Wintersdark Posted June 4, 2020 Share Posted June 4, 2020 1 hour ago, DavidS said: Has anyone ever had a catastrophic failure with their FJ09/Tracer? I can't remember hearing of anyone having significant maintenance issues with this bike. Not only is this engine a ton of fun, but in my experience, it is rock solid dependable. Anyone have a different experience? I've never heard of anyone having a catastrophic failure issue with the CP2 or CP3 in any bikes - FZ, FJ, or MT. The worst things I've seen tend to be user error. Most frequently, chain failure trashing the case (maintain your chain!) - there's several very graphic examples of that here. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koth442 Posted June 5, 2020 Share Posted June 5, 2020 21 hours ago, DavidS said: Has anyone ever had a catastrophic failure with their FJ09/Tracer? I can't remember hearing of anyone having significant maintenance issues with this bike. Not only is this engine a ton of fun, but in my experience, it is rock solid dependable. Anyone have a different experience? Yeah, we had a member named Vinnie that lost his FJ due to bent valves or the valves quit sealing. I don't remember which. He claimed there were a bunch of people on the FZ forum complaining of the same issue. Probably not oil related though. 1 '15 FJ09 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporting Member piotrek Posted June 5, 2020 Supporting Member Share Posted June 5, 2020 2 hours ago, koth442 said: Yeah, we had a member named Vinnie that lost his FJ due to bent valves or the valves quit sealing. I don't remember which. He claimed there were a bunch of people on the FZ forum complaining of the same issue. I remember this guy and the chatter on the FZ forum. Pushed me to check my valves a bit early, and I am very glad I did. This is a great engine, but I would just advise on checking valves a tad earlier than what the maintenance schedule calls for. Let it go for too long, and if the factory put the engine together on, say... a Friday before a long weekend... could become a problem. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koth442 Posted June 5, 2020 Share Posted June 5, 2020 2 hours ago, piotrek said: I remember this guy and the chatter on the FZ forum. Pushed me to check my valves a bit early, and I am very glad I did. This is a great engine, but I would just advise on checking valves a tad earlier than what the maintenance schedule calls for. Let it go for too long, and if the factory put the engine together on, say... a Friday before a long weekend... could become a problem. Me too. At 8,xxx miles I had some tight valves. 2015 model. '15 FJ09 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skipperT Posted June 5, 2020 Share Posted June 5, 2020 6 hours ago, piotrek said: I remember this guy and the chatter on the FZ forum. Pushed me to check my valves a bit early, and I am very glad I did. This is a great engine, but I would just advise on checking valves a tad earlier than what the maintenance schedule calls for. Let it go for too long, and if the factory put the engine together on, say... a Friday before a long weekend... could become a problem. Since it’s been brought up again - still think that there wasn’t much wrong with the cylinder head on that engine.... his tech diagnosed that the valves and seats were prematurely worn, but the pics didn’t show that IMHO. Would have like to see those parts for myself. -Skip 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duhs10 Posted June 5, 2020 Share Posted June 5, 2020 21 minutes ago, skipperT said: Since it’s been brought up again - still think that there wasn’t much wrong with the cylinder head on that engine.... his tech diagnosed that the valves and seats were prematurely worn, but the pics didn’t show that IMHO. Would have like to see those parts for myself. -Skip I'm in agreement with you @skipperT... I try to give them the benefit of the doubt. Regardless, let's say that what vinnie experienced was 100% as described and the mechanic diagnosed it correctly.... it's still the only FJ I've ever heard of or that's been reported on the forum to experience that sort of damage/failure. Tight valves seem to be common, but other than that no major issues. We have a few members with 100k miles and climbing without any maintenance other than routine. 2 1 '15 FJ-09 w/ lots of extras... Fayetteville, GA, USA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koth442 Posted June 6, 2020 Share Posted June 6, 2020 Well every manufacturing process occasionally phucks up, Vinnie was the unlucky winner. 2 '15 FJ09 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhotoAl Posted September 10, 2020 Share Posted September 10, 2020 As a new owner of a Tracer GT it’s nice to see the comments about the folks with 100,000 miles. I put 26,000 miles on my last bike in 2 years and expect to put a lot on the Tracer. I have used Rotella in a Ninja 250 and my FZ6 but that was a while back. Quit using it on the FZ6 because the engine seemed to make more mechanical noise sooner after an oil change and the shifting was not as good as with some other synthetic oils. Lots of motorcycle folks use Rotella in all kinds of bikes without any problems - as mentioned make sure it meets the motorcycle spec. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteinpa Posted September 10, 2020 Share Posted September 10, 2020 Wow, an oil thread. Its like I never left the FZ07 and ST1300 forums. I used various diesel oils, other oils, etc. Anything but "motorcycle oil" to save $$. This year and from now on I'm using Castrol Actevo 10-40. Cheapest place is ordered through Walmart delivered to my house for $23 a gallon. I order 2 at a time. Passes ALL specs., and shifts great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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