Maria's 66K Service, a bit early

Maria, my 2004 R1150RT had been exhibiting some mild "surging" behavior during the last couple of rides, so even though she was not due for her services till 66k, I did them about 450 miles earlier than planned today.

After work today, I managed to:

1. Change Maria's oil and filter, replace the Final Drive and Transmission oil and replaced the spark plugs. I found the left lower sparkplug a bit loose in its mount, and the right lower one fouled with oil on the threads.

2. I checked her valve clearances and afterwards also did a throttle body sync. That, took the longest as I'd forgotten to hold onto the throttle cable sheath while turning the adjustment knob to adjust the levels with my home made manometer. Always review the instructions! This time, I also removed the BBAS or Big Brass Adjustment Screws and found them coated in black sooty material, replaced them after some carburetor cleaner shots.

Note the carbon covered BBAS

Now, they're clean again

The left side BBAS, back in place

Tomorrow, I'll clean and replenish the K&N air filter, too tired tonight. One final check ride after that, then the tupperware goes back on and she'll be good to go (hopefully) for another 6000 miles. I had gone for a check ride after the fluid changes and the surging seemed to be much much less. I still did the valve check and TB sync of course since it's part of the 6000 mile services.

The only bummer is that somehow the upper right mounting screw on the right side valve cover is stripped and so does not hold on very tight. I hope replacing just the screw is a doable thing. It seems to hold just fine the way it is and I see no leakage from around it. I'll have to monitor it though until I get it repaired. I am pretty sure I didn't do it since I carefully follow the 8 nm limit when torquing the valve cover screws. I wonder if when she was repaired by the dealer this past June, that it might have happened then. No way to know now. Dammit.