DIY Oil change Tips for First Timers -

DIY Oil change Tips for First Timers

Published by chopper
10-27-2006

DIY Oil change Tips for First Timers

Oil level. (four stroke engines only) Checking your oil level is not a simple matter when in comes to motorcycles i.e. should the oil be hot or cold, is the oil level checked in the crankcase or in a separate reservoir (a dry sump), should the dipstick be fully screwed in or not, must the bike be on the side stand or simply 'level' and does the bike have a dipstick or a sight glass? All this adds up to reading the manufacturers handbook very carefully. An under filled crankcase can be disastrous while an overfilled one may flood you air cleaner with oil.

You should also know the difference between the 'low' level and the 'high' level and how much is TOO much

Here are some pointers regarding oil which are true for most motorcycles

The bike should be level as possible, except for some that are checked on the side stand.
The oil should not inspected cold and is therefore best done after warm up.
Do not allow foreign matter and dirt to fall into the sump during the inspection process
With threaded dipsticks do not screw the dipstick in when taking a reading
High temperatures, time, speed, heavy traffic, short trips and dust quickly destroy the quality of your oil
Change your oil every 3- 5 thousand miles or 6 months, whichever comes first except in dusty conditions.
Never use a pirate oil filter. An excellent quality pirate unit can still destroy your engine as its "Bypass Filter Rating" may be incorrect for your particular model causing the oil to circulate without the benefit of being filtered. Thus, use only the one from your manufacturer for best results and long life.
Motorcycles can use the same oil as cars although the motorcycle specific oils contain additives for better oil performance in them .Special synthetic motorcycle oils are available for sportbikes that are ridden hard. Note that synthetic oils are not recommended if your bike has a wet clutch (a clutch that runs inside the oil in your crankcase) In most instances a semi-synthetic oil graded as SAE 20 W-50 is usually fine, a lot of people have gone back to the HD primary oil for this, it's been tried and proven for many years.

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By LB on 11-10-2006

Mines just about due....thanks for the tips!!!

By Berserker on 11-04-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by chopper

The bike should be level as possible, except for some that are checked on the side stand.
The oil should not inspected cold and is therefore best done after warm up.
With threaded dipsticks do not screw the dipstick in when taking a reading
.

Alwasy important to read your manual
Can only speak for myself, but my TC are both checked on jiffy stand for oil.
Engine you screw cap in all the way. The 07s are threaded, this was HD cure for blowing caps off.
After the bike has been sitting just pull it out no need to wipe. Good to verify its ball park. God preride check, even if your biek doesn't use oil you can still develop a leak.

Pre 06 you checked the tranny level, 07 you check it on kick stand.

As for which oil to use, countless good oils out there. I do use HD, cause I travel alot, and don't like to mix oils, you can can get HD oil all over. But I doubt its any better.

Also good to have orings on hand thre same for tranny, engine, and 07 primary. My 01 started eating orings about 20-30k ago.

By phreak on 11-04-2007

I've heard on and off phor years about the tin phoil trick phor keeping oil phrom dripping all over when you pull the philter. I tried that phor the phirst time yesterday. Worked out pretty good. In the past I have used the 1 liter cut in half trick. That works ok to, but I'm actually liking the tin phoil one better now that I've tried it.

In case you don't know.....

Take a sheet of tin phoil. phold it over a couple times to make it a bit more sturdy. phold it long ways in a V and insert it underneath the oil philter before you begin to loosen it. Make sure you have it all the way under the backside of the philter. You can even make a little deep spot in the phoil nearer to the phront, and phold the very phront up to collect it all.

After you pull the philter, carefully remove the phoil, and phold it up.

By Berserker on 11-05-2007

Is this ph, some kind of gay lisp? Its kinda cute, maybe at first to you, but after that seems like a faggot lisp.

By Berserker on 11-05-2007

I asked once about faggot lisps, I am told it is a practiced thing. That they can talk normal when they want to , but do talk like a faggot on porpose. Not sure if thats true, but just what I was told.

Otherwise I just can't see someone taking the time to talk cutesy.

Last edited by Berserker; 11-05-2007 at 12:16 AM..

By MONTY on 11-05-2007

A few notes here:

Quote:

Originally Posted by chopper

The oil should not inspected cold and is therefore best done after warm up.
With threaded dipsticks do not screw the dipstick in when taking a reading.
Motorcycles can use the same oil as cars although the motorcycle specific oils contain additives for better oil performance in them.
Special synthetic motorcycle oils are available for sportbikes that are ridden hard. Note that synthetic oils are not recommended if your bike has a wet clutch (a clutch that runs inside the oil in your crankcase).

Check the manual as to whether to inspect cold or hot, some do say cold (i seem to remember BMW do for the old R twins, for e.g.).
Normall dipstick should rest in the hole without being pushed/screwed back in, but again there are exceptions so read the manual.
Oil choise is a total minefield - true, some oils sold as being specifically for motorcycles are indeed better for one reason or another, but equally there are others which are no better than (and sometimes identical to) "car oils", but just get marketed at a higehr price to gouge bikers who aren't aware ... Unless you know what's what go with whatever the manual recomends. Some sythetic oils are fine with wet clutches (I run Red-Line syn in my XL's tranny - which includes the primary case and clutch - and it works just fine), but some are no good it's true, so check the manual and/or the syn oil manufacturer's advice.

On a dry-sump engine, it's best to purge the system to get rid of the residue of old oil left in the engine and oil lines as well as draining the bulk of the old oil in the tank (otherwise, this residue will contaminate and degrade your nice fresh oil as soon as you start the motor and circulation gets going). To do this, take off the return line after you've filled the oil tank, and re-route it to a catch pan, then start the motor and let it run until clean oil comes out of the return line. Shut down, re-connect the return line to the tank, top up the oil lost (shouldn't be much) and you're good to go.

By Berserker on 11-05-2007

It sure doesn't hirt to purge out the old oil. But if you change yiour oil regularly, I don't know if it really maters. I don't think it can be done easily on TC bagger either.

Oil is one these big debted items, proabably cause almost any one can change there oil. IMO I doubt most people will ever tell the difference, one way or the other. Either the engine don't see enough miles to tell or even if they do, you rebuild at 100k as opposed 1??. So many variable who knows.

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