Triumphrat

Beemie

What is actually supposed to be done at the 500 mile check on a Thunderbird?
something important like valve adjustment, or just general overlook, and maybe oil change?

At 500 miles (800kms) All fasteners are supposed to be checked, oil and filter change, and Idle mixture& speed adjustment.
In Australia they are doing the valve check/ adjustment at 6,000 miles(10,000klms) rather than at 12,000(20,000) as specified in the book.

vonbonds

I think the first valve check is 6000 miles and then every 12,000 afterwards.

Tom

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shedds

a dealer i went to last year for my sticker says every 12000 miles because he said at 6000 miles no wear shows up until 12000 all because the breakin on these engines is so slow they wear slower than first predicted when they first models rolled off the asembly line back in 1990 believe it or not???

MickMaguire

The first valve service should be at 6000, then every 12000 after that. I did mine at 7000 and quite a few of the clearances were under spec and required a change in shims.

Basically the 500 service is a check over, but will include an important oil change. Your bike will have break-in oil in it from new, this must be changed after 500 miles (a lot of people leave it up to 1000) for the Triumph full synthetic oil. Leaving this oil in until the first full service at 6000 miles would result in a lot of premature engine wear.

The schedule for the T3 series can be found in the maintenance schedules area of the downloads. You will find details of all procedures for each service in there.

[ This message was edited by: MickMaguire on 2004-04-21 06:11 ]

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Mick...

Just remember; an awful lot of the free advice you will get on forums is worth exactly what you paid for it. There will always be somebody trying to convince you to do something really stupid, just because they did it or want to do it.

Delta88

I concur. When I first contacted the Service Writer at my local Dealer about having the first service done, (I bought the bike out of State - a left-over new '01), he told me to wait for 700 to 900 miles for that all-important oil change because the rings would not have been fully seated in by 500 miles.

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Beemie

Any warantee issues in the owner doing the 500-700 mile service? Does Triumph require dealer servicing to honor the warantee?

My closest dealer couldn't adjust a baseball cap and the next nearest is about 1 1/2 hours away.

Slinky

My understanding is that if you can prove you carried out the service at the recommended miles (and that you are competent) then the manufacturer has to honour the warranty.That is the situation in the UK anyway, it may be different across the big pond.

The hard part is proving it. Keeping the reciept for the oil and filter may help.

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Jodel

I did the first 500 mile service on my last T-bird. The bike needed the cases split after 4,500 to repair a faulty gearbox. Dealer did the work under the Triumph G'tee without any question.

However, I have been buying bikes from this guy for many years and he knows:
a) I don't abuse my bikes
b) I'm compentent with a wrench

Additionally, at the risk of starting another 'break-in' type thread, I have to side with Mick on the recommendation to change the oil at 500. That was the advice of my dealer and he says they always refill Triumphs with full synthetic oil at this change (I went for semi-synthetic).

Interestingly, when I bought my Blackbird new in '98, the same dealer recommended I do at least 4,000 miles before switching over to full synthetic.

Beemie

Synthetic vs Dino has always been a neverending debate as far as when to change over.
The concern for some is that the synthetic is so slick that the rings don't wear in.
Corvettes come with synthetic from the factory but it takes quite long before oil usage control is achieved.
I guess I'd not switch over at 500 miles. I don't think the rings can be seated bu then