15,000 mile maintenance/inspection

[Advincula]

Hey all,

I've just hit my 15,000 mile mark on the bike, with 5,000 of those miles being ridden by me! Since it's maintenance time, I've been searching for a good place and price.

I'm not too keen on taking it to a dealership/shop (I'd rather do it myself), but I have neither the time or experience to be inspecting everything on the bike. I've already looked at some of the DIY's on Tech Talk here, and that just reinforces the fact. Plus, I don't want to put everything back together and realize I have some "spare" parts left over.

I was quoted 950.00 by a guy from RideNow. I think that's steep, but he was explaining about packing bearings and adjusting the valves, and how it takes a lot of time.

Advice? Thanks

[Domagoj]

Well, I don't know what packing bearings is, so I can't say anything about it.
I don't know about the prices in the US, so that's also something I cannot comment.

Concerning the rest, service manual covers all points you should check at certain mileage. Most of it are checks, and most likely everything will check out ok. Furthermore, most of it are repeats from the previous service interval, so by following it you make sure nothing was left unatended by the owner before you.

If you're going to do it yourself, you will need a garage. You will also need stands, and at least some basic tools. If you have a lot of time, and if you have some more experienced friends, try to do it yourself. You will get to know your bike better (at least in the basics), and that's certainly something to aim for. That "black box" feeling is actually pretty bad.

I'd say that for valve clearance check you will do well to plan 2 days, and 2 more days for other work. The more time you have, the better, because it will make it more fun and much less stressful than having a deadline looming over your head.
Note that valve clearance check is a bit easier than adjustment, as you can't really go wrong there - nothing "critical" has to be removed. Adjustment is slightly different story, but I'm sure you looked over the diys and videos available.

In any case, by at least checking, you will know what work has to be done, and you will be able to evaluate the work done by the mechanic if you decide to hire one.

[Advincula]

That's actually pretty good advice. I usually do the basic maintenance myself (chain lube, oil change, fluids check) but i've never had to do a full inspection. I've been looking closer at the DIY's and I might be able to do it slowly.

Thanks for your advice!

[tubarney]

Originally Posted by Advincula

That's actually pretty good advice. I usually do the basic maintenance myself (chain lube, oil change, fluids check) but i've never had to do a full inspection. I've been looking closer at the DIY's and I might be able to do it slowly.

Thanks for your advice!

$950 for a service. Thats expensive, even for Australian standards. Most you should pay is $600. Also, tell him to pack those bearings up his a**.

If you need help with your service, there's plenty of people on here that can help you, like me for one.

[tubarney]

With pulling the bike apart. Its pretty hard to have parts left over when you can just look at something like this.

http://www.cheapcycleparts.com/oem-p.../owner-s-tools

[dfox]

Personally, I plan on paying a shop to do the major items, like the valve check/adjustment. I have a quote for $200 for just that. For me, the cost is worth the time. $200 is well worth an entire weekend of frustration. I enjoy cranking wrenches, but not for something like that.

All the other stuff, you could probably do yourself with limited time commitment.

[tubarney]

Originally Posted by dfox

Personally, I plan on paying a shop to do the major items, like the valve check/adjustment. I have a quote for $200 for just that. For me, the cost is worth the time. $200 is well worth an entire weekend of frustration. I enjoy cranking wrenches, but not for something like that.

All the other stuff, you could probably do yourself with limited time commitment.

$200 is a good price for a valve adjustment..

[broilmebk]

[Advincula]

Thanks everyone for your input! It helps alot to get the different perspectives. I'm real new to the gearhead aspect of riding, so I have no idea how much something costs till I'm knee deep in it.

Originally Posted by tubarney

$950 for a service. Thats expensive, even for Australian standards. Most you should pay is $600. Also, tell him to pack those bearings up his a**.

If you need help with your service, there's plenty of people on here that can help you, like me for one.

Haha I'll be sure to tell him that! I'll definitely ask you if I come up against anything I can't google or that isn't already a DIY on here.

I think the valve inspection/adjustment is probably the only thing out of the 15k list that I'll need help with.

Thank you all again; I truly appreciate the experienced perspectives!

[Motofool]

Originally Posted by Advincula

.........I think the valve inspection/adjustment is probably the only thing out of the 15k list that I'll need help with.

The wheel bearings are sealed for life, so no re-packing there.
Only the sprocket bearing needs some cleaning and greasing.

The reality of owning a motorcycle is that you either pay for expensive service work for years to come (and maybe towing services) or you learn and create the conditions to do it yourself.

Conditions are a flat clean illuminated place to work, tools, stands, time, etc.

[Advincula]

Originally Posted by Motofool

The reality of owning a motorcycle is that you either pay for expensive service work for years to come (and maybe towing services) or you learn and create the conditions to do it yourself.

Conditions are a flat clean illuminated place to work, tools, stands, time, etc.

Well said. I've just cleared an area in the garage to work on it. Rear stand, spools, lube/fluids and a new tool set is waiting for me when I get off work! Hopefully I can get alot of this done by the end of the weekend haha.

Thanks again!

[fishdip]

Hey josh if you need help let me know I live right next to luke air base. I have all the tools we need and I have done a few valve jobs.

[crazymadbastard]

The service does not have to happen all at once you know. Chip away at the to-do list at your leisure.

[Norway]

Originally Posted by Advincula

Hey all,

I've just hit my 15,000 mile mark on the bike, with 5,000 of those miles being ridden by me! Since it's maintenance time, I've been searching for a good place and price.

I'm not too keen on taking it to a dealership/shop (I'd rather do it myself), but I have neither the time or experience to be inspecting everything on the bike. I've already looked at some of the DIY's on Tech Talk here, and that just reinforces the fact. Plus, I don't want to put everything back together and realize I have some "spare" parts left over.

I was quoted 950.00 by a guy from RideNow. I think that's steep, but he was explaining about packing bearings and adjusting the valves, and how it takes a lot of time.

Advice? Thanks

Hi


I called a workshop here in Norway (Scandinavia) today. The 24 000 km service was offered for 7000 - 7500 NOK, or 1120 to 1200 USD.
This will include valve control and adjustment (if needed). They
expect 6 hours of work.
Is that about the expected number of hours for such a service?
Thanks, and best regards

[Hero Danny]

Originally Posted by Advincula

That's actually pretty good advice. I usually do the basic maintenance myself (chain lube, oil change, fluids check) but i've never had to do a full inspection. I've been looking closer at the DIY's and I might be able to do it slowly.

Thanks for your advice!

I've done stupid amounts of research on valves, I own both the owner's manual and service manual, it is VERY vague on how to do the valves, also there is not a single video reference video on how to do it for the newgens and to be honest, there isn't even a decent write up either (there is one but imo it's sloppy) I've studied the valves countless times on pregen videos and it's just not the same...

Seriously, don't listen to anyone on here telling you valves are easy and it will just take a day or two, they're simply wrong. It might be easy FOR THEM but not for someone like you or I who have little to no experience. You will have to remove a butt load of stuff, then you have to buy feeler gauges, a micro meter, shims, all that will run you roughly $50, then you have to go into the dirty of actually doing it which is hard as hell and you run a HUGE risk of damaging the engine...

You can get a kawi dealer to do it for $250, honestly... it's the way to go...

[NevadaWolf]

Just checking that you guys see the OP is from June 2013... Right?


@Norway, sorry I don't have an answer for you, I'm not sure how long a normal service takes to do when it includes checking and adjusting the valves.

[broilmebk]

Originally Posted by Norway

Hi


I called a workshop here in Norway (Scandinavia) today. The 24 000 km service was offered for 7000 - 7500 NOK, or 1120 to 1200 USD.
This will include valve control and adjustment (if needed). They
expect 6 hours of work.
Is that about the expected number of hours for such a service?
Thanks, and best regards

Holy cow. Even without knowing what the market is like in Norway, I know that's an exorbitant amount. Shop around.

Originally Posted by NevadaWolf

Just checking that you guys see the OP is from June 2013... Right?

meh. I for one appreciate the thread revival instead of starting a new one. Stays on topic

[NevadaWolf]

Originally Posted by broilmebk

meh. I for one appreciate the thread revival instead of starting a new one. Stays on topic

Oh, I agree, but some zombie threads are bumped from the OP being answered when the question was ages ago. I fully support bumping old threads if new questions or information is brought up.

[Norway]

Originally Posted by broilmebk

Holy cow. Even without knowing what the market is like in Norway, I know that's an exorbitant amount. Shop around.


meh. I for one appreciate the thread revival instead of starting a new one. Stays on topic

The prices for labour are very high, from about 100 to 200 USD an hour, I believe.
I'm curious about the time spent. Is 6 hours reasonable for a 24 000 km service? I guess it could be. (About 15 years ago I had a service on my (then)
ZX 11, including carburator and valve- adjustments. It came close to 7000
NOK ( more than 1000 USD) back then, with parts costing a small fraction
of the total). The ZX 11 was off course a much larger bike, but it might have
been easier to work on. I don't know..)

Anyone that had a similar service to the 250, including valve adjustments, and knows how many hours of work they paid for?
Thanks.

[csmith12]

[rgx107]

Here is a good instruction for a 250R 2008 that I followed when adjusting the valves on the 300
http://www.theyeagergroup.com/2008_n..._clearance.htm
Make sure you catch the seals for the spark plugs and don't drop them down the valve train.

Yes the procedure is quite involved, yes 6 h is not far off if the valves need adjustment and they do all the other checks, change oil, clean air filter, balance throttles etc.

And yes as Danny wrote the risk for the engine is high. But the valve inspection costs are equally prohibitive. I chose to do the maintenance myself.

[Norway]

Originally Posted by Hero Danny

I've done stupid amounts of research on valves, I own both the owner's manual and service manual, it is VERY vague on how to do the valves, also there is not a single video reference video on how to do it for the newgens and to be honest, there isn't even a decent write up either (there is one but imo it's sloppy) I've studied the valves countless times on pregen videos and it's just not the same...

Seriously, don't listen to anyone on here telling you valves are easy and it will just take a day or two, they're simply wrong. It might be easy FOR THEM but not for someone like you or I who have little to no experience. You will have to remove a butt load of stuff, then you have to buy feeler gauges, a micro meter, shims, all that will run you roughly $50, then you have to go into the dirty of actually doing it which is hard as hell and you run a HUGE risk of damaging the engine...

You can get a kawi dealer to do it for $250, honestly... it's the way to go...

Thanks for the information. It seems like valve adjustment is not anything I will do on my own, in the foreseeable future.

[Norway]

Originally Posted by rgx107

Here is a good instruction for a 250R 2008 that I followed when adjusting the valves on the 300
http://www.theyeagergroup.com/2008_n..._clearance.htm
Make sure you catch the seals for the spark plugs and don't drop them down the valve train.

Yes the procedure is quite involved, yes 6 h is not far off if the valves need adjustment and they do all the other checks, change oil, clean air filter, balance throttles etc.

And yes as Danny wrote the risk for the engine is high. But the valve inspection costs are equally prohibitive. I chose to do the maintenance myself.

Thanks for the link. If I can get my own tools and a proper place, I might try some time. This time I will let Ride, in Trondheim, do the 24000 km service. From your statements it seems like 6 hours isn't necessarily too much. Thanks.

[Norway]

Originally Posted by Norway

Thanks for the link. If I can get my own tools and a proper place, I might try some time. This time I will let Ride, in Trondheim, do the 24000 km service. From your statements it seems like 6 hours isn't necessarily too much. Thanks.

Valve inspection was performed. The values can be seen from the attachment.
Price for service: 8105 NOK = 1265 USD.

[Norway]

Originally Posted by Norway

Valve inspection was performed. The values can be seen from the attachment.
Price for service: 8105 NOK = 1265 USD.

Now the bike has 42300 km on the odometer. At about 24000 kms the valve inspection was as shown above. A new inspection was skipped at 36000kms.
Would it be too risky not to have the valves checked at the next (42000 km) service, but instead wait for the 48 kkm service?

Would the valves normally be expected to change a lot from 24 kkm to 42 kkm?

I'm in doubth about what to do? The bike is used for commuting, 80 km (50 miles) every day, running at around 7-8000 rpms.

[Ram Jet]

Originally Posted by Hero Danny

I've done stupid amounts of research on valves, I own both the owner's manual and service manual, it is VERY vague on how to do the valves, also there is not a single video reference video on how to do it for the newgens and to be honest, there isn't even a decent write up either (there is one but imo it's sloppy) I've studied the valves countless times on pregen videos and it's just not the same...

Seriously, don't listen to anyone on here telling you valves are easy and it will just take a day or two, they're simply wrong. It might be easy FOR THEM but not for someone like you or I who have little to no experience. You will have to remove a butt load of stuff, then you have to buy feeler gauges, a micro meter, shims, all that will run you roughly $50, then you have to go into the dirty of actually doing it which is hard as hell and you run a HUGE risk of damaging the engine...

You can get a kawi dealer to do it for $250, honestly... it's the way to go...

I've been wrenching bikes for 50 years and the valve adjustment on this little Ninja is a be-ach!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bill

[Ralgha]

I never did any wrenching before I got my Ninja and I just finished a valve adjustment a few months ago. It looks intimidating and risky (for the engine) when you're reading up on it, but once I got going I found it to be pretty straightforward, and, if you take your time, not risky. The main threats are dropping things into the engine (go slow and don't do that), and getting the camshafts in with the wrong timing (again, take it slow).

Probably the main thing is to allow plenty of time to get it done. If you have any kind of deadline you might find yourself pressured to go faster, thus increasing the chances of making a mistake.