Oil Change - Man did I SCREW UP.

OK.... First let me say that I laid my bike down on a cloverleaf on 6-8-09. Long story short, mirror check told me plenty of room, coming into the cloverleaf and starting to slow down, another mirror check, the truck that was way behind me was suddenly riding my tire, no room to slow down and a patch of sand in the curve. I knew I was going for a wild ride and sure enough, back tire hit the sand and bye bye.

OK, picked the bike up, had some help pulling the front tire back from the ditch, lots of gas leaking from the gas cap, no big deal. It did not appear that there were any other leaks that I could tell.

I knew buying the bike a couple months ago it needed an oil change, so, with the accident and all I decided that this would be a good time. Bought the oil filter, checked with a friend on instructions. He looked the bike over and told me to take off the oil filter cover and that doubled as the drain plug. (Whoops, mistake #1, I got barely a quart out and he said it must've been really low for some reason.) Ok, fine. Mistake #2 he tells me all motorcycles bigger than about 650 take 4 quarts. Ugh.. So now, MOST of the old oil is in there with 4 quarts of new oil (10w-40 at his recommendation.)

I take the bike out, runs fine, park in the garage, ran some errands that night in the cage and next morning I come out to find pr'ly 2+ quarts on the floor under the back side of the bike!

OK... Take off the oil filter housing again, drains less than a quart yet again. How the heck?! I know there wasn't that much on the ground!

Finally found (with the help here) the ACTUAL drain plug and pulled that. No clue yet how much oil I got yet, but.... It's a lot. It started as almost a jet! So, now, I'm going to put in about 2.5 quarts of 20w50 based on what I've seen here.

My biggest question is.... Have I fubar'd my ride?

I missed taking it on the Patriot Ride on Saturday because of the leak, taking the little Kawasaki 454 instead (missed having my tunes on that ride) but... I really don't wanna give up on this bike, but I think I'm too much of a novice to handle it if I've blown seals due to my stupidity.

 

No, but you've definitely fubarred (sp?) your air filter. Overfill goes out the breather, through the airbox before it goes on the floor.

The first time I changed the oil on my '83 (right after taking possession) I got exactly a gallon out of it. Maybe the PO knows your buddy.

The oil capacity is that little number cast into the clutch cover right above the filler. You can add an extra 200CC or so to keep the oil level light from coming on during hard acceleration.

When you're done, the oil should be slightly above the upper mark next to the sight glass, but with a "bubble" showing at the top.

 

Wow first I wouldn't take any more advice from your friend

What bike are you talking about - handy to add it to your signature.

The oil most likely filled your air box and drained out. Open your airbox and clean it out - you probably need to replace your air filter.. Chances are you didn't do any real damage but you really won't know until you get her running again.

Fill the oil to the top of the site window, don't go on a measured amount. you should be able to put a couple of quarts or so in and see the window get mostly full. run the bike for a few seconds then wait about 10 minutes for the oil to settle and top off to just short of top of the window.

Should be fine for oil level tehn

 

OK, hoping the sig attaches here. OK, I'll pull the air filter and pray. lol

 

Like Fitz said...

Please note that the capacity is listed in cubic centimeters, not quarts. As an example, 2500cm3 = 2.5 Liters.

 

ok, I'm working on getting to the air filter now.... Hopefully I'll be able to get this bike back on the road tonight.

 

OK, got the air filter out, wasn't as big of a deal as some had lead me to believe, though my specific model might be easier than some others like the SECA.

I think the Air filter had more gas in it than oil and there really wasn't alot of anything in the actual air filter compartment. A little sludge at the bottom, but not too bad.

I didn't really ride this bike far after the bad oil change though, a couple miles, 5 tops, so I think it went out the overflow and straight to the ground while the bike was parked. I'm guessing that it was nearly a gallon that came out the drain plug and pr'ly a quart or two on the floor.

Fingers are crossed that there is no real damage.

 

In case no one noticed, ya gotta love the metric system sometimes -- 1cm³ = 1ml
Thus the 2500cm³ = 2500ml = 2.5L
Add a little for the filter change too. I usually just put in 3L when I do a full change.

Glad to hear it's going so well - keep us updated

 

I'd expect the only damage would be to the outside of the bike, anything you can see. other than that, just pride. This is no different than laying the bike on the side to pull an engine. When you start it up again, it may be a bit difficult cuz of oil that ran into the carbs, etc... and when you do get it going, it's probably gonna smoke like a son-of-a-gun until it all burns out

Keep us posted,

Dave Fox

 

I did the exact same thing (except for laying the bike down). My airbox was pretty full (I guess because I noticed the trail of oil behind me on my test ride and looked there first).

Anyway, that was last year and I haven't had a problem. And my paper air filter was obviously toast but I still rode it for a month and a half waiting for a stupid replacement that never came. Sometimes it sucks living up here