end job, but

1) Compression readings should be done with the engine warm

2) Values on different cylinders should be within 10% of eachother

3) If you get low readings squirt some oil in the cylinders to seal the rings with oil and repeat the test, if readings are still too low you have a valve problem, not a ring problem

I hope this helps.

 

[v65]

I haven't read the latest post on this thread

Would never have guessed that. Here is a summary for those too lazy to read - he found the problem and fixed it.

 

[Fred W]

I haven't read the latest post on this thread

Would never have guessed that. Here is a summary for those too lazy to read - he found the problem and fixed it.

Hey now!! What do you expect someone to read a whole thread before they post a possible solution or sumpthin?