Intake O-Rings Scheduled Maintenance

[cowboyup3371]

One of the standard maintenance items for our bikes when a person first buys one is to replace the O-Rings behind the intake boots. However, even after reading through the service manual, I'm not finding the standard maintenance schedule for them. For those who have had your bikes for quite some time, how often do you change them out?

[mikerophone]

I'm curious on this too. I replace mine when I first get a bike and do the propane or carb cleaner spray around them after a couple of seasons or when cleaning/tuning a bike that hasn't been ridden for a while but haven't had to replace a set I've already done yet.

I'm thinking it's one of those things if you use a good quality viton o-rings and don't under or over torque them, they should be good for a decade easily. But I'd like to hear other's opinions on it.

[Steve]

Several years ago, I had the need to remove the head from my wife's bike to extract some broken exhaust studs. In the process, I checked the o-rings that had been in there for six years. They still looked quite new, still stood proud of the mating surface.

I figured "what the heck, as long as I'm in here, let's check the carbs, too." I took the carbs apart to do a full o-ring refreshment there, too, but they all still looked good, too.

I'm with mikerophone, I would guess they are good for at least 10 years or so.

.

[Brendan W]

I've just replaced mine after two years of ownership. The old ones were flat in the grooves. They looked like they shouldn't have been able to seal but I had no issues that I could tell. Talk again in ten.
I know the bike had been in regular use before I got it. Maybe a long lay up is not good.

[Dogma]

I replaced the o-rings on my 1000G before it entered service in 2010. I'm starting to get some slight hanging idle behavior, so it's time to have a look at it. I don't see any need to get in there before symptoms occur, or on a schedule. Different users probably get wildly different life from them.

[bwringer]

I've had the same set of boots on my 850 for about 17 years and 100,000+ miles of use and abuse. I've replaced the intake boot o-rings several times -- never because I had to, just because I was in the neighborhood. They've never seemed to be leaking and have never gotten stiff. (I bought a bag of 50 Viton o-rings a while back, so I have plenty "in stock".) It's been a long time (five years or so) since I've had the carbs off or replaced these o-rings, and I haven't had any issues.

The o-rings inside the carbs have been in there for about eight years. I replaced them one winter (after originally replacing them way back when), but it wasn't necessary... yeah, I was bored...

If the bike is ridden regularly, I'd say you can count on ten to fifteen years from the intake boot and carb o-rings, easily.

As far as the intake boots, mine are still pliable and holding together fine, but I'll probably order up a set sometime in the next year or two. My bike was only about 15 years old when I had to replace the badly leaking original o-rings and boots, so these also seem to have a lifetime in the 15-20 year range. This also depends on mileage and heat cycling, of course.