New 5th Gen owner! Couple questions...

Hello everyone! This is my first post here so I thought I'd introduce myself and ask a few questions. I've been reading and researching this site a lot since I bought my bike a couple weeks ago and have already learned a ton, so thank you all for that!

So here's my bikes background... It's a 98 with about 18750 on it. The guy I bought it from was the second owner and wasn't too familiar with the history. He never really rode it and it had been sitting in his garage for some time. It needs a new battery since the current one barely holds a charge and won’t start if I let it sit for more the 48 hours. Other than that it seems to run strong (put about 100miles on it already) but I want to go through it and do some basic maintenance. I did pretty good visual inspection of fluids and wear and tear and didn’t catch any red flags (not saying they aren’t there though).

Here's what I have on my 'tune-up to do' list:

- Check/Replace Air Filter
- Check/Replace Spark Plugs
- Full Oil and Oil filter change
- Clean & re-lube chain
- Fuel filter replacement ????

I’m also planning on taking it in to get the valve’s checked for the 16K check soon at a dealership.

Here are my questions:

-Do you guys see anything major I’m missing that I should do or have the dealership check? I'm pretty handy with a wrench but not handy enough to open up the engine.

-For the oil change, I’m not sure what’s in there now but have been reading that a lot of people are running full Syn. Are there any pros/cons to that and if I wanted to go full Syn is there anything I need to know or do before I change the oil without currenlty knowing if it’s normal or if there is Syn already in there?

-I’m also curious about the R/R issue. Is there a way to tell if it has been replaced or what do I look for to see it it’s bad or if it’s going bad?

-I think it may be running a little rich since it takes a while to start sometimes and there seems to be some ‘popping’ on deceleration. Is there a way to test that besides looking at the plugs and if it is rich what would I need to do to lean her out?


Thank you for taking the time to read and again any help would be appreciated!

 

For oil, you can run full synth, just make sure it does not have any of the friction reducres in it as it is bad for the clutch. Does it have an aftermarket exhaust? Most aftermarket exhausts will "pop" because of the change in the air/fuel mixture. Not sure about the R/R as I do not know what the lates OEM version from Honda looks like.

 

Take a close look at your brake & clutch fluid. If it doesn't look clear or near clear, have it changed as well. The clutch is pretty easy but the brakes have 11 lines & I think 7 bleed points.

Look inside the tank. If it doesn't look nice & clean, make sure you take care of that too.

KC-10 FE out...
lane: :usa2:

 

Yeah, it has a two brothers aftermarket exhaust on it... I know on my dirtbike I had to re-jet it when I added a pipe, not sure what to do on a FI bike though.

 

You wont need to do anything for the pipe. If you do the normal K&N & slip-on, the stock EFI can adapt quite well. If you go farther in depth, you might get to a point where your injectors can't keep up or something of that nature.

KC-10 FE out...
lane: :usa2:

 

Thanks guys for all of the great responses! I'll let everyone know how it goes. :smile:

 

I would also check the fork oil and steering head bearing, both of those needed done when I got mine. Save you money on the valves definately unless you feel there's a need for it. But if you got the bucks and it's burning a hole in your pocket, I would recommend doing some suspension work instead, new springs, fork seals, valving, etc. Congrats on your buy, I'm sure you will love the bike!!

 

spend $40.00 on the VFRness from www.wiremybike.com

 

Hi,
Congrats on the new bike. If you're handy enough with a wrench to change the sparkplugs you should just keep going, pull the valvecovers and check those valves yourself. My 99 has 32,000, I just did this (none needed adjustment). Trust me, getting down to the plugs is the hard part, rocker covers are four more bolts!

 

dont forget to flush your coolant...