my oil change debacle

when i got my bike about 4 weeks ago first thing i did besides tires was get the oil changed, $100 at the honda centre for honda GN4 oil. i've put enough k's on that i was ready to do it again and figured i might as well do it myself and seeing as i've been busy just went back to honda for the oil and a filter as they're 5min from my place. it's too bad that mspeed had to move to commercial, it was really nice having them close by as well.

when i went to honda i had an interesting discussion about the merits of oil with the parts guy there and ended up just getting the honda GN4 oil again. out the door it was $70 and i thought shit at that price i may as well spend the extra $30 and just get them to do it. maybe next time but with work the way it is at least i can doi it whenever i want at home.

anyway, did the change no problem, but accidently added a bit too much oil - that's when things went sideways. i thought i'll just unscrew the drain plug a bit and let a little bit of oil seep out. as i'm doing this i'm thinking this would be a lot easier with the fairings off but i just put them back on and don't want to take them off again.

as i'm unscrewing the plug the warning bells are going off in the back of my head that if i drop the plug oil's gonna be everywhere. but i think no problem, i'll just plug the hole with my finger and then screw the plu back in, no biggie right? well with no having the fairings off the bike that made it a little more difficult, so of course we all know what happens next.

FAWK!

so now i have what looks to be a huge pool of oil under my bike and i'm thinking i'm not gonna have enough oil left to go out for a ride. i had about a 1/2L of oil left and it looked like there was at least a litre on the ground. after getting things cleaned up with a lot of cursing and putting the rest of the oil in i was just about to the full mark so it was okay.

lesson for the day. check the oil level before the fairings go back on just in case.

one tip i did pick up though was that before you put your filter back on fill it up with oil a couple of time so the filter material is presoaked and the filter is full of oil. that way your engine goes without oil for a little less longer on startup after you changed things out.

There IS an easier way. You can siphon the extra oil out of the filler side very easy.

Just like stealing gas. Just put a small hose down the hole as deep as you can and get your best girl to give the other end a bit of a suck, then put the hose as low as you can and into a catch container and let it drain till its at the level you like.

Much less mess and you recover the oil for future use.

I have lots of extra fuel hose around here just for things like this.

hmm, good idea but i donut think it would work on my bike as there's not enough room to get a hose all the way down to the oil.

Quote:

Originally Posted by syncro

hmm, good idea but i donut think it would work on my bike as there's not enough room to get a hose all the way down to the oil.

take three fat (7-11) type drinking straws, shove the end of one down into the next one about a half inch or so (you have to squeeze/crimp them in) ... and you'll have a handy/dandy tool for sucking/siphoning oil out of the tiniest orifice. It just might take a few repetitions (small volume capacity) and time to get the job done, but it works like a charm

FYI, even when it it looks like you overfilled the bike, start it up and let it run for a few minutes. Just after an oil change the filter will be empty, and running the bike will let some oil get in there. Check the level after and you may be in the clear .

Quote:

Originally Posted by kerunt

FYI, even when it it looks like you overfilled the bike, start it up and let it run for a few minutes. Just after an oil change the filter will be empty, and running the bike will let some oil get in there. Check the level after and you may be in the clear .

Quote:

Originally Posted by syncro

....

one tip i did pick up though was that before you put your filter back on fill it up with oil a couple of time so the filter material is presoaked and the filter is full of oil. that way your engine goes without oil for a little less longer on startup after you changed things out.

i noticed it being a bit low after i'd let the bike run for a few minutes. i probably could have just left it as it was just slightly over teh max line.

The fairings have to come off for an oil change? Damn

I wrote down what I needed and use 0.1l less after, run it, wait, then add. Last change sucked though... used 4 litres instead of 4 quarts and didn't notice the difference until it was over-full and same thing, dropped the bolt, lost lots of oil, had to get more (off the shelf )

Quote:

Originally Posted by schmii

The fairings have to come off for an oil change? Damn

I wrote down what I needed and use 0.1l less after, run it, wait, then add.

yeah it kinda sucks. on the RC the drain plug is on the side of the oil pan, not the bottom.