Routine maintenance

[Buckeye060]

Bought a 2004 RSV a little over a year ago. Has a little under 14k miles. Only real maintenance I've done is put on new tires, oil changes and ran Seafoam through a couple of times.

Have no real knowledge of what the previous owner did as far as maintenance.

Was thinking I should take it in to the dealer for a good going over. Any suggestions on things I should definitely have done?

[Bubber]

There are plenty of people here that can guide you through the process of checking and maintaining your bike.

So let them help you to make a list of items and possibly an accompanying post for you to read

I will give it some thought and post more a little later.

This may also be a good thing to put in a history file if it is not already there.

Bubber

[Yammer Dan]

Change clutch and Brake fluids? Valve check? Carb sync. How many miles? Pull driveshaft and lube and lube pins in wheel when you do this. If you can do these yourself it beats paying inflated stealer charges. Unless you have more money than you want. In which case we know who is buying when we stop at Dairy Queen. They don't take a lot to keep them purring and I'm sure you will get a few suggestions as to upgrades. We can keep you busy.

[Pic]

Change the coolant and the fuel filter.

 

There are lots of articles on how to do your own maintenace in the Second Gen and Royal Star Technical Library section

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=14

[bongobobny]

At 14K miles just change the oil and ride it!!!!!

 

Oops, just read the year. Change ALL fluids...

[RedRider]

Pretty basic stuff you can do yourself if you have a lift. You don't need to worry about a valve shim adjustment for another 14k miles (28,000 mile interval).

 

If you look at page 7-3 in the owners manual, there is a Periodic Maintenance and Minor Repair chart. At 14,000 miles you should expect to:

 

1) Spark plugs - NGK DPR8EA-9 available from any auto parts store for about $2 each. OEM recommended.

2) Carb Sync

3) If you can find one of the old timers here, work with them to set your carb float levels. However, unless you are having trouble, I suggest waiting until you do your valve shims since you need to pull the carbs then anyway (Yeah, I know you can do valves without pulling carbs - I just did it that way. But it is way easier to pull the carbs.)

4) Oil and filter change depending on when it was last done (8000 mile/12 month intervals even though most change it more often than that - I usually maintain an 8000 interval).

5) Replace coolant.

6) Change fluid in both brakes and the clutch. Recommend getting speed bleeders or a vacuum bleeder. Use a fresh unopened can of DOT4 fluid.

7) If you have original rubber on the bike, replace the tires. Make notes / take pictures of how the parts go on the axle. There is a washer that needs to go in the correct spot. Get a really big 27mm combo wrench. That way you don't have to pull the left side muffler.

 

While rear wheel is off:

a) Lube the splines between the rear drive and the wheel. Honda Moly 60

b) Take the pin drive off the wheel. You have to remove a snap ring for this to come off. If the pins are dry and rusty (likely), clean pins with crocus cloth or steel wool. Clean the rubber bound pin receptacles with a 20 ga. shotgun barrel cleaning brush. I think a .45 works also. Once clean, coat with Moly60 and reassemble. You might want to have another snap ring on hand in case you bend this one when removing.

c) Remove the pumpkin (rear drive). (4) 12mm acorn nuts. You should take this opportunity to drain the pumpkin first. Put a piece of masking tape with 'Rear Oil' over the ignition switch so you don't forget to refill. SAE 80w90 gearoil is recommended by the manual.

d) Remove the drive shaft (likely come out with the pumpkin). Lubricate liberally with Moly60. There are several thread on here about putting this back together. It's kind of a PITA the first couple of times you do it.

e) Flip inside and outside rear brake pads. They tend to wear unevenly. If they are low, replace with EBC HH pads. Unless you are heavy on the rear brakes, I would expect them to still have lots of meat. Don't play around with your brake pads. Brake discs are expensive, pads are cheap, wrecking hurts.

 

8) There is a bolt on the pivot of the heal/toe shifter. Remove it and coat with Loctite blue (242 IIRC). Put it back on and snug up.

9) Remove your Captain and Tennille tape from the cassette player and throw away. You're welcome.

10) Lube both hand lever pivots.

11) Go around the bike with your metric allen wrenches and tighten everything. You will likely find a few locations with loose bolts. Along the rear fender chrome support (behind the saddle bags) come to mind. The bolts holding the trunk down (access from bottom). If any of these are hand loose, remove and add a drop of Loctite blue. Check hinge support bolts for the trunk lid. Hinge bolts on both both saddle bags.

 

This should keep you busy for a Saturday. Purchase Honda Moly60 from the local Honda CAR dealer. It costs about half of what the Honda bike dealer charges. And they will have it in stock while the bike dealer will need to order.

 

Keep your eyes on this board for a maintenance day in your area. Pretty much everything here can be done at one. It will only cost you beer and/or ice cream.

 

RR

[Buckeye060]

Thanks for all the great advice. You guys make owning a RSV a great decision!!

[aharbi]

I agree, change the fluids and ride. Valves don't need to be done till 26,600 miles. Steering Bearing are such a pain on a RSV that I'd check if they are tight, if no problems let them go till they wear out. It is as much work repacking them then to just replace them. Rear arm pivot bearings, I checked at 27K (also a 2004) and they were fine, I repacked with Honda Molly 60 paste (get it at the car dealer, much cheaper than cycle shop) I won't check again till 80k. Following charts are from the YAMAHA Service Manual for the XVZ13TFL

 

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk100/aharbi/Motorcycle/Maintenance3-1resized.jpg

 

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk100/aharbi/Motorcycle/Maintenance3-2resized.jpg