Oil Change

[ZeroIndex]

Get someone to look over your shoulder while you do the change. It doesn't matter that you know nothing about it at this stage - I assure you it's straight forward and simple enough.

There are one or two tricks to learn which is why an old hand watching over you is good. Before you start - if playig with oil ain't your chosen profession (i.e. you don;t already smell like a diesel mechanic) then a pair of disposable gloves will keep oil out of skin and nails.

Tips

1) Warm the engine before the change
2) Take the filler cap off before you drain the oil out - this'll allow air in at the same time as the oil goes out - not a big deal but the odd "glup" of oil on a concrete pad deson't add to the look.
3) When the oil plug comes out, let it drop into the container. It'll be hot, and so is the oil following it. Let it fall - it's easy enough to fish out later (an old spoon does the trick). Wipe it down - you'll be good to go.
4) A screwdriver nailed THROUGH the old oil filter makes a wonderful handle. This is where the old hand comes in. Get it right - it'll be a doddle... try to nail it through in a place where you can spin it right round... ideally (although rarely doable)
5) Expect the old filter to be tight... hit it left and rigfht, or on the end. Not too hard - but shock it a bit
6) When the filter comes off - you'll get a little more hot oil. See points 2 and 3 above. Let all the dripping finish before you start on the new filter. Not important... but I figure I want as much crud out as I can get.
7) Smear some new oil onto the o-ring sealing the new filter, then screw it on, hand tight is fine - but make it "best effort" - i.e. as tight as you can with your hand
8) replace the drain bung. Do it up, and double check you did it up.
9) Fill 'er up. Put in the amount required... less a bit. It's easier to put more in than get a bit out... top it up to the full mark
10) Start the motor and go for a wee toodle... come home, let her sit for a min or two - then recheck the oil level. That new filter will have taken some out of the sump. Probably not a lot, but again - while you're on the job... might as well do it right.

Last - triple check you did up that drain bung, and give the oil filter another go. Oil coming out has a number of serious consequences associated with it.

I think that's it. Take it step by step and you'll be fine. First time with someone watching over you, and after that it'll be one more thing to add to your "to do" list... and something you can pass on to your mates, kids... or whoever. It's generally worth a 6 pack if you use it for trade

Re the oil question - 15/40 should do the job. Go for "good but not best" oil. Likewise with the filter.

Buy 3, 4 litre oil containers
1 is for the new oil - buy it 4 litres at a time (having a 4l container dedicated to this makes it easy to measure "4 litres"
1 is for the waste oil coming out of the bike
1 is for the "new oil... "imbalance". When you fill the bike with oil you'll use 2 litres, or 3 litres, and ALWAYS have this odd amount left. Keep it, and on the NEXT oil change use it up then top it off with the new oil in the other new oil container.

Hope this helps. Comments welcome (in case I missed anything?)

Thanks for the time invested in writing this. Have some green

[ManDownUnder]

Thanks for the time invested in writing this. Have some green

Seriously - no worries. Others have helped me... it's payback time.

[hunt]

[There are one or two tricks to learn which is why an old hand watching over you is good. Before you start - if playig with oil ain't your chosen profession (i.e. you don;t already smell like a diesel mechanic)


do diesel mechanic's smell? i havn't noticed

[ManDownUnder]

[There are one or two tricks to learn which is why an old hand watching over you is good. Before you start - if playig with oil ain't your chosen profession (i.e. you don;t already smell like a diesel mechanic)


do diesel mechanic's smell? i havn't noticed

Please don't make me answer that...

[duckaddict]

Good stuff ManDownunder

[Motu]

[


do diesel mechanic's smell? i havn't noticed

Hands permantly black,the diesel soot goes right into the skin and can't be washed out,it had to wear out as the skin defoliats.Even though I have a bath or shower every night,when I was working hands on a bit more than I do now,my pajamas,sheets and pillow slips get oily from my sweat....but it keeps the mossies away.My kids used to say I smelled like kerosine.

[Drum]

Thats a great post MDU! Wish I had read it before I tried to catch the sump plug!

Another good idea is to get a spare o ring from the bike shop before taking your only means of transport to pieces!

[hunt]

Hands permantly black,the diesel soot goes right into the skin and can't be washed out,it had to wear out as the skin defoliats.Even though I have a bath or shower every night,when I was working hands on a bit more than I do now,my pajamas,sheets and pillow slips get oily from my sweat....but it keeps the mossies away.My kids used to say I smelled like kerosine.

even worse, when you doing burnt out clutches,or old track drive oils,

and not only mossies but the missus as well,

[Motu]

I never worked on tracked vehicles,odd,because my father did - as a kid I knew all the bulldozer models like other kids knew cars.I did a lot of tractor work...I could fill our workshop with a tractor repair,so had to do them out side - I'd have so many pieces lying around it'd look like a bomb blew it apart.

[hunt]

I never worked on tracked vehicles,odd,because my father did - as a kid I knew all the bulldozer models like other kids knew cars.I did a lot of tractor work...I could fill our workshop with a tractor repair,so had to do them out side - I'd have so many pieces lying around it'd look like a bomb blew it apart.

thats the thing about diesel mechanicking, such a broad spectrum of vehicle types to work on, i started late 1985 and since then maybe i've worked on possibly 3 tractors that i can remember,me more road transport, and last few years a bit of earthmoving, i know what your saying about the exploded
veiw,this might be off the original topic now which was oil changes and smelly griesel mechanics,

but workshop manuals especially haynes types are good for do it yourselfers