most necassery maintenance

J

JosBos

Registered
First of all I'm new here, so hi everyone!
I need some advice...

I live in Belgium where right now the weather is finaly getting good enough for riding again. But first my 08 which has 12.000 kms needs to be serviced.

Being a bit (much) strapped for cash I've decided to do some maintenance myself. I'm not very experienced at this, but I should be able to do some basic stuff.

So I went to a dealer a couple of days ago to buy oil. When I asked the man which oil I need, he started telling me I should not try to do maintenance myself because there were a lot of things I could not do myself like syncronisation (at 12.000km?) and a bunch of other stuff I can't even remember.
He told me he would do it for 350 euro's. I also need a new tire, pay insurance,... which is going to cost me so this is not an option right now.

Accourding to the maintenance schedule I only need to do an oil change, replace the spark plugs, engine coolant, brake and clutch fluid.

What is absolutely necassery?
I feel comfortable changing the oil and oil filter myself. Is this enough to keep the bike happy?
Can I do damage buy not changing the spark plugs? I would atempt to do this myself, but I understand you need special tools which will cost more money...

Are there any other things I need to think of?

Thanks!
 
Oil change definately. Clean your chain, kersosene works well, and lube it with your choice of products. Change your sparkplugs when you can afford it, I wouldn't be overly concerned about them. Bad plugs won't harm anything other than performance and fuel economy. At the mileage you have they're probably still ok though.
Coolant, and brake and clutch fluid are ok to change every other year.
Clean your air filter. If it's not a reusable filter(stock isn't) you can at least spray it out with some compressed air if you can't afford one now too.
There are no specialty tools needed for basic maintenance either. The dealer just wants your money. The gen1(99 to 07) and gen2(08 to 11) service manuals are free downloads from this site. Members here will be glad to walk you through whatever you need.:beerchug:
 
A rear stand might be a good investment. Torque wrench too. Careful with that steel drain plug that goes into your aluminum oil pan :whistle:

:welcome:
 
:welcome: don't let the dealer intimidate you. oil, plugs, filter, and basic chain maintenance will get you by for a while. start thumbing around and search the gen2 section for some guidance. by the way be careful not to overtighten your oil drain plug because you will strip it. :whistle:
 
Yep, just do the oil. A more experienced mate around is always nice if you're unsure about basic procedures.
If the oil filter was changed last time you did the oil change, you can also save there. The oil filter is only supposed to be changed once in every 3 oil changes. Changing it every other oil change is "playing safe" and changing it every time is a wast of money.

Do not save on your tires!
 
You need plugs with only 12,000 Km's ??? ? I really doubt that, unless you've been running it VERY RICH. All you need is the basic maintance (Chain maintance, tire's maybe and a good cleanup) and Oil and Filter changes. THAT'S ALL you should really need :beerchug:
 
busabeast said:
wha??
Click to expand...

French
he is in Beligum so if he is in southern Beligium then French is his primary language, is he is in Northern Belgium than Flemish is his primary. His English is very good for a second language, most educated Europeans speak English these days, our schooling over here is sad lol :(
 
MY bike just hit about 12.5k as well.. on third set of tires though so i think I should be okay...

I think I'll do an oil change before the bash.. I guess I've been wasting money since I've been replacing the filter every change : O


I wont bother starting a new thread, so thank you kindly for the info- this pertained to myself as well.

Colton
 
Thanks for the advice guys. This is good news!

I already cleaned and lubed the chain. This weekend I'll change the oil + filter and look at the air filter.
The tire is going to have to wait for a couple of weeks. As long as I only ride when it's dry this isn't a problem right?


Jos Je suis ne a mons, jabite a la Beligie pour onze ans. Bienvenue a la org!
Click to expand...
Merci Rongotti, j'habite a Genk donc je parle le néerlandais. As you can probably see my English is better than my French...
 
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