Serial Numbers

Hey ChiefGunner , have you made any progress on determining the range of serial numbers that might have been affected by the lifter issue?

Apparently the dealer I bought mine from had been sitting on it for a while because the serial number is lower than some I've seen posted here that bought theirs a lot earlier than I did. My last 4 are 0296. The owner of the dealer called me yesterday just to follow up and make sure that I didn't have any questions. I asked him about this issue and he told me that he was aware of it but that my bike was not affected. I should have asked if he knew the range of serial number that were affected but didn't think about it at the time.

Hey ChiefGunner , have you made any progress on determining the range of serial numbers that might have been affected by the lifter issue?

 

Apparently the dealer I bought mine from had been sitting on it for a while because the serial number is lower than some I've seen posted here that bought theirs a lot earlier than I did. My last 4 are 0296. The owner of the dealer called me yesterday just to follow up and make sure that I didn't have any questions. I asked him about this issue and he told me that he was aware of it but that my bike was not affected. I should have asked if he knew the range of serial number that were affected but didn't think about it at the time.

There were a couple of us trying to “track” this in the event there was a number of them. It doesn’t appear that there was a “grouping” or “serail # range” affected since to date, ONLY 2 instances can be found. Mine and one other guy.

If the issue I had was wide spread, you’d have angry owners all over the internet and forums voicing their displeasure.

Thorough searches reveal NO SUCH PROBLEMS.

IMHO Don, I think you can relax and enjoy your bike with confidence and just chalk up the TWO known incidences to what it is... a “fluke”.

I agree. It's certainly nothing that I'm going to stress over. If there is indeed an issue, Yamaha will take care of it. I agree with you that if it were a widespread issue, the reports would be all over the place. I don't know of any bikes that have never had an isolated issue. I know of at least one rider who had the engine replaced by Yamaha in his '99 Royal Star Venture shortly after purchasing it. We had the second gear issues and stator cooling issues in the first Ventures that came out. Honda had the frame issues (that WAS a widespread problem) when the 1800 Goldwing came out. BMW had rear seal problems when their K1200LT was first introduced. Harley is, don't know if it has been resolved or not, is having problems with their new M8 engine with it losing primary oil somewhere. At least I THINK that was the issue. If it is mechanical, there will be glitches. No big deal.

I agree. It's certainly nothing that I'm going to stress over. If there is indeed an issue, Yamaha will take care of it. I agree with you that if it were a widespread issue, the reports would be all over the place. I don't know of any bikes that have never had an isolated issue. I know of at least one rider who had the engine replaced by Yamaha in his '99 Royal Star Venture shortly after purchasing it. We had the second gear issues and stator cooling issues in the first Ventures that came out. Honda had the frame issues (that WAS a widespread problem) when the 1800 Goldwing came out. BMW had rear seal problems when their K1200LT was first introduced. Harley is, don't know if it has been resolved or not, is having problems with their new M8 engine with it losing primary oil somewhere. At least I THINK that was the issue. If it is mechanical, there will be glitches. No big deal.

I’m not gonna re-hash the oil issue, but since it is a flat tappet type lifter, I have upgrade to YamaLube 15w-50 full synthetic with esther. A lttile more expensive but worth the peace of mind to me.

Bike has run great since the valve job and my mileage (without babying it) is consistently 42mpg. That’s very impressive for a big bore bike like this. I do note that the mileage drops quickly when you cruise above 75mph. Once you stop adding stuff to your bike and actually start RIDING IT, you’ll see what I mean.

BTW, I have a Kuryakyn cup holder. The chrome one with the stainless insulated cup. I had to wait almost 3 months to get it because it was backordered.

HEY...that's a LOW BLOW. We actually did get out for about 75 miles on Sunday but that's not nearly enough. Very soon I hope.

Yea, my cupholder is on backorder also. Nobody had it anywhere I looked. Supposed to ship sometime in October. I went with the black and the mesh basket. I had the chrome version on the RSV and really liked it. Also had the passenger version but am going to have to figure out a mounting method for a passenger cup holder.

I've never been a fan of the YamaLube but will likely go with it also. Seems to be a lot of disagreement on the best oil for this bike but I figure that I will use the Yamalube and take advantage of their 100,000 mile guarantee.

The ride home from Buffalo was around 300 miles and I averaged 42 MPG. That was keeping the RPMs within the break in RPMs so usually 65 to 70 MPH. I was very satisfied with that.

Love the way this engine runs though. Torque at low RPM is amazing. Really suits me well.

HEY...that's a LOW BLOW. We actually did get out for about 75 miles on Sunday but that's not nearly enough. Very soon I hope.

 

Yea, my cupholder is on backorder also. Nobody had it anywhere I looked. Supposed to ship sometime in October. I went with the black and the mesh basket. I had the chrome version on the RSV and really liked it. Also had the passenger version but am going to have to figure out a mounting method for a passenger cup holder.

 

I've never been a fan of the YamaLube but will likely go with it also. Seems to be a lot of disagreement on the best oil for this bike but I figure that I will use the Yamalube and take advantage of their 100,000 mile guarantee.

 

The ride home from Buffalo was around 300 miles and I averaged 42 MPG. That was keeping the RPMs within the break in RPMs so usually 65 to 70 MPH. I was very satisfied with that.

 

Love the way this engine runs though. Torque at low RPM is amazing. Really suits me well.

I took mine back on the 4th day after I bought to do the 600 mile break in service. Got over 12k mikes this far and am gonna rack up some more here the next couple days. Going to a Maggie Valley Rally with a different forum 20-22nd. Gonna be riding Dragons Tail, Cherahala Hey, Blue Rdge etc... Have another guy showing up (whom I’ve already met) with his Gray SVTC. Gonna have to get me one of those pics of riding the Dragons Tail. I’ve already become accustomed to dragging the boards in the corners. She just handles so solid in them I wish I could get her over further! Then again, I’ve seen how far over that drag point is when I dropped the bike a while back.

Back to the MPG; I’ve found that when doing a bunch of twisty’s like the Dragons Tail that she does better when in Sport Mode. You DO have to make sure you turn the Traction Control ON for that. I’ve rolled on it hard coming out of a turn and broke the back end loose from the torque. Just word of caution on that.

I too love the low RPM feel of this bike at crusing speeds. It’s a very relaxed and “un-busy” feel to it.

Harley's oiling problem seems to be with the M8 that have been "staged up" They call it sumping. From what I gather they are oil starved on top end, then metal grinds asnd gets in the sump and dont oil the bottom end and then KABOOM. I have read several stories of HD replacing entire engines, some twice on the same bike. I guess the fix now is a different oil pump.