I'm currently looking to buy a 2013 650 terra with 20000 km's on it. The bike started and ran good, although the idle was a bit erratic (temperature was about -5 celsius). After that I was checking the bike and I noticed that there were no oil in reservoir and the coolant reservoir was also empty. Owner told me that he had checked the oil level in the end of summer and that it had been OK. Bike had good service history and it was ridden only 40km after 20000km service which included valve clearances, air filter, oil and filter. Overall bike was in very clean and good condition, couldn't notice any signs of leaks or damage from crashing. Bike had been standing still for 6 months in cold storage. As far as I'm concerned bike has dry sump on it, so is it possible that the oil had flown from tank into engine during winter? How long should it take for excess oil to return to tank? We filled coolant and it seemed that only reservoir was empty. Do you think I should be concerned about this? I checked service history from local dealer and they told me the bike had open recall (ECU remapping). Do you think surging/erratic idle would fix with updated ECU mapping?
Was there "no oil in the reservoir" or was it maybe just off the stick? Perhaps at the last service they did not quite fill it correctly and the level dropped a little through being stored standing so long. With that kind of recent service and a good history, it would appear to be a pretty good bike. Erratic idle is common and possibly due to fuel and atmospheric conditions at the time. If it has had the recall and ECU Remapping by Magnetti Marelli then all s good. Idling and other fuelling issues are easy fixed by TPS and Idle actuator resets and/or fuelling adaptation resets.
Right ^^check the oil level again after its been run and warm. Switching to waterless coolant will be a huge benefit. These run hot and you'll never lose coolant, unless it has a bad head gasket or other obvious coolant leak.
Just FYI, the difference between the "Full" mark on the dipstick and no oil showing on the dipstick is less than 1/2 liter. Best to add only 1/10th liter at a time to avoid over filling.
I've only ever run bog-standard coolant in all my vehicles...and NEVER had ANY of them (incl. the TR) "lose" coolant (bar leaks or head-gasket issues). And yes, I live in a "hot environment" here in Aus. Waterless = snakeoil IMHO...
+1 Totally unnecessary to run anything but normal coolant. If waterless is so good then manufacturers of high end bikes and race teams would use it exclusively, but they do not.
-2 Ok ill bite!. If you want to run coloured acidic water that's your prerogative. Each to there own. A lot of race teams do use waterless, especially in motocross where mud, no fan and advanced ignition timing all equal more engine heat. My gen 1 KLR engine corroded from the inside. I first noticed overheating becoming an issue at about 85/90000klms and it progressively got worse. With 146000 thou & 13 years its was game over. With waterless theres no corrosion, barely any pressure and expansion, better thermals and its longer lasting. If your stuck at the black stump you can add water and why wouldn't you. Ive run waterless from the first service. The TR won't go like the KLR Cost is the only downside, could that be it ps One should be careful about purchasing an aged water cooled motorcycle
Yeah us dumb Yanks are prone to try anything different. Good on ya for sticking with boil-prone water based coolant. You really should just use straight water for the best performance