[ST] reliability and oil

["Rich Rumble" <rich.rumble@xxxxxxx>]

To Rupert and Neil,
First, ST reliability.
Purchased a 2001 ST new in April of 2001.  Clutch cable broke in Sep '01 at
1000 miles (170 miles from home, that's another story).  Dealer replaced on
clutch cable on warranty, I bought a spare, which I still carry with the
'04, but I am getting ahead of myself.
Sometime in late 2002 or early 2003, around 10K miles or so, oil leak
developed on right side of engine.  I think the fix was to replace the
clutch cover gasket, which the dealer did as warranty service.  Later,
December of 2003, the leak returned, this time I replace the clutch cover
gasket.  That seemed to stop the leak for the few remaining months.
The gasket around the fuel pump was leaking (about early 2002).  I torqued
all bolts to the spec value and that stopped the leak.  However, on
refitting the tank, I broke one of the QD fittings.  Damn they are
expensive.  At the 12K service last August (2003), I had the dealer change
out the male and female QD fittings.  The dealer's service dept at that time
was stocking the parts as they were regularly changing the fittings on
customer bikes.  Also, sometime last year, the lens fell off one front turn
signal, which I replaced.
I had a 4.5K trip to Orcas Island last summer and the bike performed
flawlessly the whole way.  I followed that with a SS1K (Baby Butt 1K run by
Red Hot Riders, here in SD county), again the bike ran great.
On 3 April 2004, crashed and totaled the bike with about 16K miles on it.
Completely driver error.

Bought new 2004 Sprint ST in April 2004.  Fuel sender failed at about 1K
miles, replaced under warranty.  It "works" but with the same features
reported by others, i.e. reads full for about 90-100 miles, then zooms down
to empty in about 60-80 miles.  As others do, I use the trip odo to remind
me to get gas at around 200 miles.  I am running the Triumph off-road SS
can, with whatever FI tune the dealer downloaded at the 1K service (and yes,
it has a backfiring sound particularly at higher engine speeds, which is ok
by me).  This bike seems noticeably stronger than my '01 throughout the rpm
range.  Perhaps it has to do with the color change.  Oops, don't want to
restart that thread.  Overall, there are several subtle differences from the
'99-'01 model, all to the good.  Current odo reading on the '04 is just over
3K miles.  Its VIN is outside the range for the fuel connector replacement.

Oil.
The '01 Sprint ST was preceded by a '96 Sprint.  I ran 5100 Motul in it for
a while, the rest of its about 17K life (traded it in to by the '01 Sprint)
I ran the Triumph Mobil1 4T.  No clutch problems with Motul, but what I did
encounter was needing a quart of oil during a trip (in Flagstaff, AZ) and
not finding Motul anywhere in town.  After that, I went back to the Mobil 1.
That '96 Sprint did seem to use oil, about 1 qt in 3000 miles, which I never
considered a problem, more an irritant.  The ST have not consumed oil, but
the '01 did have the two leaks reported above.  Both Sprint STs have had
only Triumph 4T oil.

Back before the '96 Sprint, I had an '86 Suzuki GSX-R750 for about 10 years.
At ant after the first oil change, I used exclusively Golden Spectro oil,
which then was a semi-synthetic (and considerably cheaper than Mobil 1).

The only clutch slippage problems I can remember for sure had to do with
trying to start a reluctant Bultaco Montedero.  The primary case had 80 wt
EP gear oil as I recall, and the compression was high enough that sometimes
the clutch would slip as I was trying to kick start the engine.  Others in
those days used a compression release to get big singles started, but I did
not.  My TZ, as do Ducatis and virtually all automobiles, has a dry clutch
and thus avoids the whole issue of oil on clutch plates.

Rich (Thunderdawg) Rumble
2004 Aston Green Sprint ST
1995 Yamaha TZ250



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