Are the maintenance intervals excessive?

[TroutBum]

When I bought my '12 Like 200i the dealer said to bring it in for its first service at 600 miles. I did and they said see you at 3000 miles for the next service. The Kymco Owner's Manual shows the first service at 200 miles with the second service at 600 miles and every 1200 miles thereafter. It's that excessive? The manual says to replace the engine oil at each service interval and clean the oil strainer ever other time. It also says to replace the hub oil about every 2400 miles. About the only thing that seems reasonable is the cleaning of the oil strainer intervals about every 2400 miles. Do any of you follow the recommended service intervals shown in the owners manual?

[Vivo]

I never follow the manual... manuals are for those who just need a standard reference... My maintenance schedule depends on my driving/riding conditions and oil condition.  For example, I change my oil (regardless of oil age) every before a tour or a long trip...  If I spend some time on the race tracks, I change oil earlier than when I just use the scoot for short trips...  Also, I can actually inspect the oil to see if it really needs changing...  I don't care much if oil is mineral or synthetic or brand x or brand y, the most important thing is that my oil is always fresh... engine life depends on it.

[rp]

The number-1 thing you can do for your scooter is "change the oil".  Considering the RPM's the engine turns (compared to a car) 3000 miles is a lot of revs.  These little engines work hard to get us around.  Changing the oil every 1200-1500 miles seems reasonable to me and 1200 is what you said the manual recomended.
Changing your oil a little sooner won't hurt the engine, not doing it soon enough will.

The owners manual on the 300dt says 3000 after breakin.  I'll be doing 1500.

Hope it helped..       RP

[ts1]

5000km or 3000miles is the recommended interval for Kymco Germany too - imho quite short.
6000km/4000miles in Switzerland.
Competitors have like Piaggio or Honda have 10000km intervals for many models!

[MotoRandy123]

A scooter that only holds 1 quart or less needs it's oil changed frequently.
My Yager 200i's manual says 1200 miles for oil changes!

I only ride 1000 miles per year so I'll change it once a year probably.

That's something to consider if you are going to use one for commuter duties.

 Most motocycles use 3 quarts of oil and go 4000 - 5000 miles between changes.

[klaviator]

My Super 8 has an oil change interval of 1200 miles.  My Aprilia Sport City 250 has a 6,000 mile interval.  The difference is that the Aprilia specifies synthetic oil and has an oil filter.  Although I use synthetic in my Super 8, with no oil filter the oil will get dirty and need replacement even if the oil itself is still good so I change it every 1200 miles.   As for cleaning the strainer, I have yet to find anything in it and I have over 10,000 miles on my Super 8.  I did install magnetic drain plugs.  I did find a little fuzz on the engine drain plug the first few oil changes but it's been pretty clean since then. 

The intervals for changing the final drive oil are probably excessive.

My super 8 didn't require a valve adjustment until 2500 miles.  The newer ones require the first one much sooner.  I'm not sure why that is.  I have now done 5 valve clearance checks.  They required adjustment 3 out of those 5 times so that interval is probably about right.  On some of my other bikes I have found that the valves stay in spec much longer that the interval specified so I don't check them as often as the manual specifies.  The results for your scooter may vary. 

BTW, my Super 8 runs better now than when it had low miles on it. 

[MassScoot]

Klaviator is dead-on. You can switch out your gear oil with synthetic right away if you like. I changed mine out on my Super 8 150cc & GTI300 @ 300 miles. As for you Like 200i...my bet is you don't have an oil filter with that 163cc engine (even though it's FI) So...every 1200 miles or so is fine. Please don't use synthetic "engine" oil until after the engine is broken in (@ least 600 miles) I waited until a tad over 1000 miles to use synthetic myself @ least on my GTI300. My Super 8 only has only 700 miles on her so far. 

[TroutBum]

Since the consensus here was to do the oil change, I replaced both the engine and tranny oil. I was amazed to see how dirty the engine oil had become in just 1200 miles. The scooter received synthectic oil at its 600 mile service. To keep the oil the same I bought the replacement at my dealer. Took all of a half-hour to drain and refill. A trick I learned is to use one of those plastic ketchup or mustard bottles found at dollar stores to refill the tranny oil. For future reference after filling the bottle with the required amount, I marked the bottle with a permanent marker for future reference thereby eliminating the extra step of measuring in a separate container then transfering the measured oil to the plastic bottle.

[kingkymco125]

I just purchased my Kymco Agility 125cc scooter back in December of 2012 and I go by the manual. I take it over to Vegas Motor Sports and they service my bike. They only use AMS synthetic oil products on the Kymcos. I just had my 3rd service done to it and she runs great. I know I could change the oil myself, but these guys know their stuff and I trust them.