Spring first startup procedures

Couple things I did prior to storage:

Change the oil
Clean and regrease the chain
Full tank of gas with fuel stabilizer with a short 5km ride from gas station to home
Battery has been on a tender all winter so far.
I didn't pull the plugs and spray fogging oil into the cylinders though.

So questions are:
Do I need to change the oil after the spring? I use amsoil if that matters.
Do you REALLY need to spray the fogging oil into the cylinders?
Anything else I need to check?

 

No, you don't need to change oil in spring if you did it in the fall. No combustion products and no heat means the oil is still fresh. The reason its better to do it in the fall is so it doesn't sit in the motor with the contaminants that accumulate in it all winter.

Fogging oil? Never heard it called that but I know what you mean. I have never done this, even when winterizing bikes every winter in upstate NY. If you insist on doing something you could turn the motor over a few secs during the winter, with the FI (run switch) off, so that the pistons spread oil on cylinder walls. On a carb'ed bike you would first need to run the gas completely dry before storage, and empty the float bowls, so that you could turn motor over without flowing fuel into the cylinders.

Sounds like you did just fine. You may want to consider putting the bike on stands to get the weight off the tires, even the center stand lifts the rear and takes a lot of weight off the front.

I think anything more than what you did is overkill.

 

Heatmizr has good info, as he should, as an IT super-specialist !!

Most important thing on startup is to use a few brief (8-10 seconds) cycles of starter activation with run switch OFF until low oil pressure warning light goes out, indicating that lube system is under pressure.

Otherwise, main, rod, and cam bearings will be running dry for a few critical seconds.

Same proceedure everyone should use after an oil and filter change as it takes a few seconds to first pump the filter full of lube before it reaches bearings.

 

I always fill the earl filter with fresh oil during a service. If its a Honda I do run it with the switch off and when I finally hit the button for real the oil light is off. My Kawasaki you cant do this with so I just do the best I can do. Those old 919 bikes used to knock for a nano-second or two after an oil change no matter what you did. My Grand Marquis makes a sound after an oil change but such is life. I gots a Check Engine light illuminated now, more problems :smile: Feels like a bad coil pack but wont rant since it is a two wheeled forum. Cars do suck...:tounge:

 

What do you mean by "new"? My 2000 and 2002 both crank with RUN switch in OFF position.

 

brrrrrrrrr bundle up. fired up my baby a few days ago. did all the same as you prior to the winter. wasn't sure if I needed to change the oil again either...looks like a no from the info relayed. she's smoking abit though. that's normal right? It's ok to run that tank of gas? yes?

 

a little bit of smoke.....meh the bike is 20 something years old.. you have a bit of blowby... you may want to check your compression, you may have a ring going or a valve might be dropping a bit of oil.. OR it cfould simply be condensation..... \
Its been real wet here lately..and when I start the bike up it is blowing "steam" out the drain hole of the muffler it was freaky at first

 

Removing the spark plugs and turning over using the starter works as well.

 

I just checked my 1998 VFR and my 2002 CBR954RR. Neither bike will crank with the run switch in the OFF position.

 

In the spring, I walk out to my garage, take the cover off, take the battery tender off, put my key in and start the bike. Hasn't failed me yet.

I change the oil every spring even though I have years where I don't put enough miles on the bike to warrant it. Every fall/winter as I'm putting it away it gets a full tank of gas with some Stabil in it. I then let it run (or ride it one last time) to get the stabil throughout.

Works every time for me.

 

both my '95's would turn over with the switch off. This '06 won't.

I will say on my RR that the first start of the year, when it was still a little cold that I could get flames to shoot out the exhaust. Like 2 -3 feet out. Always ran rich, never could adjust the carbs correctly. It did look cool at night.

 

Fired it up last week and rode around for about 30 minutes. Was a little chilly...

I couldn't kick the motor over at all with the run button in the off position, thing fired right off like it was turned off yesterday and started up on the first press of the starter.

I just let it idle for a few minutes while I got the rest of my gear on.

Then, hoping to drive it this week, and instead we get 5cm of snow...That woulda been a nightmare had I started my commutes with the bike this week...