74rider, How many miles on your bike?
Observations I could add:
1--I made this one number one because it is the most important one.
Do not ever fill the oil level above center red dot of the oil window. It will encourage a higher rate of oil consumption because of side stand dictated engine tilt angle and to some extent, the larger, more violent air pressure changes of 4 inch pistons reaching TDC and BDC
at the same times on an excess oil occupied, smaller crankcase air space. On an oil change, be sure the engine is very hot, where
finger touching the right oil radiator's metal pipe that connects to the upper black rubber hose
will instantly burn your fingertips. Then make sure it spends 5+ minutes on the side stand before draining the oil after putting the bike on the center stand. I have always additionally tipped all my bikes momentarily, both ways, on the center stand to extract more dirty oil. At least a half hour later, center hole fill the new oil filter, very slowly over a period of several leisure minutes with oil, to the top . . . while the old engine oil is draining . . . then finger smear some new oil on the dry gasket surface and set it down. Now you should lay down on the floor/ground and look under the engine so you can see up inside the oil filter tunnel so you can clean off the machined Aluminum gasket surface to spotless clean, then install the oil filter without tip-spilling out the new oil. Filling the filter lessens the time interval there is zero oil pressure on start-up. Install and tighten the drain plug. Add exactly 3.75 quarts, which is leaving 8 ounces (often marked on the bottle's side window) of oil remaining in the 4th quart. Wipe off the fill cap, install it and you are DONE. Walk away, or go for a long ride.
DO NOT add ANY oil for the next 500+ miles,
no matter what the oil window tells you! Why? Because if it does not show Center-Red-Dot in the oil window, you either did not get the engine hot enough to drain the oil radiators -or- did not do the 5+ minutes on the side stand before reading the oil window while on the center stand. Warm oil NOT draining from the oil radiators
like after a short ride can show NO OIL in the oil window . . . that is normal!! New riders freak out and even though there is NO sign of any oil leak or massive clouds of blueish white smoke, will add over half a quart of oil to the upper red circle, only to find out after a subsequent and proper
hot engine shut down that the oil is
WAY OVERFILLED. That is even worse than running your bike at very high RPMs when the oil level is at lower red circle! It will also cause the excess oil level to be blown into the airbox cavity through the crankcase breather hose, oil soaking and ruining the paper filter element!
Add the 8 ounces of oil remaining in that 4th quart ONLY when the oil level finally reaches oil window bottom red circle. At bottom red circle there still is OVER THREE QUARTS of OIL still in the engine. It is NOT an indication that the oil level is dangerously low. Click the thumbnail below to see a pic that illustrates how far up off the crankcase floor the bottom of the oil window actually is.
2--If you want
the most accurate, least expensive way to synch your ThrottleBodies (TBs), make yourself a differential water manometer for less than $10 for all materials. Make it over 5 feet (even 6') long (mine is only 4') so the engine is a little less likely to eat tinted water fluid with an errant out-of-synch setting. If you are new and haven't seen it, here it is again:
3--Be sure your factory incorrectly placed front wire harness zipties are GONE!! They forced steering movement to focus sharp destructive bending angles on the expensive wiring harness. Click on the thumbnail below to see exactly where the TWO zipties are
that must be cut off! That harness will then harmlessly hang free so the bending force is spread over a much, much longer, less stressed large radius span.
4--Check your tire pressures every 1--2 weeks. I ran 36psi Front, 42 psi Rear for crisp, good handling and fuel mileage.
5--Check if your rear shock preload adjuster has it's good as new full travel function. If you are a heavy guy/girl, ride 2-Up and/or have loaded side cases and a top case, you will need nearly full suspension preload for the bike to neutrally corner confidently with very little effort. If is not doing so, you likely have lost motion in your rear preload assembly, meaning you cannot attain full preload travel. To test it, loosen the preload knob until it hits the stop. Mark the knob top so you can count the turns. Slowly tighten the knob, counting turns, until you feel it go from very easy to turn, to actually begin pushing on the pressurizing piston. How many turns was that? Was it 2? . .3? . . 4.5? Here is 3 pics with embedded text narration to guide you for the fix. Maybe you only need a matching pair of thick flat washers as spacers to "overcharge" your rear shock:
6--When you need to remove and replace the fuel tank, you'll need to remove and set aside the numerous, easily lost, small washers against or still embedded in the body panel rubber grommets.
The washers must be there (any missing?) for the grommet to function. Those washers must have the same exact size inner hole, not just
any washer, so it tightens down on the rubber grommet’s inner brass ferrule or the grommet rubber will be destroyed while it does not seem to tighten abruptly like the other ones. Its also an excellent time to remove the air filter cover to tap clean or maybe replace the filter element and wipe and/or vacuum out the airbox cavity. Great time to clean and grease the battery terminals too.
Before you start the bike, turn the key On until the fuel pump audibly starts then stops spinning, then Off/On the same way again. Do it twice, to purge the air in the fuel lines that formed when the fuel lines were disconnected. You may notice the tone of the running pump changes as pumping fuel slows it slightly after pumping air. Next, look down at the right side TB throttle cable to confirm it is in place. So many OilHead riders (+me, the first time) get tripped up by this cable getting pulled up and out of the ferrule when removing the fuel line Quick Disconnects (QDs). Battery terminal removal means you must reset the Motronic computer's ThrottlePositionSensor (TPS) data reference points. That means you must:
1--Turn both the key + kill switch ON, in Neutral.
2-- Turn the throttle from the idle stop to the full throttle stop, TWO times.
3-- Turn the key OFF -or- start the engine.
For the throttle cable position confirmation:
EDIT: Change photo provider to a faster less invasive host and link to updated pics.
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