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General Category >> Rubber Side Down! >> Bike that never had a Tune Up
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Message started by Tiefighterpilot on 08/25/10 at 22:23:51

Title: Bike that never had a Tune Up
Post by Tiefighterpilot on 08/25/10 at 22:23:51

My bike never had a tune up and its almost 2500 miles. Previous owner never did anything on the bike.

I was wondering if I should just take the bike in to shop. Can any of these be done easily myself. I am mechanically challenged.

1. cylinder head and cylinder nuts and bolt tightening
2. adjustment of automatic decompression cable prior to adjusting valves
3. valve clearance measurement and adjustment
4. spark plug cleaning/re-gapping or replacement (I can do this)
5. carb idle speed adjustment (I can do this... if this is with the little thumb screw)
6. cam chain adjuster.

Am I missing anything for a bike that never had a tune up?

Title: Re: Bike that never had a Tune Up
Post by verslagen1 on 08/25/10 at 22:38:07

you can easily do 2 thru 5.
and are you including oil change?

3 can be tricky if you've never done any vehicle before.

5 idle speed is important, not as difficult as idle mixture, you need to know both.

6. good practice for the head bolts.

Title: Re: Bike that never had a Tune Up
Post by LANCER on 08/26/10 at 03:04:46

hows the oil ?

fork oil ?

when I first got my Savage the front suspension felt like crap and I was pretty disappointed in the performance of it, and wondered about swaping the forks for something better.
Then I pulled them off (at about 2k mi) to see what type of mechanism was inside and found that the dealership had not put any oil in the forks when they assembled it out of the crate. There was a few drop from when the factory wet the parts for assembly but that was all there was.
I cleaned up the mess and put in the required amount of 20 wt oil vs the suggested wt....it is amazing how much better the forks worked with oil in them !!!!

Title: Re: Bike that never had a Tune Up
Post by ralfyguy on 08/26/10 at 04:41:11

707D727F796E2E2B1C0 wrote:

Unbelievable! You serious?

Title: Re: Bike that never had a Tune Up
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 08/26/10 at 09:42:07

At 20,000 miles, my head has never been torqued, No leaks

Title: Re: Bike that never had a Tune Up
Post by T Mack 1 - FSO on 08/26/10 at 09:51:10

Cam chain adjuster?? Nothing you can adjust on it, it's automatic.

Only thing you can do is look at it and at 2500 miles, there should be little need to pop the side cover off to look at it.

Title: Re: Bike that never had a Tune Up
Post by Serowbot on 08/26/10 at 10:04:39

I'd skip 1., 2., and 6....

adjust the valves, change the oil and filter, adjust idle, check the water in the battery, and clean the plug...
... and since you're in a damp area.... you might want to lube the cables...

Title: Re: Bike that never had a Tune Up
Post by spacepirates on 08/26/10 at 11:07:51

where is Bill saying he needs to put some seafoam in there? :D

on a more serious note, consider checking the cleanliness of the carb and air filter. make sure your carb isn't getting gummed up on the insides and that your air filter can breathe a little.

i've done 3, 4, 5, and 6. None of them were bad to do, just takes a little time and a little confidence. cam chain adjuster *check* should be done around 15k miles. sooner if your did performance mods, but even then, it ends up being a glorified oil change if you are just checking it.

if you want a real hard-core tune up suggestion, i've always found that a freshly washed and waxed machine goes 5-10 mph faster ;D

Title: Re: Bike that never had a Tune Up
Post by verslagen1 on 08/26/10 at 11:09:13

Since we're talking about moisture...

Change the brake fluid.

Title: Re: Bike that never had a Tune Up
Post by Digger on 08/26/10 at 20:33:59

If it were my bike, I'd do 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

Maybe more, depending on the age the bike. What year is it?

Title: Re: Bike that never had a Tune Up
Post by T Mack 1 - FSO on 08/27/10 at 07:29:26

173A34343621530 wrote:

If it were my bike, I'd do 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

Maybe more, depending on the age the bike. What year is it?

Good catch....

If the bike is older, suspect that the fuel petcock diaphram may be dried out and prone to leaking. The type of rubber that is gas resistant, likes to be wet with gas. Once it dries, it gets stiff.

Title: Re: Bike that never had a Tune Up
Post by Tiefighterpilot on 08/27/10 at 08:44:29

My bike is 2007. 2500 miles. Put on 2K miles since April 2010.

You all just saved me lots of $$$$ and headaches. Thanks for all the help.