Servicing Questions

Hi Guys & Girls, first of, its nice to be a part of the SV family

I brought a SV650S pointy (55 plate) yesterday. It has 4700 miles on the clock. The chap I brought it off also has a Yamaha Fazer 1000 and so the SV hasn’t been used for a while, but it runs sweet.

I have a number of question about serving, and thought who better than to ask a bunch of SV owners. So here goes.

The bike had its 600 and 4000 mile service done by the dealer (dealer stamps in Service record). Looking at the owner’s manual it says that the coolant and brake fluid should be replaced every 2 years and the fuel hose and brake hoses replaced every 4 years. Any advice you guys can offer on these, as the bike is now over 4 years old and I don’t know what work was carried out on it.

Also what brand and type of oil what you guys recommend to use with the SV650, for when I do need to do an oil change in the future?

Look forward to reading your response

[fastdruid]

Replace brake lines with braided, far better than OEM and probably cheaper!

Motul 5100 is what I use in the road bikes, not too pricey decent bike specific oil, HG were at one point doing an offer of 4l and a pattern air and oil filter for £25.

Druid

Brake fluid: change it once a year. Hoses: dont need changing that regularly, but inspect every service for bulges, cracks, leaks. If braking performace deteriorates, and a brake rebuild and fresh fluid dosnt make things much better, than changes the hoses (for steel braided ones!)

Oil should be motorcycle-specific 10w 40 semi-synthetic. Preferably use a good brand like motul or castrol. Do not use car oil; this has friction modifiers which WILL mess up your clutch and WON'T be suitable for a high revving engine.

You should change you oil and your oil filter together, either every 4000 miles or once a year, hich ever comes first. If you are a regular user of your motorcycle, then change it every 4000 miles or every 6 months (say if you ride almost every day), again, whichever is first. Its not bad practise to chainge the spark plugs with every other oil change - NGK CR-8E's are the recommended plug.

Air filter - inspect every second oil change.

Valve clearances; this is a 16,000 mile interval service. You need to check the clearance between the cam and the valve; if the tolerances are not within the recommeneded tolerances, then shims need to be changed.

Its a good idea to have your throttle bodies synchronised once a year aswell

Remember also to lubricate your chain on a regular basis (every tank full of petrol, squirt some chain lube on the chain) and sometimes it will need cleaning with parraffin before re-lubrication.

Keep an eye on you oil level aswell; you may need to top up every now and again - check your oil level weekly or before every ride - a few people on here have lost engines because they simply didnt check the oil level and top it up.

Thats all I can think of right now

Matt

Thanks for the advice dudes

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by F1-D'TOX

I brought a SV650S pointy

Brought it from where?

Originally Posted by Alpinestarhero

Oil should be motorcycle-specific 10w 40 semi-synthetic. Preferably use a good brand like motul or castrol. Do not use car oil; this has friction modifiers which WILL mess up your clutch and WON'T be suitable for a high revving engine.

WILL certainly mess up your clutch, no. WON'T be suitable for a high revving engine? Nah you talking b*ll*cks there.
GPZ is running fine on 15w40 fleet oil. Clutch is sweet as.
Only difference is additive packs, bike oil can get away with a few more parts per million of extreme pressure additive.
Lots of septics run their SV's on rotella which is a diesel engine oil...


What you are buying with motorcycle oil is peace of mind that it is right. JASO MA standard includes a wet-clutch test.

Got it from my next door neighbor? Why do ask Yorkie ?

[yorkie_chris]

I was wondering if you actually meant brought, or whether you're just one of those savages who says it when they actually mean "bought". Most irritating linguistic fail ever dreamed of, worse than being French or something.

[Dave20046]

Pedantic sod (yeah ok I hate it too) but he/she's new, lay off for a few weeks

As above really with the mechanical advice - I use putoline 'v-twin oil' (10/40w)

Yeah, yeah I can't spell ok

And Dave I'm a "he" I suppose that’s incorrect grammar too?

Je ne comprends pas

[yorkie_chris]

Oh if you can't spell I can live with that. People who actually say "brought" when they purchased something make me want to stab them in the eye with a spoon.