Just got a 85 K100RS with only 37K miles on it. Obviously I need to keep fluids refreshed/renewed, and I expect there's a full-on spline lube in my near future, but what do you guys recommend to head-off some of the niggling problems that could otherwise be avoidable?

Should I:

-Do a preemptive check of the water pump?

-Clean/coat electrical joints (and if so with what?)
...check and re-solder connections, check and renew aged wiring?

-Check and renew any aged rubber bits (what's most critical here)?

any other thoughts?

I know it's not unusual to get 200k miles out of these machines....starting with such a low mileage I want to make sure I'm doing all the right routine maintenance so i can do just that...or maybe go as far as 300-400k.

Have you seen this at the portal?

About rubber parts, the crankcase breather hose is mentioned......would add rubber connections on both side of the TB`s is a good idea to check.

About water/oil pump, check that the bleed hole in front of the oil pan is open.......not unusal it`s blocked with crud.

hi zauber

many folks have different strategies and i guess they will pipe in shortly or over the next couple of days

lets start off by recommending :"deoxit" for all those electrical connections ie pins ans sockets and stuff ...made as a musical instrument connection restorer (where earth hums etc make a big difference to audio quality ) we have found it to be verry effective for any electrical treatment . you can find it in techie music stores and some electronic places ...made in the states ....if you look in the search you will find many references to it and stateside suppliers

dont use dielectric grease ...no no ...

old rubber is a pain in the proverbial ....and unfortunatley many machines are getting to used by date for all rubbers ...fuel lines and inlet paths etc

keep in mind that if not already that unleaded and ethanol fuel will deteriorate all the things it comes into contact with as its nature is different than originally designed for in the fuel system

water pump and oil pump is a good thing to do if you have a time off the road ....but look up the posts and get "the kit" including impeller and seals for both

spline lube is a good thing many have suggested the right stuff ...dont forget that there is another spline besides the rear drive , at the clutch/input to gearbox that needs to be done also

seals ....well where to start ...again rubbery they will be hard and likely to weep if you go changing types of oil and stuff ...stick to what is sensible and available locally , just as a side note i changed my oil to diesel oil for the cleaning properties ....then my oil leaks became evident from the motor after a few thousand ks ...


main earth connection to the chassis- gearbox make sure its tight but more importantly clean and tight , you will find recommendations to upgrade this cable ...as well as the main power positive to the starter relay also .


but i have done over 30,000 ks in the last 18 odd months so i have been expecting these things to happen ...my resto post has become more of a blog than a once only post with little issues along the way ...i guess we all learn something new along the path

good luck !

i hope some of these suggestions are in addition to what you may have read from the recomendations found accross the web

Thanks for all the tips, guys!

Inge K. wrote:Have you seen this at the portal?

Yes, that's an *awesome* article. Thanks for reminding me!

charlie99 wrote:...i hope some of these suggestions are in addition to what you may have read from the recomendations found accross the web...

I've indeed seen *alot* of information on the web, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to get a feel for what the "gurus" here felt as the most important prev. maint. items. Sometimes even a smattering on the web can still be downright overwhelming.

What you've reminded me and given me here is a great start--thanks again!

You could maybe also find some useful stuff in this link, to another forum.