pics

hi people

its bit late but anyways.... attached are the pics of the bike and thanks everyone for your help

310 on the odo (17 days)

its a new one so i am assumin engine will smooth out in some time ...
clutch play is full but manual says it should work in 10-15degree range so thinking of reducing it a little

only trouble ..i am seeing some brownish small patch on couple of places...and i need to get it checked

I beg to differ,

My inputs are not just based on my feeling, its based on how my GS behaves,

There are many gspinans who knows how the bike behaves with motul and how it behaves with the castrol or so called SVC oil.

Its not just how the colour or viscosity of the oil, as a driver anyone can sense the bike response, gear change, smoothness and all such things.

"Every mineral oil is not manufactured with the same exact ingredents"

Yes .. it's highligthed in red .
Which means that they did not actually send it to JASO Japan for MA2 certification , i.e they made it all up for themselves . Else a standard Jaso-MA / MA2 Badge would suffice . Does it have a Jaso MA/MA2 badge on the pack somewhere ?

@Madhu and Vishnukmd

Thanks for the inputs, since both are almost same i think i will use the Castrol one first, want to see how SS oil would perform for a change, been using mineral from last 2 years.

And my castrol bottle was 03/2011 manufactured, it still has the tri zone technology claims on it, most of it seems false though like "power release formula".

My experience with motul was pretty weird, first 400-500 kms gear shifts were not smooth, but after that it has been very good, and the shifting is still smooth after 2500kms


@Firegun

Could you explain at what position the golden screw was, for all the mileage figures you posted.
I get 49-50km/l when the screw is at 1.5 full turns from lock position,( 360 degrees + 180 degrees ), i havent tried any leaner because i didnt want the engine to stall at high speeds, but 2 or 2.5 and the mileage drops to 47 approx, so currently using 1.5 turn setting. It might be too lean for the engine, but i havent experienced stalling so i kept it like that only.

guys my 4th service is due @8000kms... service chart in the manual says i need to replace the spark plug.... so should i go for the iridium plug or the normal one.... pls lemme know the difference and which plug spec is suited for our GS...

May be because of my inexperience, I cannot sense it.




This view may be correct. But I have used this oil continuously for more than 1,00,000 kms in my Suzuki Fiero without any issues. It is still with me.
This is why I use the same oil in my GS. More than that, Suzuki is not asking to use any JASO MA2 oil in this bike though its engine is Japanese.
And what additional protection is the JASO MA2 certified oil offering to the bike other than the protection of the catalytic convertor, by reducing the phosphorous content?

Nothing .. zero .. zilch . In fact it may not be sensible to use a higher JASO or API rated oil than is recommended for the engine in the owner's manual . Zinc-Phosphorus and Sulphur compounds are added to the oil for friction modification and the engine may be designed for a certain amount of these friction modifiers in the oil . Newer ( higher JASO & API rated) oils have less and less of these friction modifiers to conform to increasingly stricter environment norms in the world . The engine may not be able to cope well with the degradation in oil additives and get accelerated wear.

So the Castrol oil may be perfectly good enough ( as you say from real experience , I completely believe you ) . But I am unlikely to buy from them if they are trying to pass-off ( on the sly , I may add ) a non-JASO-Certified oil as a certified one . I have scanty trust or respect for a manufacturer that tries to mislead it's customers . I won't even want to try such a product . For me all else is besides the point . Specially when there are other honest oil-companies present in the market .. whose oil are as good ( if not better in quality ) and who takes all the trouble to send in their oil to japan and get the necessary certification and doesn't charge you extra for it anyway... why put my trust and money on the trickster ? Why not take advantage of the competition ?

You used this oil for the first time I guess .. which grade was it ? 20w40 ? It takes time for a new oil to settle in the engine as the old oil and gummy deposits clinging to the parts gets washed away . So to evaluate a oil you need to try two fills of it .. consecutively . Motul 3000 4T plus 20w40 is very good oil . Also try to change any mineral oil within 2500kms ( or 6 months if earlier ) definitely .

If you want to change the plug to iridium then you need to provide higher voltage by changing the cable as well, otherwise its of no use.

But in my opinion, you should be able to use your spark plug for another 5000kms safely. My bike has covered almost 10000kms on the initial stock plug and i still havent experienced a misfire or cold start problem. So it may not be necessary to follow the manual that closely.

Yup, first time i used the motul 3000 4t oil. dont think i've ever used the same oil twice continuously in my bike. I always end up buying a different brand in the end just to try it out. even now i bought one bottle of castrol power 1 SS and gulf pride 4t.
But motul was worth it compared to shell and veedol, i might use it again sometime.

Anyway, i guess you had mentioned some wax polish that you use for your bike, could you tell me what the name was. I remember you saying that its not meant specifically for bikes but it works better than most other polishes.

Yea My friend before this tests i too believe that the modes are for indication purpose only but when i see those huge difference in the mileage i was also socked to believe, thats why i requested some senior members to make attention and give some explanations

Pinaki, It is true that I am using this oil in my Fiero for more than 1,00,000 kms and that bike is 1,30,000 kms old and is still perfect.





Anyhow, I am not planning to change the brand until I find out another one which is more trustable. For that, a certificate or advertisement or review is not enough.

As i said earlier a small change in the Golden screw will make huge different in the mileage( this is from my own experience).

so, what i did is i just made lots of 100ml test by turning the Golden Screw little by little from stock setting (that is from -180 degree of stock setting to + 180 degree of stock setting)

What i can say is, get a test CAN and try yourself by turning either side by very little turn( but for me it took hole day to learn this) so you need lots calm and patience(may be if you are an expert you dont need lot of time to do this)

Note:
1.Before starting this type of tests try to keep the Golden screw in Stock position then gently try either way by screwing or unscrewing the Golden Screw

2. After getting to the better position(mileage) dont forget to make atleast 10 tests of 100ml to make sure that it is best and correct position of Golden screw without any errors

I am using ARMORALL wash & wax shampoo and their STP SON OF A GUN wax. I have used Formula 1 shampoo and wax for a long period but stopped using it as it became difficult to find out original product.

cross checked the mileage again

@ALL
Today i again cross checked mileage of my GS by taking 2 liter of petrol,
My trip meter clocked 161.3km for 2 liter of petrol in Echo mode
RPM is under 4.5K

So guys i am planning to seal the Golden Screw in that same position so please i need your advise
1. Is it good seal the Golden screw or do i need to seal the Golden screw or leave it as it is?
2. If so then what type of Adhesive or Past can i use for this?

If the senior members are not reacting, please go through some pages of this thread from page 1082.


If the mileage is satisfactory and you are not to do any more tests, seal the golden screw using Araldite.

Ok, thank you.
My 3M wax liquid bottle got over so i'm searching for some good wax polish.


Thats some amazing mileage figure. Unbelievably amazing actually. Are you sure your petrol bunk isnt giving you 3 litres of petrol when you ask for 2 ?

I guess its not a good idea to seal the golden screw. It does not change position on its own so just leave it as it is. As the engine cylinder wears you'll have to keep adjusting the screw to get optimum mileage.

(btw, if you spoil the threads in the golden screw, a new carb would cost like 6k, so i would recommend just leaving it as it is for now)

And regarding the modes, i would say its only an indication, very unlikely that it would make any difference to power or mileage.
The carb is a completely mechanical component, and the mikuni BS26 carb in our bike is used in almost all 150cc bikes so nothing specially made for GS there. The engine/cylinder etc are all completely mechanical too. So dont see any place where the modes could make any difference.