1984 VF1000F Interceptor Maintenance Log

Due to the lack of authoritative (or even un-authoritative) Interceptor pages out there, I've decided to post my experiences with my VF1000F. Note, a great deal of information can be derived from the Sabre/Magna pages listed in the Motorcycle Links section on the previous page, so I'm not going to try to cover everything here. If you have issues not covered here, I would suggest reading the Sabre/Magna FAQ and joining the mail list. The guys there have helped out a lot and, I too, will be available to answer questions. I'm not an extensive wrencher, but I can at least relate my experiences. Below is a copy of my Maintenance Log with my comments.

1984 VF1000F Interceptor Maintenance Log

I purchased the bike in January, 1995 from a motorcyle cop in Yukon, OK with 8,950 miles on it. It was in pristine condition, he was the only rider, and it had never been layed over or dropped. Despite having sat in his garage for 2 years, after charging the battery, the bike started! He had had the bike serviced by a local race shop as long as he owned it and kept no maintenance records of his own, and I was unable to get anything out of the shop. So, with a clean slate, I rode the bike from Yukon to Tulsa in less than desireable weather, and took it to my local Honda shop, Green Country Honda, in Broken Arrow, OK.

They gave her a full tune-up (plugs, valves, carb adjust and sync, etc), replaced the fork seals (one of them was leaking and had drained onto the left front brake rotor. Made for interesting riding.), changed all the fluids, and basically gave her some TLC. They replaced the oil w/ Honda HP4 10W40 Synthetic Blend. At $6 a quart ($4.25 if you buy by the case) it's pretty steep, but I was leary of using full synthetic, not having known what was in the bike before.

Oil and filter change - I started putting miles on her a lot quicker than I had thought I would. Nearly all of these miles were in-town, short trips to and from campus. Replaced oil with Honda HP4 10W40.

Oil and filter change - The bike survived the Oklahoma summer perfectly. However, I would notice her start to get cranky about shifting when it was really hot. Note, at this point I had read Robyn's page about the cam wear problem, but I assumed that Green Country would have said something if I had any signs of wear. Also, the results were very inconclusive about the cam problem in regards to Interceptors. So blindly I went. Again, I replaced the oil with Honda HP4 10W40, lubed the chain, and cleaned the plugs. Everything else was running fine. Most of these were highway miles, as I was commuting from Tulsa to Stillwater (85 miles each way) a couple times a week to work.

Front tire failure - Somehow I picked up a nail in my front tire on campus. So I pulled the wheel and had the tire replaced with a Dunlop K591 Elite SP-R compound. That was the same tire that was on it when I bought the bike. Overall, I've been happy w/ it, though it has started to show some signs of cracking in the sidewalls. I suspect I ended up w/ an old tire. Joys of not buying from a reputable dealer.

Oil, Oil Filter, and Air Filter Change - Continued to use Honda HP4 10W40. Replaced the air filter w/ OEM paper filter.

Extensive maintenance - Well, the bike had begun to develop some serious drivetrain noise. So much so that my friends would notice my chain popping while riding alongside on their own bikes. So I figured since she hadn't had any mechanical TLC for 2 years, that it would be a good idea to take her into the dealer for a good tune-up and diagnose this drivetrain problem. It was as I expected. Time for a new chain and sprockets ($240 I think). They also gave her a tune-up (plugs, valves, carb adjust and sync) but everything was w/in tolerance, flushed the brake and clutch system, and replaced the brake pads. I figured I'd buy the pads from the dealer anyway, and he 'threw in the labor'. Oh well, it got done. The bike had also developed a weird grounding problem in the turn signals. Normally, the front turn signals stay on while riding as running lights. Well, sometimes the right one would go out. It would blink properly if I signaled right, and if I signaled left, it would come on steady like it was supposed to, but after turning the signal off it would go out again. The starter switch spring had also begun to get cranky. After I started it, I would have to pull the switch back out in order to get the headlamp to come on. So, I figured, 'while it was there and already torn apart', I ended up getting new handlebar switch assemblies ($84 ea.) which cured everything. I found out later that this is a common thing and that a good cleaning would have fixed. Ah well, the new assemblies look pretty.

Oil and Filter change - Yes, it had only been 450 miles on the HP4 oil, but in the interim, I had joined the SabMag mail list and in talking w/ those guys, realized I should be changing my oil weights depending on season. So before it became unbearably hot here, I changed to Mobil 1 15W50 Synthetic. The results have been excellent. My bike never shifted better, nor has it ever run quieter. I have experienced NO clutch slippage or related problems. The heavier oil has certainly helped. I am also hoping to solve a few technical issues before installing the oil mod on my bike.

Berkey/Dale Walker Oil mod install - Installed the Interceptor oil mod v 3.0 today. Also changed the oil and filter while we were at it. Again, changed w/ Mobil 1 15W50 Full Synth and began using the newer CBR/Goldwing style oil filter. Supposedly has the same filtering capacity of the larger filter. See the oil mod saga for more info.

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