How To Change Your Motorcycle Oil and Filter

How To Change Your Motorcycle Oil and Filter

The oil change is the cornerstone of DIY maintenance it's an easy way to save yourself both time and money in this video from the MC garage I'll walk you through the process 

The oil and filter change is one of the most important pieces of maintenance there is and it's the single best way to protect your motorcycles engine but to change your oil you're going to need a few supplies if your bike doesn't have a center stand you're going to want to rear sand our front wheel chock 

You're also going to need a drain pan to collect the old oil some gloves and rags to keep things clean a funnel for pouring in the new oil if you don't have a beastly grip you're going to want to strap wrench to get the old filter off and of course you're going to want a land filter appropriate for your motorcycle 

That information can be found in your owner's manual the best time to change your oil is after the bike has been warmed up but you're going to want to give it 10 or 15 minutes to cool down so you're not working with scalding hot oil once you've got your bike up on a stand like this you're gonna want to take a rag and wipe down the engine around the oil filter and the drain plug once you have the area cleaned up go ahead and put your drain pan under the engine and then crack your drain plug loose 

All right now you can unscrew the drain plug by hand but position your arms that it's not in the way of the oil that's about to come pouring out of the engine if you don't drop this guy in the drain pan and you don't get oil all over your arm. 

You're doing a great job it's always a good idea to keep some rags handy in case you spill any oil and typically if I'm doing this in the driveway I'll put a big piece of cardboard down so I don't stain the ground once the oil is drained out of the engine it's time to remove the oil filter sometimes you can just grab that thing and spin it off but more likely than not you're going to need to fill up the wrench like this universal strap wrench from motion Pro.

Go ahead and pour whatever oil you can out of the filter then wipe it off and set it aside all right now it's time to install your new oil filter what you're going to want to do is take your rag and wipe the sealing surface for the oil filter clean then take your new filter and apply a little bit of oil to the sealing o-ring on the bottom so that spins on smoothly get your filter started by hand spin the filter on until you feel the o-ring touch the mating surface and then turn it another 1/2 to 3/4 of a turn no more than that 

You don't want to over tighten your oil filter you could risk damaging the seal also this particular filter it's a high flow it's got a nut on the end that's for removing the filter not tightening it if you're going to use that to tighten it make sure you use a torque wrench all right now that your oil filter is installed take your drain plug wipe it off and give the sealing washer a look your owner's manual will always recommend replacing the sealing washer but I'm not going to lie if this thing's not chewed up.

I usually just flip it over and reuse it so the easiest way to screw up an oil change besides forgetting to put oil back in the engine is to over tighten this guy the drain plug is steel the engine is aluminum if you over tighten the drain bolt with threads on the bolt we're going to win out over the threads in the engine so please don't go all Dwayne Johnson when you tighten this thing down use a torque wrench in the appropriate torque which is usually 14 to 16 foot-pounds.

If you've got a good idea what that feels like go ahead and use your box and wrench to Snug the bolt down okay now it's time to pour in that fresh golden oil make sure that you're using the correct quantity and grade as listed in your owners manual once you've added fresh oil go ahead and start the bike and let it idle for a few minutes then turn it off and check the oil level also check the filter and the drain plug for leaks. 

Finally you're going to want to recycle your used oil and filter you can usually take it to any auto parts store and they're gonna be happy to take that stuff off your hands alright so you might be wondering how often should you change your oil 

Here's my tape unless you're racing there is no reason to change your oil more frequently than what is recommended in your owner's manual doing so is just a waste of resources also if you're wondering about the difference between synthetic semi synthetic and mineral oil we're going to cover that so stay tuned.

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