A cautionary tale for T-Max owners

[Symcity]

It’s amazing the little defects you can discover if you regularly clean your bike/scooter

[MrGrumpy]

Well, I'm forever cleaning the Tmax, but a rotten oil filter isn't something you come across....its well buried and of course rots on the lower side, so you'd have to lie underneath the scoot to see it......which I'm not going to do, especially on a freezing cold winter's day!

[Greyerbeard]

General service items are available online at very low cost these days - why anyone would choose to leave an oil filter in place for such a long time is beyond me - then again Yamaha seem to endorse this process

Exactly - and I tend to make the mistake (?) of believing that manufacturers know what they're talking about....
The dealer, of course, had 'never heard of this happening before'.

And no, the oil filter on a T-Max is not something you see during regular cleaning unless you're totally anal - I've generally seen mine once a year when it's been plastered with ACF-50. Which obviously doesn't stop wayward stones...

[kishan]

damn

[drummer]

During my time with bikes, I have accepted that service intervals are the mileage guide OR every 12 months, whichever comes first. So using this servicing regime the oil and filter would always be changed after one year so should not rot away.

[MrGrumpy]

For the mk4 and mk6 Tmax, the handbook says that you should have an inspection every year, though of course how these overlap with listed mileage related items is never clear. Personally, I have the 1st one after a year to ensure the warranty is maintained, then ignore them. The annual check requires the oil to be changed (I will have done more than 3000 miles in a year anyway), but doesn't require a filter change - so that a filter change is only required every 12k miles....so if you don't do that many miles, it will probably have rotted through!
btw I've found aftermarket filters rather less prone to rot than Mr Yamaha's own brand ones.

[drummer]

During my time with bikes I have understood that service intervals are either the mileage guidance OR in 12 months whichever comes first.
If you stick to this for very important oil changes, then the filter body will not likely corrode in a year.

[Greyerbeard]

Please read what we are saying...the Yamaha service schedule is very clear that the oil filter is to be changed every 12k miles - it is specifically NOT included in the annual service.
Yes, common sense would indicate that it's not wise to leave it unchanged for years; no I obviously hadn't been blessed with common sense in this case.
But I've been servicing bikes and cars for, oh, 50 years now, and I have NEVER had this happen before.