1st oil change 600 miles or earlier?

Newman1

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Hi all, I'm a new owner of a '14 ES. I'm wondering if most of you are doing your first oil change at 600 miles per the manual or earlier? I hope I'm not opening up a can of worms....
 

limey

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Welcome to the forum. Good bunch of folks on this forum so don't worrie about it. I did an oil change at around 300 km then 600 then at 1000 km.
 

TXTenere

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Newman1 said:
Hi all, I'm a new owner of a '14 ES. I'm wondering if most of you are doing your first oil change at 600 miles per the manual or earlier? I hope I'm not opening up a can of worms....
I go by the published schedule; so 600 miles was my first oil change.
Do as you please. I wouldn't worry about taking it out to 600 miles, but if you prefer earlier, then do that. It's truly that simple.
 

~TABASCO~

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Welcome, changed mine to synthetic at 200, then again at 1000. Make sure to "flush" out the rear diff a few times. "Wash" all the garbage out of that thing. It took 3•4 changes to get it cleaned out .
 

rotortech71

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Opinions will be all over the map on this one. While you won't hurt anything changing it earlier, you also certainly won't hurt anything going by the schedule and doing the first change at 600 miles. Everyone has their own belief, but mine is that you are needlessly spending money on oil if you do the change earlier than 600. But hey, if it makes you happy, oil is cheap.

Some vehicles, like my wife's 2014 Honda CR-V, are very specific in the manual, and say that while any interval is fine after break in, DO NOT change the oil early when new, and that it's important to leave the factory oil in until the first scheduled change.
 

markjenn

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As others have said, nobody has any hard data on whether earlier changes make any real difference so everybody just goes with their gut belief. Yamaha says 600-miles is fine and given that almost no car these days spec a change earlier than the first-regularly-scheduled change (often at 10K+ miles), I find it hard to come up with a viable technical rationale why a car engine can go 12K on original oil but a bike requires it at sub-600. OTOH, it won't hurt anything, oil is cheap, and if it makes you sleep better at night, go for it. But there are lots and lots of bikes out there with 200K+ miles that received no extraordinary maintenance above and beyond the mfg's recommendations.

Final drive needs "flushing"? IMHO, another way-over-the-top recommendation.

My belief (with no data) is that even the 600-mile recommendation is mostly there to get customers back to the dealership as early as possible for a high-profit early service and chance to sell additional accessories.

- Mark
 

coastie

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~TABASCO~ said:
Welcome, changed mine to synthetic at 200, then again at 1000. Make sure to "flush" out the rear diff a few times. "Wash" all the garbage out of that thing. It took 3•4 changes to get it cleaned out .
You trying to start an argument? Lol!
 

pnelson

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Agreed that you could just stick with the suggested service intervals but.... You just spent thousands of $$$ on your new ST and maybe that's just not good enough. Will it make you feel better to baby her, YES! Will it hurt the bike to change the oil early, I don't think so. If you want to go ahead and spend some money and actually see something cool then I suggest:

Buy two magnetic drain plugs from GoldPlug.com. They cost about $19 each. Put them in and change the oil after the first hundred miles or so using any oil that meets Yamaha's requirements. (Page 8-1 in the manual - JASO MA, API SG or higher) Some people say don't switch to synthetic too soon as the engine needs to break in and synthetic is too slippery for engines during break in. That sounds like a myth to me but I'm sure you won't hurt your engine by using conventional oil that still meets the standard. It's only going to be in there with your new magnetic drain plugs until you hit 600 miles anyway. BTW, if you're doing your own work (and I think you should) keep your receipts and start a maintenance log book..

At 600 miles, replace the oil and filter and you will be amazed to see little metal filings on the magnetic drain plugs. It's likely these would have been picked up by the filter anyway but seeing them on the magnetic plugs will make you feel better about spending $19 each for the plugs. It did for me. You need two of the MP-01 plugs http://amzn.to/ZVUKSJ

Not to start a "Which oil?" thread but you'll likely be happy with any oil that meets the standards and it change according to the schedule. I just go to Walmart and by several gallon jugs of Shell Rotella T6 synthetic, especially when it's on sale. I change mine every 4000 miles and yes that's more often than required but I have fun doing it and it can't hurt the bike. I buy my oil filters on Amazon and get several at a time. The Purolator PL14612 works fine with the AltRider skidplate while some of the longer filters won't fit. They are about $7 each on Amazon >>http://amzn.to/1niCc9h

I hope some of this helps if you're a new ST owner. It's a great bike and easy to work on and take care of. Enjoy it!

;-)
 

~TABASCO~

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coastie said:
You trying to start an argument? Lol!
I resemble that remark ! :D
 
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