SuzukiSavage.com - Proud new owner

Buster

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Re: Proud new owner
Reply #15 - 03/16/12 at 05:23:01

Thanks for the advice, especially about the dealership service - My bike was delivered without an owners manual, battery vent tube...and the battery was dead. They're mailing me a new "dry" battery along with the missing items. Probably won't return to selling dealer in the future for service work. I live and work pretty close to the oldest Yamaha dealer in the United States and I still see some of the same people in there that I saw 30 years ago. If I didn't want to do the 600 mile service myself along with providing photographic proof, could I let a "professional" do the work at a Yamaha dealership without ruining my warranty? You think a service order from a non-Suzuki establishment would carry as much weight as a phone picture of me doing the work?

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2015 S40 (Pearl Moon Stone Gray)
OEM Pillow Seat - OEM Windshield

"Some may call this junk. Me, I call them treasures."

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Oldfeller--FSO

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Re: Proud new owner
Reply #16 - 03/16/12 at 09:40:12

Let us try to clarify.

The 600 mile service is a long standing fraud. The dealerships DON'T DO IT, they just listen for clicking valves and if none are heard then they change your oil and filter and then charge you the book rate for the 600 mile service (which is quite high, BTW).

They are really just checking for bad factory assembly and their own goof ups taking it out of the crate. The fact they can charge you hundreds of dollars is just gravy to them.

Here is what really needs doing at 600 miles.

Change your oil and oil filter. Adjust your valves.

If I were doing it again, I would wait until 1,000 miles (let the rings break in good on the original fairly good quality dino oil provided by the factory) then I would change filter and oil to a good JASO MA MA2 full synthetic oil with lots of ZDDP in it (yes, Rotella T6 is a good one that doesn't kill your pocketbook) and I would plan out my first valve adjustment to take place about that same time too.

Like while the oil is draining out during the oil change for example.

Do you work on your own machines? This is an excellent machine for a new mechanic to work on. Clymers is good (once you correct all the errors by writing in red ink on the pages in the book), our tech threads are better with all the tips and tricks you could ask for.

And if you get stuck, there is us (us as a whole is the best Savage resource/mechanic in the whole wide world).

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Buster

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Re: Proud new owner
Reply #17 - 03/16/12 at 13:48:37

Yeah I may have sounded confusing when I said thanks for warning me about dealers, and then turned around and asked for advice on dealers. Let me clarify myself:

I don't trust the dealer right down the street from my house at all - they told me Suzuki stopped making the S40 several years ago and the guy looked stoned.

The dealer that sold the bike is 40 miles away, and not much sharper.

The only other (Suzuki) dealer in the area...I know nothing about.

This is why I asked about the Yamaha dealer - wanted to know if a non-Suzuki shop would void my warranty if I let a Yamaha shop do any "required" service - the basic stuff that I don't want to do myself and have to save receipts and pictures of me doing the work? I know the people at the Yamaha shop personally, for the past 30 years, and trust them completely. I'm certain they would do only what is needed, when needed, and not charge me for anything that isn't needed. They're right down the street from my work and if they wouldn't void the warranty, I'd just as soon let them do anything that's needed while it's under warranty. I'm sure I would have to take it to a real Suzuki dealer if parts started breaking and needed to be covered under factory warranty...that's when I would try the last chance Suzuki shop across town. Right now I'm just not feeling too good about motorcycle shops that I'm not familiar with.

I'm not trying to be hard to get along with here, not intentionally, but I just don't want to mess up my warranty.

Later on, I plan on doing most of my own service.

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« Last Edit: 03/16/12 at 17:50:18 by Buster »

2015 S40 (Pearl Moon Stone Gray)
OEM Pillow Seat - OEM Windshield

"Some may call this junk. Me, I call them treasures."

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Buster

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Oklahoma
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Re: Proud new owner
Reply #18 - 03/17/12 at 04:32:59

Savage_Rob wrote on 03/14/12 at 16:11:26:

Congratz on your new ride! I think the questions have pretty much been answered but, since OIL was mentioned... I use the 20w50 synthetic in mine year-round in North TX (Dallas area).

Read a lot about temps being higher with thicker oil, but I'd be much more interested in actual UOA readings of 10w40 vs 15w50 vs 20w50 - does thinner oil actually contain less wear metals? Maybe I just missed the used oil analysis postings?

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2015 S40 (Pearl Moon Stone Gray)
OEM Pillow Seat - OEM Windshield

"Some may call this junk. Me, I call them treasures."

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Oldfeller--FSO

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Re: Proud new owner
Reply #19 - 03/17/12 at 07:37:23

We don't generally do oil analysis here on the list (even Bill is too cheap to spend the $50 for Blackstone labs).

Such data is readily available on Bobistheoilguy.com though for the major oils that we use (such as the Rotella products).

Pick brand and weight of oil you want to see UOA for (generally look for VOA data first to see the real starting spot. Google can search Bobs for your oil and UOA and VOA to get your results.

Now, here is the rub -- we don't run an oil through to completion like the car and truck guys do. Bikes get changed out at least once a year, mostly twice a year which is only like 5,000 miles. This is way earlier than the car and truck data was taken.

Plus, we make a lot of metal off the shifter dogs, the gearing rub zones and the cam chain, which would not be present in the car and truck data as they do not run a transmission/combined sump. Clutch wear products are not present in the car truck numbers as well.

Comparing your UOA off a bike to what you see out of a truck or car is somewhat misleading accordingly. We dirty up our oil more than a car truck does (relatively speaking).

Watch the silicate build up numbers also as a main threat type number, dust makes it through bike air filters much more so than truck or car filters.

And if you are into Ouji boards and tea leaves analysis, the top pic came from 0w50 Mobil 1 and the lower pic came from Rotella T6 5w40.

Both are premium synthetic oils but the Rotella seems to produce less ferrous trash for the supermagnet to collect during the oil change interval.

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Former Savage Owner

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bill67 Serious Thumper Offline old tired Posts: 8517 genoa city wisconsin Gender:	Re: Proud new owner Reply #20 - 03/17/12 at 08:05:36 Looks like theres been some wear on the engine there.
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Oldfeller--FSO

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Re: Proud new owner
Reply #21 - 03/17/12 at 08:37:48

Yup, seems so. No "zero wear oil" here, nor anywhere else in a Savage engine actually.

Metal happens on our bikes apparently. Every magnetic oil plug out on the list says so too. I've picked up little bits of cam dogs off my oil plug magnet before when the bike was a lot newer.

Ferrous wear products are less so with T6 it seems, which has been surprising since I leave the magnet in for two years at a lick now and just change out the oil once a year and keep it topped up good to the list method. That ugly 0w50 Mobil pic was in there just one year (like 3-4 times more metal collected compared to T6).

Part of this was "the break in effect", the earlier pic was earlier in the life of the engine (inside the first 10,000 miles). I am knocking on 20,000 miles now. The rest of it is the T6 simply doing a better job than Mobil 1 did.

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Former Savage Owner

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Mr Hyde YaBB Newbies Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 7 Kingston Ontario Canada Gender:	Re: Proud new owner Reply #22 - 03/17/12 at 08:55:19 Buster - welcome. I was in the Suzuki shop for a look see yesterday and they had an S40 in your color scheme on the floor. Now that's an eye catcher. The nicest I've seen in years (other than black IMO).
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Buster

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Motul 3000 10w40
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Oklahoma
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Re: Proud new owner
Reply #23 - 03/18/12 at 17:18:23

Mr Hyde wrote on 03/17/12 at 08:55:19:

Buster - welcome. I was in the Suzuki shop for a look see yesterday and they had an S40 in your color scheme on the floor. Now that's an eye catcher. The nicest I've seen in years (other than black IMO).

Thanks. Still waiting on the new battery, and the owners manual. Be nice to know what the engine sounds like.

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2015 S40 (Pearl Moon Stone Gray)
OEM Pillow Seat - OEM Windshield

"Some may call this junk. Me, I call them treasures."

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verslagen1 YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline Where there's a will, I want to be in it. Posts: 28886 L.A. California Gender:	Re: Proud new owner Reply #24 - 03/18/12 at 17:31:02 owners manual can be found here... http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?board=tech;action=display;num=1138554254
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ralfyguy Serious Thumper Offline Posts: 932	Re: Proud new owner Reply #25 - 03/19/12 at 05:00:59 Hello Buster, welcome. Where in Oklahoma are you located? I'm in McAlester.
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Buster Full Member Offline Motul 3000 10w40 Zinc 1407ppm Posts: 128 Oklahoma Gender:	Re: Proud new owner Reply #26 - 03/20/12 at 05:06:51 ralfyguy wrote on 03/19/12 at 05:00:59: Hello Buster, welcome. Where in Oklahoma are you located? I'm in McAlester. Coweta area, about 20 miles from Tulsa.
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mau2wu

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Re: Proud new owner
Reply #27 - 03/21/12 at 19:37:11

The Savage (as I call mine) is an awesome bike. I have learned so much from this website and the great people on it. I have never taken my S40 bike into the shop and have done all the maintenance myself-- I am not a really mechanical person either so that is a credit to the people here who are generous enough to offer their expertise. The "savage" is about self-sufficiency and doing stuff on your own.

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06 s-40, sporster muffler, 1/2 spacer, 150 main, 52.5 pilot, black pipe wrapped in tin foil.

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Re: Proud new owner
Reply #28 - 03/22/12 at 08:41:27

Welcome to the club Buster.

My bike is probably the biggest piece of junk on the board by most standards... Never gets washed, stays outside year round, has been ridden wide open since day one... has been modified to within an inch of its life several times...

I've never had to adjust the valves, and mine is a 1998. Absolutely zero cam chain noise. Never had a clutch issue other than stretching the cheap factory cable. My bike got the everloving s**t beat out of it on a regular basis riding year round on the Gulf Coast, Memphis area and in the mountains of Washington state. Takes it and happily comes back for more... 15W40 conventional diesel oil or 20W50 conventional oil, filter changed when (if) I remember it has one.

Petcock never failed (ATF or Marvel Mystery Oil in every 2 or 3 fill ups), vacuum slide in the carb never failed. Fuel tank got holed when my stepson crashed the bike a few years ago so I now run a 60s or so era tank with a manual petcock.

The electrical parts on the bike suck. Mine has been down for quite awhile because of it. Switches that fall apart, relays that fall apart, too light of wiring (that appears to go nowhere)... Cut a notch in the left side of your battery box and run a 14LA-2 battery, less than 1/2 the cost of the oddball stock battery. And you can find them anywhere (Wal-mart, auto parts stores, independent bike shops, etc).

If the bike still ships with IRC tires replace them now. They are only good for a couple months, tread sands off pretty quickly. There are 3 sizes of front brake pad thickness, buy the EBC thin ones. Intruder 800/S50 rear shocks will give you a better ride and firm up the handling a bit. Throw the belt tensioner away (the little brass plunger in the tool kit). Run the belt a bit on the loose side, doesn't squeak as bad or put as much stress on the output shaft. Don't trust the swingarm alignment marks, they are always off side to side.

Have fun with it. Great commuter/weekend bikes. Great platform to make it suit your taste. I've seen them turned into cafe racers, Scramblers (dual sports), barhoppers, bobbers, rigid choppers, touring rigs...

Intruder shocks, Harley fender, unknown gas tank, semi-rigid bags, ape hanger handlebars, side mount 7" headlight (stock light shattered, tool roll bounced)...

Like I said, have fun and make it your own. We're here if you get stuck.

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On 2 wheels since 7/87

Black and Chrome 2003 1950s style custom

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RC Junior Member Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 83 Quartz Hill Ca. Gender:	Re: Proud new owner Reply #29 - 03/22/12 at 20:47:07 Welcome, you will never find better advice than right here. You made the right choice the S40 may be the last great classic bike on the market. Enjoy.
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