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New warranty

616 views 4 replies 4 participants last post by  panthercity 
#1 ·
I noticed that some posts are recommending experimenting with different oils etc, as "your mistakes will be covered under warranty". It is my understanding that the warranty normally only covers FAULTS IN MANUFACTURE only and anything done that is not under this heading is NOT covered by this warranty.
Even doing your own service should not void your warranty as you are not changing any manufacturer's fault.
 
#2 ·
You can do your own service and still keep the warranty going, if you keep receipts for any new parts, and any receipts for labor from a non-dealer private shop.


Of course, the dealer prefers that you pay their jacked up prices for parts and labor, in the hopes that they might bend the warranty rules for you later.


The owners manual has minimum requirements for oil and coolant and brake fluid. I think the vast majority of bikes can use Rotella T 15w-40 or Rotella T 5w-40 Synthetic oils under warranty and meet the requirements. I tried them, and I thought the shifting was worse compared to other semisynthetic and synthetic motorcycle oils, but they gave me great clutch feel, so I went to half Rotella T 15w-40 for its clutch feel after my warranty expired.


Most wait until after the warranty expires before changing the intake or exhaust or aftermarket brake pads or other changes, to make sure they do not give the dealer any excuse to deny the warranty.
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#3 ·
How do you experiment with oil?

the manufacturer recommends certain specification for your particular bike, why would you want to alter that?
"brand" is not so important but the specific properties are.

Considering that 8000 Japanese engineers obsessed over the bike to make it reliable, fast and somewhat idiot proof and considering all the time and research that has gone into developing oils. What is it that you want to accomplish with an oil experiment?

I found that if you just use the correct regular (non-synthetic) oil, go a little easy and smooth through the RPM's and gears for the first... 25-50 miles, then run the hell out of it for another 900 miles. Switch to synthetic with a new kawi filter,.
Change oil every 3-4000 miles.
Only fill to the middle of the sight glass level marks.

Not to much to experiment with.
If you want to experiment... work on the suspension, tire and tire pressure. maybe some geometry too.
 
#4 · (Edited)
I tried several different oils, regular, semi-synthetic and synthetic. They all failed for my using them for one year each, with either worse shifting (regular oil) or worse clutch feel (synthetic oil). The Motul semi-synthetic I tried lasted less than 2000 miles before the shifting got worse (in a cheap 2002 Honda 600cc 4-speed V-twin motorcycle transmission known for being very clunky).


The oil that feels best to me is my own mix (at my own risks) with half full synthetic motorcycle oil (Valvoline 20w-50) and half Rotella T 15w-40 regular diesel (heavy duty) oil. I also use this mix in my 2008 Kawasaki ZZR600 that I bought used with only 500 miles a couple of years after the warranty expired.


For my new 2002 motorcycle, I had the dealer do the 600 mile service including checking the valves for this V-twin engine and adding their regular dealer oil. The dealer asshats forgot to tighten the valve cover bolts so it was leaking oil worse than a worn out 1940s Harley. They went out of business about a year later- apparently I was not the only one pissed off about their crappy work quality. I do think they adjusted the valves properly at 600 miles, if they needed any adjustment- it has run normally for the 21,000 miles since then. This engine has the cheaper low compression screw-type valve adjustment that tends to get looser and noisier instead of tighter over time, unlike shim and bucket sportbike valves.
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