fitrx
Active member
Maybe it's me. Maybe it's alzeheimers. Maybe it's my eyes. But...maybe it's the manual.
Now having my new, to me, 2005 FJR, I find it time to do the usual maintenance stuff: Oil, brake fluid change, coolant change, yada, yada. The previous owner was nice enough to include Yamaha's service manual with the purchase. I just find the manual to be the most difficult and least helpful of what must by now be a dozen service manuals for cars and bikes I have used over my lifetime. Example: with he Honda Aero manual's extensive descriptions and illustrations, I feel I could practically build a Honda from the wheels up, had I the machine tools, dies, lathes, etc. and ability.
I love how for a proceedure they give you the order of items to remove, an exploded illustration that is far from lucid, and sometimes a referral to another part of the manual for the removal of one of the items, which is described the same, list of what to remove in order of removal and an unintelligable exploded view of the area. All the manuals I have ever had had photos of certain aspects of proceedure, detailed descriptions of each step...anyway you get the idea.
Do I have the wrong manual, is there an aftermarket manual that is better, any opinions would be helpful...or just flame me as having slid down the evolutionary tree to where I have the intellect of a vole and I will make an appointment with my doctor to see what new breakthroughs have occured in the treatment of alzheimers.
So, while on this, less than helpful manual. The plastics: Do you guys generally take only the particular cowling panel off that is absolutely necessary to get to a part, or do you take more extensive plastic off to make it easier and/ or less likely to damage the plastics? I put a small scratch on the top of the lower right cowling trying to reinstall it after accessing the coolant recovery bottle. While trying to get it into the proper position at the rear of the upper cowling, got under the upper cowling's edge catching one of the metal threaded tabs leaving a small scratch. Too bad they don't dye the plastics all the way through the same color as the paint. Nice, bright white scratches even a 1/4" show up quite easily on the galaxy blue.
What do you call one of those plastic fasteners that you push the center in to remove and reinstall by pushing the pin in from the front. Yeah, I lost one, don't ask me how. I was placing every fastener in a coffee can as it came off, yeah, another vote for alzeheimers. I will go and buy a few extra at the dealer, unless someone knows they can be bought at Pep Boys or elsewhere. Reminds me of socks, there is always one.
Now having my new, to me, 2005 FJR, I find it time to do the usual maintenance stuff: Oil, brake fluid change, coolant change, yada, yada. The previous owner was nice enough to include Yamaha's service manual with the purchase. I just find the manual to be the most difficult and least helpful of what must by now be a dozen service manuals for cars and bikes I have used over my lifetime. Example: with he Honda Aero manual's extensive descriptions and illustrations, I feel I could practically build a Honda from the wheels up, had I the machine tools, dies, lathes, etc. and ability.
I love how for a proceedure they give you the order of items to remove, an exploded illustration that is far from lucid, and sometimes a referral to another part of the manual for the removal of one of the items, which is described the same, list of what to remove in order of removal and an unintelligable exploded view of the area. All the manuals I have ever had had photos of certain aspects of proceedure, detailed descriptions of each step...anyway you get the idea.
Do I have the wrong manual, is there an aftermarket manual that is better, any opinions would be helpful...or just flame me as having slid down the evolutionary tree to where I have the intellect of a vole and I will make an appointment with my doctor to see what new breakthroughs have occured in the treatment of alzheimers.
So, while on this, less than helpful manual. The plastics: Do you guys generally take only the particular cowling panel off that is absolutely necessary to get to a part, or do you take more extensive plastic off to make it easier and/ or less likely to damage the plastics? I put a small scratch on the top of the lower right cowling trying to reinstall it after accessing the coolant recovery bottle. While trying to get it into the proper position at the rear of the upper cowling, got under the upper cowling's edge catching one of the metal threaded tabs leaving a small scratch. Too bad they don't dye the plastics all the way through the same color as the paint. Nice, bright white scratches even a 1/4" show up quite easily on the galaxy blue.
What do you call one of those plastic fasteners that you push the center in to remove and reinstall by pushing the pin in from the front. Yeah, I lost one, don't ask me how. I was placing every fastener in a coffee can as it came off, yeah, another vote for alzeheimers. I will go and buy a few extra at the dealer, unless someone knows they can be bought at Pep Boys or elsewhere. Reminds me of socks, there is always one.
Last edited by a moderator: