Yearly Maintenance

IrishGaucho

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Good day lads,

It's that time of the year again for the GS and I would like to hear(read) your opinions about what you do.

I bought the bike last year, 2008 with about 40.000kms on the clock and while the bike was supposedly recently serviced, I did a service myself just for safe measure.

I did the following:

-Engine oil and filter
-Gear box oil
-Final drive oil
-Alternator belt
-Spark Plugs

At the dealer:

-Brake fluid flush/replacement (this made a huge difference on stopping power, specially on long rides)
-Final drive/Gearbox rubber boots replacement (they had a few cracks)
-Service code cleared

Nice thing about having the dealer clearing the code is that they charge me only about 15 euros and they do an overall check of the bike, which is where they pointed out the rubber boots being perished and got them replaced, it was surprisingly cheap.


This year, I'm definitely in for a valve check/adjustment and engine oil and filter at least according to the manual. But I was wondering if you guys would do gear and final drive oil as well yearly or keep it to the recommended intervals? I think it's every 40k kms...

Of course there's no harm on changing oils sooner, but is it worth it? I've done little over 11k since the last service, so I think I might skip this year and do it the next one and still be pretty early.


So I guess my question is, what do you guys do? Stick to the manual or do all just for the sake of it?




Cheers,
Rami
 
I do engine oil every 6k KM and do the gearbox while im at it.
From what I have read, lads who change the FD oil every oil change get to keep there final drive till the end of the bikes life.

I plan on doing the FD and brakes annually. Which is about 20k. I have also read that moisture can build up in both systems if not done. I dont know the truth about this though.
 
RTV said:
Of course there's no harm on changing oils sooner, but is it worth it? I've done little over 11k since the last service, so I think I might skip this year and do it the next one and still be pretty early.

Cheers,
Rami
Click to expand...

Early ???


The service schedule is every 6k miles or once a year.
 
I do the lot (oil and filter, air filter, gearbox and FD oil) every 6k, so about 3 times a year and the spark plugs once a year. Valves and brake fluid I leave to the dealer. Having had a leak from the rear gaitor I always pivot the FD down and re-grease everything I can reach, also gives me the opportunity to check the gaitor.
 
I do some service items more frequently than the schedule (for example the air filter), but I do not bother doing the gear oil change early.

I am surprised that the gear oil change is as frequent as it is, generally speaking gearboxes are closed systems that do not contaminate the oil or place it under a load that would necessitate a frequent change. For some vehicles a gear oil change is not scheduled i.e. provided the level is OK the oil is left in for the duration of the component's life.

The FD is peculiar in that there is evidence that they can suffer oil contamination and benefit from a frequent change, but I am not aware of any such circumstances that apply to the gear oil (happy to be corrected).
 
KP100 said:
I do engine oil every 6k KM and do the gearbox while im at it.
From what I have read, lads who change the FD oil every oil change get to keep there final drive till the end of the bikes life.

I plan on doing the FD and brakes annually. Which is about 20k. I have also read that moisture can build up in both systems if not done. I dont know the truth about this though.
Click to expand...

That's kind of my thought process, I've read some horror stories with the FD and I guess better be safe than sorry.

Steptoe said:
Early ???


The service schedule is every 6k miles or once a year.
Click to expand...

That's correct, 6k miles = 10k KM (typo when I put 11, meant to put 10). Gearbox and FD are marked as change every 40k km, to it would be early for those...

Tractors are go said:
For the cost of two litres of gear oil and couple of hour's time spent, why would you not do it ???

Sent from my GT-N7105 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Agreed. So I might as well just change them too...


Cheers,
Rami
 
Another reason the change the FD oil is to check the old stuff. If it's not clean you might have a bigger problem on the way.
 
Greenman14 said:
Another reason the change the FD oil is to check the old stuff. If it's not clean you might have a bigger problem on the way.
Click to expand...

100% agreed, that to me is the best thing about servicing the bike myself. I can get a picture of what's going on inside the beast... Last year, everything came out very clean and (knock on wood) I hope to get the same results this year as well :)

Cheers!
 
RTV said:
100% agreed, that to me is the best thing about servicing the bike myself. I can get a picture of what's going on inside the beast... Last year, everything came out very clean and (knock on wood) I hope to get the same results this year as well :)

Cheers!
Click to expand...

For the sake of a litre of oil, drop the gearbox and FD oil every service.
 
imm.. The hanynes manual says different. 8 to 900ml for the gearbox and 220 for the FD. Which would leave one short if one only had a liter.

It also say 4L for the engine. Which overfilled mine on the last service.

DOes the gearbox have a breather?
 
KP100 said:
imm.. The hanynes manual says different. 8 to 900ml for the gearbox and 220 for the FD. Which would leave one short if one only had a liter.

It also say 4L for the engine. Which overfilled mine on the last service.

DOes the gearbox have a breather?
Click to expand...
BMW changed FD level to 180ml cos of leaking issues...but I personally split the difference and put 200ml in my FD.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
 
Buy two x 1 litre bottles of gear oil.
Put 200 ml in the final drive.
Put the remainder in the gearbox until it overflows.

You will now have a spare bottle of gear oil for next time and just a little left over in the old bottle.

I use 200ml in the FD (it's the breather type) except for when the wheel bearing and seal failed, it has never blown any oil out.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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