How hard can it be to do an oil change?

[taff1954]

K's are getting up on the old GPz, got an hour to spare Saturday afternoon, got oil, got a filter. Last oil change was done in the shop, but I've been changing oil in cars, bikes, all sorts for 30 odd years. Drop the lower fairing, unscrew the oil plug and filter housing, reverse the process, new oil. No sweat. Yeah right. Dropped the fairing. Bugger #1. Aftermarket 4 into 1 blocks access to plug and filter. OK, drop the exhaust, spare gaskets hanging on the wall. Bugger #2. Can't drop the exhaust without removing the oil cooler and radiator. Drain the cooling system, remove cooler, remove radiator, unbolt headers. Bugger#3. Snapped a stud. Find drill, bits, easy-outs, taps. At least I've got a spare set of studs from a donor engine I picked up last year. Bugger #4. No bit the right size. Into the cage, over to sons place, borrow his drill set (revenge at last!!)

Four and a half hours, 2 bruised knuckes, and a hell of a lot of foul language, after I put the bike on the stand, I hit the starter again.

On the plus side, I've got fresh oil, a new filter, new coolant, and the rattle in the fairing has gone - now I've found the 19mm socket that was bouncing around in front of the coolant reservoir.

Sod it, it can go to the shop next time.

[Taz]

Ah but next time you'll be able to do it quicker......

[taff1954]

Way quicker, 6 minute ride to the shop, 3 minute walk from there to a bar........ Pick it up the next day.

[Taz]

But surely you feel a sense of achievement? ;)

[CookMySock]

none of my bikes are that difficult. What a fucken mission...

Steve

[taff1954]

Might have been a mission, but worth it, the old beastie runs real well, and fits me, being the short-arse that I am.......

[YellowDog]

Great story.

I was chatting to a chap on the Tiger forum whom over tightened the sump plug and managed to crack/split the block.

He blames the torque wrench.

Ruined his weekend.

You got there in the end, plus resolved other mysteries.

Well done!

[Max Preload]

Way quicker, 6 minute ride to the shop, 3 minute walk from there to a bar........ Pick it up the next day.

If you're staying in a bar overnight, you need to call your sponsor & go to a meeting.

[quickbuck]

Great story.

I was chatting to a chap on the Tiger forum whom over tightened the sump plug and managed to crack/split the block.

He blames the torque wrench.

Ruined his weekend.


Hmmm,
poor workman always blames his tools..... (as I think you realise)
What was wrong with the torque wrench?

Was it a break-back that had been left wound up for months?
His Fault.

Was it a normal wrench that he set to the wrong torque?
His fault.

Did he forget to reset the pin?

Did he have it set to lefty loosy?
You get the idea....


Should of realised it was tight when he was yanking pretty hard on the wrench....

[Taz]

Never used a torque wrench for a sump plug.....

[AllanB]

Man what a pain!

I've seen quite a few aftermarket pipes designed like that - poor design IMO - you should easily be able to get to the sump plug.

I'd be inclined to get some pipe & a few bends and alter the bastard. It will probably cost the same as the 3 hours the shop will spend pissing around on your next oil change!

[Muppet]

Four and a half hours, 2 bruised knuckes, and a hell of a lot of foul language, after I put the bike on the stand, I hit the starter again.

Sod it, it can go to the shop next time.

Why I'm not a mechanic.

[cowpatz]

If it was mine it would be on Trade me before the next oil change.

[ducatilover]

Shit I have to reach all the way under the bike and put a spanner on the sump plug, fuck it's hard work...then I have to hold a funnel and bottle of oil to get it back in. Takes about 3 whole seconds from start to finish [then I do my fly up and do an oil change]

[Blackshear]

I got Grub to help me :love:

Fucking headers are an ass, especially for big hands.

[avgas]

Filter wrenches.....worth their weight in gold my main man.
I looked at this issue when i had the FZ1.......saved 3 hours hassle getting the pipes off and walked into bike store and got filter wrench for $20.

[YellowDog]

Hmmm,
poor workman always blames his tools..... (as I think you realise)
What was wrong with the torque wrench?

Was it a break-back that had been left wound up for months?
His Fault.

Was it a normal wrench that he set to the wrong torque?
His fault.

Did he forget to reset the pin?

Did he have it set to lefty loosy?
You get the idea....


Should of realised it was tight when he was yanking pretty hard on the wrench....
He was going on about callibration etc, but that wasn't the problem.

He set the torque wrench correctly however he failed to break the wound up tension before actually using it on the oil plug bolt.

Is this an easy mistake? I don't think so. If you are using a torque setting of less than max, you always want to first test it will do its job.

Amazingly the garage managed to get Triumph to do a warrantee replacement. I say 'amazingly' because all he was trying to do was to avoid paying for a $200ish first service. There were software updates on my first service that there was no way I could do myself so I felt it was well worth the money.

[The Pastor]

heh its like when i take my clutch side cover off and a small rod falls down into the sump.....

[the mouse]

Torque wrench ! What is wrong with tightening until it strips, then backing off half a turn?

My old girl ( OIF Trumph) has a remote filter mounted behind the rear wheel, so an oil change means a good clean and check of the drive chain and rear of bike. Catches anything sneaking loose, and always runs better with new oil, lubed chain. Easy 2 hour task worth doing self.

[xwhatsit]

That's one thing that seems frustrating about a lot of aftermarket full systems, especially for twins and multis. They either run in front of the sump plug or require the elimination of the centre stand... no thanks. What I like about my Cycleworks exhaust is that the New Zealander who designed it clearly took the time and thought to make an oil change feasible without dropping the pipes, and the centre-stand bracket is even tidier and better-designed than the OEM pipes. It seems the big-name brands overseas could learn a bit from that.