Bajaj Dominar 400 Ownership Experience Thread

[ayrus]

Re: Bajaj Dominar 400 Ownership Experience Thread

Hello guys.
Its been a year that i have purchased a Dominar. I have two issues with my Bike. First sometimes my Bike does not start on neutral or in gear. I make sure the side stand is up. I can just hear a Krr. Krr. kinda sound under the rear seat. While i self start the bike , it just lets go off the start. and refuses to self start . i have to again turn on the kill switch and again start the bike again after switching off the kill switch. The bike starts after many self starts like 20 to 30 times. This issue creeped after three months of me buying the bike. The ASC guys have no idea what the problem is.
Secondly while riding my bike in small potholes very minute potholes on the roads my chain rattles . it gives an annoying sound like the chain is about to come of. I have done 8.5K kms on my bike.
Your inputs are highly welcome. Thanks

For the chain sound, first check your chain slack. Always use a ruler or tape placed by the side of the chain while doing so.

[ayrus]

Re: Bajaj Dominar 400 Ownership Experience Thread

its not the battery . It produces the sound under the rear seat . theres a rectangular shaped thing that produces the noise while i switch on the self start

Get that "RECTANGULAR THING" replaced!!

[aniD400]

Re: Bajaj Dominar 400 Ownership Experience Thread

By switching on I presume that the bike is struggling to fire up while cranking. If that's the case, I'd recommend you to check your spark plugs, inline fuel filter and throttle body. A spark plug cap that is loose and a spark plug is weak would mean starting trouble. If you haven't replaced your inline fuel filter, now is the right to inspect and replace. Thirdly, over time the throttle body gets accumulated with carbon deposits due to poor fuel quality, which would mean restricted air flow which would cause the engine to not fire up due to suboptimal AFR. Clean your throttle body.

Radiator core doesn't have to do anything with the engine start up which is bollocks. Get the above checked, inspected, cleaned and replaced if necessary. Do keep your observations posted.

Cheers!
VJ

Thanks a lot. I'll have the service centre guys look it up and I'll update about the same.

[VaibhavPisal]

Re: Bajaj Dominar 400 Ownership Experience Thread

It is not about money or extra miles, it is all about smooth operation. A well lubed chain provide better overall riding experience and prevent chain damage under stress.
Gear oil is ancient thing after the grease but it works better than most lubes, if u still need spry type and less messy ones then use dry type chain lube.
As per personal experience gear oil 1 bottle 180 rs 1 ltrs last around 1.5 year to 2 years on my previous rides. With doninar i have used 500ml pack of ep90 over 7 months (that is 100rs pack).
I usually avoid regular cleaning by wiping the chain properly before every lube cycle and i never over lube it.
It is not about using expensive stuff people use motul blindly only for brand name with reading the lable and have suffered rust with c2 in rain , where on the pack of c2 it is written not to be used in monsoon (something like it), c3 is there for monsoon.
I have used local made aerosol lube successfully with any issues one sparg last over 250kms.
But gear oil provide smoother and noise free chain as per my experience.

Agree with this. With longer service interval, its important to lube chain by yourself. Use whatever lubes you find affordable and convenient.

Chain is a consumable and will go away regardless of how much care you put into it. So I personally am planning to lube my chain once a month regardless of kms run. Along with a check of all fluid levels and a minor wipe/wash.

After reading few comments here and on 390 thread, I have settled on some engine oil for both cleaning and lubing. I know some insist not to use it, but I have already purchased it. Googling does not provide any results on what is best or any satisfactory explanation. So I would prefer to have first hand experience. If engine oil is not good, I would like to see that myself with faster degradation. Treat it as an experiment.

[kiran2508]

Re: Bajaj Dominar 400 Ownership Experience Thread

With gear oil, you get brakes pads free free free!!! [emoji16][emoji16]
Again, the choice is of the owner. Over the time, gear oil brings the overall cost of ownership down.

It is not about money or extra miles, it is all about smooth operation. A well lubed chain provide better overall riding experience and prevent chain damage under stress

Thank you for the detailed explanation there, indeed one can get save upto half the cost of new sprocket just bu switching to oils, and all the new fancy lubes are 21st century thing and superbikes back in 90's used just plain old grease or oil.

Agree with this. With longer service interval, its important to lube chain by yourself.

Along with a check of all fluid levels and a minor wipe/wash.

That's the drawback of longer service intervals, sometimes my bike takes upto 1year to reach the 7500kms service interval. My bike would have been through so many rough conditions in that 1year from rain/heat/dirt, from peak bumper to bumper city traffic to highway runs of 300kms in one stretch.

So for this reason I myself change engine oil and measure the quantity of oil remaining at every 3500-4000kms and topup coolant, clean and lube chain, check all nuts/screws, check any oil leaks, brake pads, adjust the clutch and replace oil/air filter if required. All this would maximum come upto ₹1500-1800. Compare doing the same at it KTM would be around ₹4000.

Not only it saves little money but also gives you that peace of mind knowing that everything is in place, having checked everything that is accessible to me expect for opening up the engine/clutch case.

[Ijs]

Re: Bajaj Dominar 400 Ownership Experience Thread

Agree with this. With longer service interval, its important to lube chain by yourself. Use whatever lubes you find affordable and convenient.

Chain is a consumable and will go away regardless of how much care you put into it. So I personally am planning to lube my chain once a month regardless of kms run. Along with a check of all fluid levels and a minor wipe/wash.

After reading few comments here and on 390 thread, I have settled on some engine oil for both cleaning and lubing. I know some insist not to use it, but I have already purchased it. Googling does not provide any results on what is best or any satisfactory explanation. So I would prefer to have first hand experience. If engine oil is not good, I would like to see that myself with faster degradation. Treat it as an experiment.

Engine is to film the internals with thin layer, so it won't last very long sometimes only for few days, second it attracts more dust and dirt and it is engineered to do this to carry the dust and metal part inside the engine to the filters(for this reason never use old engine oil to lube) to keep things clean and there is no filter on the chain to clean the oil. It is wash resistant (good thing in rain)so it would be difficult to clean with cleaners detergents won't work sufficiently it would need solvents to clean.
Gear oil would work wonderfully try it.
Ep 90 where ep stands for extreme pressure.
Keep engine oil as last resort to lube the drive chain.

[Vipergts07]

Re: Bajaj Dominar 400 Ownership Experience Thread

It's upto the individual to decide to spend 1000 or a 100 a year. Whatever makes them happy and content.

[ginzon]

Re: Bajaj Dominar 400 Ownership Experience Thread

Guys, the wiring underneath pillion seat I assume to be like this -
1. Green: Left indicator
2. Grey: Right indicator
3. Red: Ignition switch
4. White plug: Not sure what it is (Anyone?)

I connected the Hercules Adapter from DIY and it works well..

Now I have some queries:
1. I have purchased Mobile Holder with Charger from AliExpress (would be helpful for my Goa trip) and would like to connect it in a way that only can be used when bike is turned on i.e. When I turn on the ignition..
Any help how that could be achieved...?
Also, do I need to remove the tank to pass the wire through? (Frankly speaking I do not want to do that right now, not before my Goa trip)

2. Anode of my battery looked like this so I cleaned it up, just took off what I saw..

I'm going to clean it up properly once in daylight as it was really dark then.. Will WD-40 be ok? I read and saw videos that did similar.. Anyone who opened up that section can put some light..

Thank you.

[Rituraj_singh]

Re: Bajaj Dominar 400 Ownership Experience Thread

Just asking how much extra KM can one extract out with this ritual going by your experience? Doing it at every 350kms and using variety of gear oil/lubes

A chain which has been maintained in the worst condition without any lube will last 13-15K.
Looking after just with aerosol based Motul, 3M lubes at every 500-800kms can extend it by another 3-5K say upto 20K.

So following your way my guesstimate ideally it should add another 5-8K and have around 25-28K+ of life? All this would be pointless if it's extending the life by just 2-3K kms, it would be cheaper at ₹4K to replace with a new chain & sprocket than spend upto ₹1K for lube/oil just for extra few kms.

I changed it at 13,500. Chain was lubed only at service centre during service.

[Arjunachu]

Re: Bajaj Dominar 400 Ownership Experience Thread

Guys, the wiring underneath pillion seat I assume to be like this -
1. Green: Left indicator
2. Grey: Right indicator
3. Red: Ignition switch
4. White plug: Not sure what it is (Anyone?)

I connected the Hercules Adapter from DIY and it works well..

Now I have some queries:
1. I have purchased Mobile Holder with Charger from AliExpress (would be helpful for my Goa trip) and would like to connect it in a way that only can be used when bike is turned on i.e. When I turn on the ignition..
Any help how that could be achieved...?
Also, do I need to remove the tank to pass the wire through? (Frankly speaking I do not want to do that right now, not before my Goa trip)

2. Anode of my battery looked like this so I cleaned it up, just took off what I saw..
[ATTACH]245780[/ATTACH]
I'm going to clean it up properly once in daylight as it was really dark then.. Will WD-40 be ok? I read and saw videos that did similar.. Anyone who opened up that section can put some light..

Thank you.

I would advice for the mobile charger, Use the cable from the AHO(Headlight assembly) , Where head light gets power only during the ignition ON and doesn't get power if the KEY position is OFF.

[sumith.jagadisan]

Re: Bajaj Dominar 400 Ownership Experience Thread

2. Anode of my battery looked like this so I cleaned it up, just took off what I saw..
[ATTACH]245780[/ATTACH]
I'm going to clean it up properly once in daylight as it was really dark then.. Will WD-40 be ok? I read and saw videos that did similar.. Anyone who opened up that section can put some light..

Thank you.

Don’t use WD40 to clean battery, use distilled water and toothbrush. WD40 is combustible.

[Ijs]

Re: Bajaj Dominar 400 Ownership Experience Thread

Don’t use WD40 to clean battery, use distilled water and toothbrush. WD40 is combustible.

Wd40 is safe to Clean terminals i have used it, and seen it being used at maruti svc for battery terminals Cleaning.

[ginzon]

Re: Bajaj Dominar 400 Ownership Experience Thread

I would advice for the mobile charger, Use the cable from the AHO(Headlight assembly) , Where head light gets power only during the ignition ON and doesn't get power if the KEY position is OFF.

Thanks, will check that option.. Seems better than passing a hell lot of cords through the tank..

----consecutive posts auto-merged-----

Don’t use WD40 to clean battery, use distilled water and toothbrush. WD40 is combustible.

I had that doubt too, saw many videos who did that safely...

Wd40 is safe to Clean terminals i have used it, and seen it being used at maruti svc for battery terminals Cleaning.

Ok, safe to assume that it will work..

After cleaning will apply some high pressure grease to keep it safe from corrosion..

[V 12]

Re: Bajaj Dominar 400 Ownership Experience Thread

Ok So I got a call yesterday from Bajaj svc saying that they are upgrading some part related to the chain or sprocket free of cost by the company on enquiring further the lady said she didn't knew much about it.
Since I am out of town would be going on 10th Dec to the SVC to check what is this all about.
If you guys have received any such calls or news about something please enlighten me.
Cheers
Amogh Sharma

[Indivar]

Re: Bajaj Dominar 400 Ownership Experience Thread

Ok So I got a call yesterday from Bajaj svc saying that they are upgrading some part related to the chain or sprocket free of cost by the company on enquiring further the lady said she didn't knew much about it.
Since I am out of town would be going on 10th Dec to the SVC to check what is this all about.
If you guys have received any such calls or news about something please enlighten me.
Cheers
Amogh Sharma

Ijs has posted about this, its some kind of clamp to keep the chain in place for safety reasons. I remember some users had reported the chain coming off their sprockets in some situations.