Not used much lately... Oil change needed?

[johnmark101]

12 hours ago, betoney said:

Whats ridiculous is the manual recommending to check and replace the plugs so often.  Completely unnecessary.

I have never checked or inspected mine, only had them changed when the valves were adjusted at 23k and 44k on my FJ and at 25k and 50k on my previous FZ1, every time the mechanic said that the plugs looked great and did not recommend changing them any sooner.  YMMV.

Same here.....the recommended plug change intervals seem ridiculous.  I change them along with the valve inspection and the old plugs always look to be in good condition.  NGK laser iridium plugs are designed to last a very long time.

[DavidS]

17 hours ago, betoney said:

Whats ridiculous is the manual recommending to check and replace the plugs so often.  Completely unnecessary.

I have never checked or inspected mine, only had them changed when the valves were adjusted at 23k and 44k on my FJ and at 25k and 50k on my previous FZ1, every time the mechanic said that the plugs looked great and did not recommend changing them any sooner.  YMMV.

I had the same experience, only replaced my plugs when I did my valves.....

[Dave76]

On 1/18/2020 at 5:09 PM, DavidS said:

Oil and filter change is a cheap thing to do at home, so I do mine every 3000 miles. Yes, it is probably overkill, but clean oil won't hurt your bike, and I always feel better running with fresh oil and a new filter.

Before I started riding year round, I would always change the oil when I put the bike down for the winter, and change it again before I took the first ride in Spring. Now I just change it first weekend after I hit 3000 miles since my last change.

 

So you'd change the oil in the spring after covering 0 miles?

[vincep]

On 1/20/2020 at 5:05 AM, nhchris said:

As opposed to spark plug changes, which require disassembly of most of the motorcycle every 4K miles to check the gap!  Ridiculous!

I think on the ford modular V8 family, they have small intervals to check the plugs.  Based on what my mechanic riding buddy has told me, it was not about the plugs needing the check, it was about making sure the plug does not end up frozen in there having not been removed for 100k miles.  Alloy head and steel plug.

Maybe contributes nothing to the Yamaha reasoning, just a thought.

[nhchris]

Hummm, interesting.  I had not thought of that issue as a reason to spin the plugs loose every 4k.

If in fact that is the rationale it seems like  a problem that might be better solved by using some type of high temp lube on plug threads rather than pulling the bike apart every few months.

[roadrash83]

13 hours ago, vincep said:

I think on the ford modular V8 family, they have small intervals to check the plugs.  Based on what my mechanic riding buddy has told me, it was not about the plugs needing the check, it was about making sure the plug does not end up frozen in there having not been removed for 100k miles.  Alloy head and steel plug.

Maybe contributes nothing to the Yamaha reasoning, just a thought.

Hi temp Anti-seize is your friend.

[DavidS]

On 1/22/2020 at 12:58 PM, Dave76 said:

So you'd change the oil in the spring after covering 0 miles?

Yep, not sure it actually helped, but made me feel better.

Oil is cheap, engines are expensive, If the bike sits for ~3 months or more without turning on, I would change the oil and oil filter. That also forces me to look around the bike and potentially spot any other issues that I might have missed if I had just climbed on and started riding.

I'm not suggesting everyone should follow my routine, just describing what I feel comfortable doing....

[Dave76]

11 minutes ago, DavidS said:

Yep, not sure it actually helped, but made me feel better.

Oil is cheap, engines are expensive, If the bike sits for ~3 months or more without turning on, I would change the oil and oil filter. That also forces me to look around the bike and potentially spot any other issues that I might have missed if I had just climbed on and started riding.

I'm not suggesting everyone should follow my routine, just describing what I feel comfortable doing....

Absolutely, each to their own, I'd have probably just changed the oil in the spring, in fact that's exactly what i'll be doing. In my case I only do around 4,000 miles a year too.