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Maintenance Questions


sundance1
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Hi, new to the forum and also Montesa's.

I have acquired recently my late brothers bike, a 98 Cota 315R.

He maintained it very well.

I have been holding off starting the bike for while now. It has sat for a year. Only recently have I thought to get it back to life so to speak.

Before I kick her over I wanted to do some basic maintenance items.

I have changed the spark plug (BR6ES) and have cleaned and lightly oiled the main air filter.

However that is where I have stopped as I have a few questions.

Question 1

Should I lightly oil the sub filter also ( after cleaning)?

What is the sub filter's purpose. I dont have it on my other vintage trials bikes ( TY and an RL)

Question 2

Would you recommend changing the coolant as the bike has sat for over a year ?

If so approx. what volume of collant would I need? I will go get some tomorrow.

Also to what level do I fill the coolant to? right up to top of the filler spout? (i.e. to the cap)

Question 3

I cant find a tire pressure guage that will read a pressure as low a 2psi. The lowest one I can find starts at 5 psi

How does one know when there is 2-4 lbs of pressure in the rear tire?

Question 4

The rear rim has a broken spoke and I do have a replacement spoke.

Can I change the spoke with out having to take the wheel and the rear sprocket off?

I do have the owners manual however the answers to my questions were not too evident .

And I did search this forum before asking.

Thanks for any feedback or additional maintenance suggestions and tips

Fred

Montreal, Canada.

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Not sure about your bike specific questions but I would think it best to clean carb out and change fuel for new. Tyre pressures you can buy low pressure guage from trials dealers I .ve never owned one as the tyre will be different in any given climatic condition ( i.e on any given day) I just sit on it backwards and let air out untill it looks right, it also depends on what you are riding on..rocks only ,mud only ..mixture etc.

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1. I'm not sure what you mean by sub filter.. Where is it? It's not something i've ever cleaned obviously!

2. You could change the coolant to be on the safe side. I buy a 1L castrol and that fills it with plenty left. To fill undo the bleed bolt on the top of the cylinder head, fill with coolant until it starts coming out of the hole, then replace the bolt and fill it to the top of the radiator neck.

3. Hunt down a low pressure gauge from a trials shop. Apico make a nice one.

4. Not sure but its not a lot of hassle to take the wheel off.

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1. I'm not sure what you mean by sub filter.. Where is it? It's not something i've ever cleaned obviously!

2. You could change the coolant to be on the safe side. I buy a 1L castrol and that fills it with plenty left. To fill undo the bleed bolt on the top of the cylinder head, fill with coolant until it starts coming out of the hole, then replace the bolt and fill it to the top of the radiator neck.

3. Hunt down a low pressure gauge from a trials shop. Apico make a nice one.

4. Not sure but its not a lot of hassle to take the wheel off.

Thanks for the replies.

The sub filter is located under the gas tank right beside the rear break master cylinder cap.

There is a rubber hose that connects to the sub filter and runs into the carb somewhere.

It is a little foam element no more than a 1inch diametre and 1/8 inch thick.

I am just wondering if oiling it will not let it breath adequately?

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Yes clean and very lightly oil the wee filter, I do mine everytime I do the main filter

Yes i would change the coolant purely if anything to make sure the mix is right and lets face it a flush through wont do any harm will it?

Apico guage gets my vote too, any trails shop should stock low pressure guages though

Spokes are easy done with the wheel in, take care though there are two different lengths of spokes, sometimes you need to remove the spoke next to the broken one first so you can get the broken one out.

You didnt mention changing the gear oil either, i would do that also as well as stripping and cleaning the carb.

The owners manual is pretty comprehensive and should give instruction on all these jobs except maybe the spoke changing

Edited by eiaprilia
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The sub filter is located under the gas tank right beside the rear break master cylinder cap.

There is a rubber hose that connects to the sub filter and runs into the carb somewhere.

It is a little foam element no more than a 1inch diametre and 1/8 inch thick.

I am just wondering if oiling it will not let it breath adequately?

I think mine must have fallen off :thumbup: I'll have a check tonight!

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Yes clean and very lightly oil the wee filter, I do mine everytime I do the main filter

Yes i would change the coolant purely if anything to make sure the mix is right and lets face it a flush through wont do any harm will it?

Apico guage gets my vote too, any trails shop should stock low pressure guages though

Spokes are easy done with the wheel in, take care though there are two different lengths of spokes, sometimes you need to remove the spoke next to the broken one first so you can get the broken one out.

You didnt mention changing the gear oil either, i would do that also as well as stripping and cleaning the carb.

The owners manual is pretty comprehensive and should give instruction on all these jobs except maybe the spoke changing

Thanks again for the replies.

Yes the gear oil is next on my list and it seems quite an easy task to do.

The carb clean is a bit more involved and seems time consuming if you don't know what you are doing ( me )

I thought I would try to start her first and see how it runs as the carb.

Is the owners manual self explanatory for stripping and cleaning the carb?

Thanks again

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The only manual that seems to be readily available is for the 2002 which has a slightly different carb but will give you a rough idea.

Check out the diagram for the 98 carb HERE

A simple clean just involves undoing the bottom bolt and removing the lower half of the carb. Do this with the carb upright as on the bike and take note of which way round the floats sit in the float bowl as you lower the bottom half off.

With this off you can just spray carb cleaner or an airline through the various holes. I strongly recommend using eye protection at this point as the carb cleaner has a nasty habit of popping out of a hole you're not expecting it to!

For a proper clean you start unscrewing all the jets, the choke system and the fuel inlet (which has a little filter). Blow through everything with an aerosol carb cleaner or with an air line and reassemble. They are brass screws so don't over tighten them, just nip them up.

However there is a lot to be said for the old "if its not broken....." :thumbup:

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Hi, new to the forum and also Montesa's.

I have acquired recently my late brothers bike, a 98 Cota 315R.

He maintained it very well.

I have been holding off starting the bike for while now. It has sat for a year. Only recently have I thought to get it back to life so to speak.

Before I kick her over I wanted to do some basic maintenance items.

I have changed the spark plug (BR6ES) and have cleaned and lightly oiled the main air filter.

However that is where I have stopped as I have a few questions.

Question 1

Should I lightly oil the sub filter also ( after cleaning)?

What is the sub filter's purpose. I dont have it on my other vintage trials bikes ( TY and an RL)

Question 2

Would you recommend changing the coolant as the bike has sat for over a year ?

If so approx. what volume of collant would I need? I will go get some tomorrow.

Also to what level do I fill the coolant to? right up to top of the filler spout? (i.e. to the cap)

Question 3

I cant find a tire pressure guage that will read a pressure as low a 2psi. The lowest one I can find starts at 5 psi

How does one know when there is 2-4 lbs of pressure in the rear tire?

Question 4

The rear rim has a broken spoke and I do have a replacement spoke.

Can I change the spoke with out having to take the wheel and the rear sprocket off?

I do have the owners manual however the answers to my questions were not too evident .

And I did search this forum before asking.

Thanks for any feedback or additional maintenance suggestions and tips

Fred

Montreal, Canada.

....................dude,,,first thing I 'd do before firing it up, is take spark plug out,and put small amount of oil in the hole ....kick the piston over few times, so the rings aren't scraping on bare metal!!!...............expect a bit of oily smoke first few minutes,...............massso, victoria bc

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Rear spokes have left and right hand threads. The middle nipple has a groove machined in outer body. Make sure the groove is in the same location as adjoining spokes or you will try putting left hand thread into right hand hole!!

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Thanks for the heads up with the left and right spoke distinction.

I went to drop the transmission oil last night but soon realised that I would have a nice mess on my hands.

The skid( crash) plate is directly below the drain plug and would prevent aligning a drain pan below the drain hole.

Do you take the skid plate off before draining?

Thank you

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