Hero Maestro: 6300 Kms Ownership Review


Thread Starter #61
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It's almost been a year since I updated this thread.
Anyways the scooter is doing fine and has roughly completed about 23500kms. The usage has dropped significantly since I'm in college and it is mainly used by my younger brother who uses it for going to school and coaching.

I have changed the oil from Hero Genuine 4T to Motul Technosynthese 10w30 JASO MA and then to HP MAK LUBRICANTS 10W30 JASO MB. I'm also going to try Castrol Scooter oil and Honda's Engine Oil.
My review of Motul Technosynthese-
The oil was only used for 1000kms. So this review is based on how the scooter behaved during this period. The day oil went in I noticed the engine wasn't as smooth as it should have been. Came back home and realised the oil level was much higher than max level. Immediately drained the excess oil and the performance was back to normal. But one thing that I noticed was the excess oil had already turned black(just after 50kms of usage). So I was confused whether it was a fake oil or it was cleaning the engine. Decided to use it and only later I founded the magic of motul. The engine was super smooth even at 60kmph which was never seen before. Cold starts were not a problem anymore. Performance was good and had increased a bit. Though I was not able to check the high speed performance I found that it was great for city use. Engine heat was also well controlled. Overall I founded the oil to be impressive and would definitely recommend to anyone who wants to keep their engine last longing.
Link- http://amzn.to/2IAKFSa

HP MAK LUBRICANTS SCOOTER OIL- Did a little bit of research and found out that this oil is good and is also less expensive than the motul one. Decided to try one. Got one for myself and got the oil in. The oil is still new thus cannot comment on it but what I felt that the oil is good for it's price. Even this oil was overfilled and after draining the excess out I found even this one had turned black(after 80kms of use). The performance is satisfactory and will update the thread as soon as I get my hands again on my ride.

Also I have changed my Air filter and spark plugs at 21805kms and the rear tyre at 22680. The rear tyre is MRF NYLOGRIP ZAPPER N4 90/100. Cost was 1250 for the tubless one. Was thinking to put Michelin City Pro 90/100 but thought that being a soft compound tyre it might not last long.

Also replaced the battery and the Voltage Rectifier and the light diminishing problem resolved.
 
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hello,
it's good to hear that your scooter is operating flawlessly , can i share you some information about the lubricants as you have discussed above.
my self i do own one hero duet 110vx and it's been 1 year and average is close to 3030km and till know have been using hero service center engine oils, but for past 5 months i've been using mak 4t scootech nxt engine oil of 800ml pack, and what a performance is just outstanding, the following are the points-
1. the excess heating issue of engine is way way below then the service center oils they use
2. engine smoothness is just many levels above and vibrations is almost nil which i've been experiencing in previous months
3. the efficiency is gone up two by 3-4 digits.
4. at the cold season it just needed one shot and comes to life.
from the above observations and close cousin has given me advise o go for veedol takeoff 4s which is absolutely gem and told me to gave a shot, ican't wait to try soon, more imporatnt the packing of veedol oil available both in metal can and plastic 800ml pack.
hero scooters are great and average i use to get on own city if 48-49.5kmpl while in open road it goes above 55-56kmpl.
please gave a try to veedol and mak lubricants , they are absolutely monster.
 
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The Service centre ,where you are handing over the vehicle is i think poor in knowledge,as i thought during normal service itself they might have checked with Alternator,and thus i also didn't update up.
And just noticed now that you suffered 2 bulb fuses,which itself points out again to a fuse or alternator -[frustration]
 
Thread Starter #64
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Long time. Sorry for not updating the thread for such a long time. Completed about 31000kms. 5 years of not so hassle free ownership has completed. Anyways the scooter as of today is performing well. Recently changed it's oil myself to Castrol 10w30 Jaso MB for gearless scooters. Not really satisfied with this one. Motul was the best one I had tried. I'm using this since there's some sort of oil leakage which till date is unidentified. I think there's some oil seal which has gone bad. Since there was no oil deposits found on the spark plug, I highly doubt if the oil is actually entering the combustion chamber. Head cover gasket has been changed,still no relief from oil leakage problem.
The throw from the Phoenix HS1 35/35W bulb seems insufficient and I'm thinking to upgrade to Philips 40/40w HS1 bulbs. Also I changed the horn setup to a dual horn setup but reverted back to single horn setup after the dual setup stopped working.
The drive belt was changed under my request and it was one of the best rewarding investment that I had made on this machine since I've bought it. It has been almost 6000kms since the belt has been replaced and the performance is still the same. No juddering, no vibrations and nice pick up. The old belt did have a lot of cracks. The manual recommends to change the belt every 24000kms and mine was changed at 25000kms. So guys one thing I would recommend you guys to get changed is your belt and if possible then roller weights. Though a bit on the expensive side these investments are the best one ever made.
The clutch is same stock unit. The pilot lamp again went kaput and going to get a new one soon.
Also pictures will be posted soon.
 
Thread Starter #66
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So, I've moved to Mysore and my scooter remains at my home. The odometer reading as of now stands at about 35000kms and there have been some significant changes that I've done on the ride. The headlight bulb was replaced from Stock Phoneix 35/35W to 45W Osram Rallye 45/40w. There wasn't any significant improvement that I can brag about but it is better than that crap phoneix bulb. Also the electrical issues are something that I've learned to live with since that is a issue that is present on every scooter from Honda as well as Hero. The oil consumption problem which was present for 5 years is now gone. Thanks to me I decided to have a thorough look at the engine and to my surprise I'd noticed too much of oil on the underbelly. Drained the old oil, poured in new one,tightened the drain bolt and applied some sillicon sealent. The oil consumption became less although some oil was still being consumed. So I found that the valve cover gasket was leaking and also the O-Rings around the valve cover screws. Applied the same to the faulty areas and the oil consumption almost dropped to zero. This came as a real relief to me as every mechanic that I took my ride to,suggested me to have a engine overhaul. I knew my engine wasn't bad since the plugs always came out clean and dry and also there was no smoke from the exhaust. Even the guys at Hero ASS quoted me for 8k for a full engine rebuild. And just a 30rupee investment saved me good 8K.
Now some points that I would like to add-

1. The Air Filter box had some oil deposits in it. I'm pretty confident that it could be due to the PCV System and some overfilled oil. Cleaned it off. Let's see if it occurs again.
2. The Air Filter has been replaced just after 6000kms as it was rendered useless. There was oil deposits on it and also way too much of dust.
3. The fuel cock in the scooter has failed. Came to know when I was trying to take out my carburetor for cleaning. The fuel feed line won't stop at all. Due to this very reason I decided to abort my cleaning of carburetor. I'll be replacing my fuel cock and then clean my carburetor.
4. Scooter has almost covered 10,000kms after the belt has changed. And yes, the vibrations have returned now but they are very mild. I guess all it requires is a little cleanup job. Also I feel the clutch somehow reached the end of it's life as I do feel the clutch slipping at around 40kmph.
5. The secondary air filter now needs a replacement.
6. This time I'd used Motul 3100 10w30 and this oil instead of being JASO MA2 has performed pretty well. I'm going to go ahead and say that this this the most VFM oil in it's segment and will also recommend it for all gearlesss scooters.
7. The speedo gear and the cable had been replaced as they both were damaged. Since I was unable to find speedo gear set for Maestro, I'd used Activa's speedo gear since they both use 10inch front wheels, thus minimizing the speedo error.
8. Opened up the front pivot arm's and greased them up.
9. The front now around 40-60kmph starts wobbling. I've checked the bearings and they are fine. So I suspect it to be my tyre. Also the tyre is showing some uneven wear marks.
10. I,ve found that the accelerator cable is breaking from where it goes into the carburetor. I'll be replacing it when I'll get back to home.
11. The choke cable has been replaced as the previous one got stuck and eventually broken.
12. Replaced the rear brake shoes.
This summarizes most of the job that I,ve perofrmed on my scooter and the one's that are required in upcoming future. I'll be posting a detailed post of all these DIY's.

THANK YOU,
Abhishek.
 
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