Check Your Maintenance Schedule!

mcgovern61 · Mar 17, 2012

Been having lots of fun riding my bike and today was oil change day. No biggie....drove for about 40 miles for fun and with the hot engine the oil drains like water! I always go a step further than just draining; after the oil is out I slip the plug back on a few turns and leave the filter housing open a few turns, turn the kill switch to off and crank for a few seconds to get that last 1/2 quart out. Then I go about the usual oil change.

When I finish, I record the mileage in my spreadsheet that keeps track of various parts and maintenance. Well tonight while I was filling in the mileage, I noticed the air filter has a lot of miles on it. Just for yucks...I look up the maintenace schedule I have in the downloaded '82 manual I got from the site!

Holy smokes!! :shock: :shock:

The air filter is to be replaced every 8,000 miles.....mine had 16,188 miles on it!!!!!

Spark plugs....every 4,000 miles.....mine.....9,090 miles!!

:swoon:

Replace the brake fluid every two years???? Man, I should have read that manual long ago!!! :fiddle:

My point...my bike runs like a clock.....but I have not been real careful about these intervals even though I seem to think I was doing pretty good. Check the manuals and check you mileage.....if you are anything like me, you might be surprised how far you have gone between changes! :rtfm:

I have attached a copy of my spreadsheet in PDF format to view. If anyone is interested in an Excel version PM me and I can email it to you.

slabghost · Mar 17, 2012

I stay pretty close on oil changes but the other stuff get fixed when needed. Air filter is fine until it get's dirty. That can happen at 30 miles or 3000 miles or more. Plugs these days seem to last longer without problems. My subaru hasn't had new plugs in 10 years and it still runs fine. Is it a good idea to follow the maintenance schedule? Most certainly. Is it imperative to the life of the motor? I think not.

danf · Mar 17, 2012

Look's like we are neck & neck on milage Mcgovern..I also have 53.000 ...Oh crap...I just went out to check it and it says 57.673 :shock: :shock:

dan filipi · Mar 17, 2012

Gerry, will the excel file upload?
Would be nice to make a permanent home here for others to download.

If it won't upload as an attachment let me know. I might need to change some settings.

scdmarx · Mar 18, 2012

There are no guarantees against machinery breaking down, and these bikes are old, as dependable as they may seem, but preventive maintenance is really the only defense you got and it's usually not very expensive, as it don't all have to be done at once.

mcgovern61 · Mar 18, 2012

dan filipi":ncj94fmi said:
Gerry, will the excel file upload?
Would be nice to make a permanent home here for others to download.

If it won't upload as an attachment let me know. I might need to change some settings.

Dan, I tried to upload the Excel file initially, but I got a message that xls files cannot be loaded (executables?)