Monday, July 22 2019 [10,875 miles]
I put the tank and body panels back on the bike so I could give it a test ride. I put about 13 miles on the bike getting the engine good and hot in prep for carb adjustments and changing the oil.
Idle too low
That’s better
When I got back to the house the bike was idling 1300-1350 RPM, a bit low. I adjust the idle to bring it to the recommended 1500 RPM. I also adjusted the idle mixture which changed the idle. Anotehr adjustment got the idle back to 1500 RPM. I expect I’ll have to do this a few more times to get the mixture/idle correct for the new needle jet.
Blew out the carbon
Before going on the test ride I remove the two plugs in the muffler to “blow the carbon out” of the spark arrestor. That’s what the DR650 manual says. Well the manual says to remove the plugs and rev the engine. I figure a test ride revs the engine enough to do the job.
Drain the oil
Normal sludge
Oil filters
Oil
While the engine was still hot I removed the drain plug and drained the old oil. The plug had the nomral amount of fine sludge on its magnet. A similar fine sludge was on the extra magnet attached to the filter. I cleaned the drain plug and the filter magnet before moving it to the new filter.
Of course I dropped the filter access cover, spring, and one of the mounting screws into the oil catch pan. That’s why I keep one of those telescoping magnetic pick-ups handy. I cleaned the parts off as best I counld before installing the new filter and filling the bike with oil. When at the “full” mark I started the bike and let it run for a minute to fill the filter, etc. When done I topped off the oil, bringing it back to the “full” level.
Bash plate installed
The hardest part of the service so far was re-installing the bash plate. I use a scissor jack to hold it in place, but it still takes forever to get all four screws started so I can fine tune the bash plate position before tightening the screws. It didn’t h elp that the engine was still warm enough to be uncomfortable.
Speedo cable
Much better
I noticed lots of play in the speedo during my test ride. I removed the cowling and discovered two things: the rubber bushings that hold the speedo to its bracket are shot and the speedo cable was barely attached to the speedo.
I added some O-ring shims to take up the extra play from the worn bushings. I also snaked the speedo cable attachment nut up the cable so I could properly attach the cable to the speedo. The speedo is now held more firmly in its bracket but still has some play to soak up vibrations.
That’s all for today. Tomorrow I’ll put a new front tire on the bike.