ACE50 Posted September 4, 2011 Share #1 Posted September 4, 2011 Doing maintenance checks on newly aquired 99 RSV with 55k and found the air filters were installed with the tab on top of the slot they are meant to go into, leaving a small gap. I wondered why the air intakes had a layer of dust/dirt on them when I removed the filter housing. Care to guess how much shorter the engine life is now? In the process of trying to find when they were replaced, but they didn't look new! Also the brake fluid looked like the original, like a dark beer color. Everything seems to work fine though, hope she lasts a few years! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrolman46 Posted September 4, 2011 Share #2 Posted September 4, 2011 (edited) Wishing you good luck with your new purchase. I think these bikes are tougher than we think & sometimes we overthink & overworry these problems. (I sure hope so anyway) Last January I bought a 2000 RSV MM Limited Edition from a dealer in Ohio. I didn't get to ride it much this spring because of wet & cold spring. I took it into the dealer here locally to get it serviced. (Only 11,000 mi on an 11 year old bike) When they removed the air filters there mouse nests in each of the filter housings & the filters had been eaten clean down to the metal screen. Man I was just sick when the mechanic showed this mess to me thinking about the dirt roads I run every day to get to the pavement. The mechanic said he thought the mouse nest probably filtered the intake air enough so that the motor wasn't hurt. Well the moral of the story in my mind is to completely service a used bike when you get it home so you know exactly where the bad points are & if you can fix them. I have 15,000 mi on the bike now & it seems to run just fine so I have quit expecting it to lay down on me when I get 1000 mi from home. Glad you mentioned the brake & clutch oil. I will put that on my to do list. ASAP!! Also bought a 2006 RSTD new & in the crate (factory holdover) in May & guess what I did when the bike only had 15 mi on it. I pulled the air filters just to make sure the mice didn't do the same thing to this bike that had been in a warehouse for 5 years. (Unassembled) The filters looked like new. Brand new 2006 RSTD has the rear wheel "grunch, grunch" noise that so many have written about there on this site. The mechanic (local Yamaha Dealer) says he will fix it when we change the rear tire @ 12,000 mi. Don't know if I should wait that long to fix the noise. Already have 5,000 mi on the RSTD because I ride it to work every day. Enough rambling!! C Ya, Patrolman 46 Hi Phoneman19 (Happy Birthday Early) HAHA Doing maintenance checks on newly aquired 99 RSV with 55k and found the air filters were installed with the tab on top of the slot they are meant to go into, leaving a small gap. I wondered why the air intakes had a layer of dust/dirt on them when I removed the filter housing. Care to guess how much shorter the engine life is now? In the process of trying to find when they were replaced, but they didn't look new! Also the brake fluid looked like the original, like a dark beer color. Everything seems to work fine though, hope she lasts a few years! Edited September 4, 2011 by Patrolman46 Added words of encouragement Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACE50 Posted September 4, 2011 Author Share #3 Posted September 4, 2011 Your story males me feel a little better. Wow! I think I'll store the bike inside the house this winter just in case! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
etcswjoe Posted September 4, 2011 Share #4 Posted September 4, 2011 Your story males me feel a little better. Wow! I think I'll store the bike inside the house this winter just in case! I thought you were supposed to keep them in the house Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wes0778 Posted September 4, 2011 Share #5 Posted September 4, 2011 Care to guess how much shorter the engine life is now? In the process of trying to find when they were replaced, but they didn't look new! hope she lasts a few years! Just a thought! If you haven't already drained the oil, look up your local Caterpillar dealer and purchase and oil sample bottle. Probably less than $20.00. Warm up the engine as you would for any oil change. Drain the oil as normal, but catch a sample bottle full as the oil drains. Don't burn your fingers:shock3: and be careful not to knock any dirt off the crankcase into the bottle! When the sample is analyzed, they can tell just how much silicon (dirt) is in there. I had a similar situation where I found a leak on the clean side of the filters and had a dirt track down the intake piping. Sample showed "some" dirt, but not enough to be bothered with. The Cat folks will not have the specs to know what the other wear metals should be, but the "dirt" is the main concern. If there is high dirt, you may want to make several "short" oil and filter changes and resample, to see if you have flushed out all the contamination. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACE50 Posted September 4, 2011 Author Share #6 Posted September 4, 2011 Good idea. The previous owner said the oil was just changed at dealer, looks clean. Think I'll put some seafoam in there, drive around the block or two, change and put synthetic in instead of just Yam oil or whatever they use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steamer Posted September 4, 2011 Share #7 Posted September 4, 2011 I picked up my new to me 99 RSV trike couple months back. The guy I bought it from said he had his local dealer who he "trusts very much" did a complete service. The only thing I could see the dealer doing, was a $300.00 oil change. Nothing else was done. the plugs hadn't been pulled. the Air filter were dirty. nothing was lubed. the brake and clutch fluid was black. The drive shaft hadn't been lubed in years. I had to service everything. Heck I'm still finding things wrong. How can people spend so much $$$ on a great bike like this and not check up on what there dealers are doing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condor Posted September 4, 2011 Share #8 Posted September 4, 2011 Also the brake fluid looked like the original, like a dark beer color. Everything seems to work fine though, hope she lasts a few years! The fluid on my '99 brakes looked sorta OK, but bled them anyway. The clutch fluid had 'ZERO' visibility. You might want to take a look at yours too.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yamadawg Posted September 4, 2011 Share #9 Posted September 4, 2011 The fluid on my '99 brakes looked sorta OK, but bled them anyway. The clutch fluid had 'ZERO' visibility. You might want to take a look at yours too.... That's great advice. While stopped for road construction in terrible heat in MO on the way to Sturgis this year the clutch in my '03 started acting up and would not disengage. I was pulling a Time-Out camper and figured it was the strain on the bike that led to this, but like posted above the fluid in the reservoir was discolored. I bought a syringe and new fluid and just changed out what was in the reservoir a couple of times while up there. This completely cured all of the symptoms. A fellow Yamaha rider at our campground suggested this, and after his advice I will be doing this annually... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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