[calaski]

I have the repair manual and it has alot of stuff to do, but I wanted a laymans terms, no nonsense answer... what do you guys actually do and think is neccesary?

What do you guys do regularly? What do you guys do annually?

I have a 2002 Grizzly and I have just owned it since the summer. All I have done is the repairs it needed and an oil change. Otherwise I haven't touched it.

I would like to do a completel maintenace service on it but I dont know what is REALLY needed. Do I need to change ALL the fluids? What do I check, what do I change, what do I adjust???

Thanks for any info.

Jim

 

[xtremegrizz]

In my opionion what I would do since you don't really know for sure what the previous owner did and did not do would be, change the front and rear diffs, change and flush the cooling system, check and adjust if needed the valves. Also if you have not done allready or after you do all that I would put a fresh plug in and be sure the air filter is good and clean while you are doing all the maintence.

Other than that unless someone else has some ohter ideas wich im sure there might be a few that I missed, you should be sitting good on a fresh tune-up. If you ride in alot of water you can put some of that electriacal grease in any of the plug-ins that you can get to easily to water proof them.

Just some ideas though!

Mike

 

[calaski]

I know the previous owner... he only put about 150 miles on it and never did any major maintenance... it sat around alot.

I keep reading about water here and there and diffs ansd such and wonder what I should be doing?

The valves is something I here of alot. Another guy I ride with sometimes also has a 2002 Grizzly, bought the same time.. but with more use. He had to do his valves this summer. It was having alot of cold starting problems and bogging up hills.

How hard exactly are the valves to do? I had the air cleaner off (under seat) a little while ago and noticed just a little gas/oil in the well. On his I saw alot, which indicated blow back from the valves. So, I probably need to do them this summer even though I am not really having and performance problems yet other than minor cold starting probs when sitting for weeks.

Jim

 

[calaski]

Also, what do you mean by "plug-ins"... the drain bolts and such?

Jim

 

[marine]

Also check the "zerks" on the rear peice where the wheel attaches...I don't know the technical name but its right after the A-arm part where that attaches to the hub and stuff spins inside to turn the wheel...anyway, there are 2 zerks on each side of the rear. Apply grease until it squeezes out around the seals.. Do this yearly (unless you do ALOT of water/mud riding and then do it more often)

 

[xtremegrizz]

The valves are not real hard to do, more time consumeing than anything. Have to take some plastic off , gas tank and other things. More work taking the stuff off than actually adjusting the valves. The frist valve adjustment is the most critical because of break in. So if it has not been done yet it might be a good time to do one soon.

As far as the plug-ins sorry should have said the electrical conections where they plug togeather. Especially from what I hear alot of people tend to get water in the 4x4 servo conection and tend to have problems getting into 4x4. I my self have not had the problem but when I put my new skids plates I got that plug then.

The front and rear diffs all you would have to do is drain the oil and put some fresh oil in. Again the first one is the most critical. As the gears and such break in they can leave behind traces of metal or anything else as they wear in. You want to get that out of there and have fresh clean oil. Just like when you break in a new machine, after a while you want to change the engine oil and put in new to get rid of any contaminates that got in there during the breakin process.

 

[robg]

Here's what I do, maintenance-wise...

Valves... every second or third oil change

Air filter... clean every second or third oil change (used to use a K&N but went back to stock after I kept tearing the seals and got tired of asking K&N for new ones... poor design IMO)

Plug... yearly

Diffs... yearly

Clutch... remove, clean and re-grease yearly

Belt... every other year or sooner if needed (you can expect around 1500 miles out of one unless you do a lot of mudding or towing)

Zerks... whenever I think of it.

Carb adj/clean... as needed, e.g. whenever it's running oddly. Probably oughta remove, disassemble and soak now that I'm at 4000 miles.

Rob

 

[calaski]

Wow, this is great stuff guys. Thank you.

I'll probably be doing the diffs, valves, oil change, and filter very soon.

One question about the valve procedure. I have feeler guages and I have the manual.. my question is about using the feeler guages. Do I tighten the valve down so that it barely touches the feeler guage, it is snug on the guage, or it is so tight I cant move the guage????

Thanks for the help.

Jim

 

[dknarnd]

Jim, For some good reference material on the grizzly and vale adjustments in general read over Tex Mudders site at www.ansley.net. According to his instructions you adjust so that the feeler slides out but you can not slide it back in. I have used this method on my Grizz without any problems, I just adjust to the high end of the tolerance.

I have a little cheat sheet that I put together for this purpose if you would like it send me your email and I will mail it over.

Here is a tip. Use the head of a square drive deck screw to adjust the tappets, it fits perfect. I took and screwed a piece of vacuumme tube over the threads for better grip.

 

[dknarnd]

How often are you guys changing oil? I have been changing in the 25 to 30 hour range and now I just changed to synthetic oil so I'm not sure if I can stretch that out to 50 hours or stick with my past schedule.

The synthetic (amsoil 0W40) sure made a huge difference in the cold starting this winter. Probably will run that all year since I was running the standard Yamalube 20W40 all year. However they do have a 20W50 that I could switch to for a few months in the summer.

 

[tinmandan]

I was under the impression that you should not use synthetic oil. I read this somewhere, just can't remember the reason why.
Somebody should have some insight on this.

 

[dknarnd]

As long as the oil meets or exceedes the specifications called out by Yamaha it should not matter. The main thing that is required is not to use a oil states it is "Energy Concerving" on the bottle because it contains friction modifiers that may make your wet clutch slip. The Amsoil I am using meets all requirements and is formulated for 4 cycle engines with wet clutches.

 

[marine]

from what I can gather the synthetic is not good for wet clutch designs as it causes slippage. I have never used it but I know of alot of people that have and HATED it. On the other hand for every person that claims it to be harmeful there is one to say they use it and have no problmes.

As for me, I choose to do what the manual tells me to and ONLY use the yamalub (and some left over hondalube) that are made for wet clutch desings. This way no warrante is broken and I know I am using the oil that was suggested in the manual. I did try using mobil-1 synthetic blend in my rincon and it acted up so bad that I immediatly put the hondalube back in.

I say, do whatever you feel comforatable with doing as its your money and your machine...I wonder if the people that report oil loss and having oil in their air box are using synthetic??...I have NEVER had any issues with oil consumtion or oil in the air box (cross my fingers) and I have not done a valve adjustment and only use the yamahalube oil. I have 230miles and like 40-60 hours on the machine. I havn't done the valves because after taking my rincon to the stealer and letting them adjust the valves it knocked and had less power (at least felt like it). I guess the old addage "if it aint broke don't fix it" has some truth?? That or just learn to do it yourself and you know its done right!

 

[calaski]

DKNARND - My email is [email protected] Any info you have would be greatly appreciated. This forum has been an amazing source of info and entertainment.

As for the synthetic oil, the "energy conserving" oil is the bad stuff. I have heard alot of people go back and forth on synthetic, but the only sure thing is never use energy conserving labeled oil.

Thanks again for all the info.

Jim

 

[dknarnd]

One of the reasons I went with Amsoil is because the 0W40 is made specifically for 4cycle motorcycle engines and compatible with wet clutches. I used the Yamalube for about 600 miles with no problems and never used any oil and now I have had the Amsoil synthetic in for over 200 miles and also have never used any oil. Actually I am buying a case of it this week and putting it in my brothers Eiger my LT230S Quad Sport and my mom's generator! Also got two courts of synthetic gear lube for when I chang my diff fluid this year.

Jim - sent you an email with the valve adjustment sheet I use.

Jim

 

[xtremegrizz]

O.K. here is my take on the syn oil thing.

Was going to switch over to synthetic on next oil change but I was reading on a web site of the brand oil I use (Maxima) that it was kind of a waste of money in atv's just because of the oil change interval on them. It went on to state that a good grade of regular oil will protect just as well as a snythetic will. The biggest advantage to the syn oil was that it would not break down as fast.

You could go between oil changes longer with the synthetic than the dino oil. For me planing on changing oil every 30 hours or so the cost did not out way the benefiet in my opion. But I still do kick around the idea of switching though.

Mike

 

[dknarnd]

My oil changing schedule has been 25 hours but I will probably push that out to about 35 hours with the synthetic, still way under the maintenance manual. The cost is about $1.60 more per quart for the synthetic so we aren't talking allot of money here for a years worth of oil. I know the synthetic made a huge difference in the cold weather starting department this winter.

I have read some studies on the common synthetics run in automobiles and they are going 18 to 20 thousand miles before the oil has broken down enough to start causing harm. In the auto it kind of revitalizes itself because after you change filters a couple of times you need to add oil. So I would imagine if you changed filters on the ATV every 30 or so hours you could extend the use of the oil also, not something I would do though.

 

[xtremegrizz]

On avarage the brand oil I use their syn is about 6 dollars a quart more than the regular one I use.

I do have to admit though that I do use Mobil 1 synthetic in my Explorer, and I still change the oil at about every 3 or so. Have gone five before but any more and Im just not that sure about it.

Just still not sure in my atvs. As for as better starting in the winter that well not be a real problem for me as I dont really ride it in the winter, Too many local riding areas close down in the winter for me.

Do you buy Amsoil local or do you mail order it?

 

[dknarnd]

The ATV club I belong to has a member that is an amsoil distributor so he gets some nice business from us and in return we get a little discount.

On my next oil change in my Jeep I am going to Mobil 1 and I have already changed to Castrol synthetic in our Ford van. I would have went with Mobil 1 but the Ford requires a 5W20 and I have only found Castrol with that weight available. When I switched to synthetic I changed at 3 the first time then 5 for all future changes. On the Grizz after putting synthetic in I changed at 25 hours the first time and now will stretch that out to about 35. Kind of like using the first change as a flushing cycle.

 

[robg]

Up until the last two changes, I used Castrol Act-Evo 10W40 in my Grizzly. That began at 27 hours, which was when my first oil change was done.

But starting last Summer, I've noticed it using a LOT of oil. There's no leak, but it's not uncommon to use a quart every 15 hours. I dunno where it's going. So to avoid spending even more $$, I switched to the Valvoline ATV oil that I can get at AutoZone because it's fairly cheap.

I love Mobil 1... used it in all my personal vehicles, except my truck. It gets either Shell Rotella or Delo Blue (15W40) diesel oil. I change oil in the truck every 5000 miles, though the manual says 7500 is okay. In my past cars (the truck is currently my only vehicle), I went 5k on Mobil 1. My Grand Cherokee took six quarts so I had no trouble with it. Heck, my '98 Camaro Z28 did too because of the added oil lines and stuff for the Vortech supercharger. It took 5.5 before the blower went on. Dang I miss that car... but I digress.

Anyway... I'll probably stick with dino oil from now on... especially with 30 hour changes. My biggest concern with the Grizz is the fact that it only takes two quarts. My Rincon took almost 3.5 and my old Arctic Cat took four.

Rob