Thought I would introduce myself after 1 year of ownership

Hello all, I am a "new" member from Portland OR. I have been reading this site obsessively over the last year after getting my 1998 5th Gen with 55k miles. Bike needed tires badly, so first thing I did was have new Dunlop Roadsmart 3's put on and an oil change while the shop had it. I spent the spring, summer, and fall riding as much as I could (given how busy I was) and managed to put 1600 miles on it (no trips because of the thermostat). Here's how it looked right after I got the new tires.



The bike came with a Givi Wingrack 2 (and side+top bags), Converti-Bars, a tank bra, and a horrid double bubble windscreen. The PO had the R/R replaced, and installed steel braided front brake and clutch lines. I installed BLS lowering blocks to give my long legs a little more room, so now the bike is very comfortable.

It became apparent as the weather cooled off that the thermostat was stuck open, so I decided to make everything right down there while I had the throttle bodies off. I picked up a service manual from ebay for $40 and started to get to it. This is my first time attempting motorcycle maintenance, so I am learning as I go. Basically everything on the bike was a pain in the arse to get off. The bolts that hold the little chin fairing to the two side fairings wouldn't come out, the electrical connectors on the airbox felt like they were glued together, and the throttle body insulators were essentially bonded to the metal. I finally got them off and pulled out the offending thermostat. You can see a little bit of sediment at the bottom.



Here is one of the cylinder head water joints. That's what a 20 year old o-ring looks like! I think there was a small leak either on the hose end or the o-ring. Hopefully this will prod other users to do some much needed maintenance on their older bikes.


I also noticed there was some sediment in the coolant overflow bottle and thermostat housing, so I think the coolant was pretty old by this point. I may have to flush the system a few times before filling with coolant. Here is the thermostat housing. Is the sediment anything I should be worried about?


Here is how dirty the engine valley is. Lots of cleaning in my future.



I have a silicone coolant hose kit from AS3 Performance, and will order silicone vacuum tubing for the throttle bodies as well. I am dead set on replacing every single consumable on top of the engine. I am going to send off the injectors to get cleaned and flow tested, remove the PAIR system, clean everything, then re-assemble and ride! I plan on keeping this bike for a long time, hopefully I will see it tick over to 100k miles and beyond!

 

Right on. I put AS3 kits on both my 5 and 6 Gens. I also just sent off injectors for a 6 Gen to have cleaned, these are from another members bike (2006) and boy did they need cleaning...

 

I think you'll be fine regarding the sediment, just do a couple of flushes to be sure. Looks like your bike will be in great shape once you're finished with it-welcome to the forum.