I changed my oils for the first time today (dealer did the 1K) and all went well until I drained the motor oil. Dang stuff went all over the place - I must have had a qt on the floor. I use a lift but the container was hard to properly position. Any suggestions?

 

I catch it in a paint roller pan. Then I pour that into my oil container that I take to the auto parts store for recycling.

Mac

 

Ted
There's absolutely no clean way to change oil in these bikes, best way to do it is before you do your clean and shine detail, just change it then and wash the bike afterwards.

 

pilot1996 hit it on the head. Use a paint roller tray with the bike on the side stand. No fuss, no muss.

When it comes oil filter time, flatten the box the filter came in and slide it under the oil filter. When it drips oil, it will run along the box and into whatever you put there to catch it in.

BTW, I was able to fabricate a cheap oil filter removal tool by cutting out a section of the oil filter removal tool (the one that fits over the end, like a cap). This allows the CPS to clear it.

 

Thanks, everyone! I guess where I made my mistake was using the bike lift. None of my containers would fit well under the oil drain. Hopefully, I did drain all of the oil - not being on the side stand might have left some of the old oil in there. The bike is so low, I didn't think I could access the oil drain with it on the jiffy. Thanks again - I'll give that a try in another 5K.

 

I use a plastic 2 liter coke bottle with the bottom cut off when I change the filter. Slip the bottle aroung the filter, remove filter, and the oil runs into the bottle. No mess.

 

That's brilliant.

Mac

 

I use a 2 liter coke bottle like RH8234 except I cut the bottom out and also cut the top half of the bottle off about half way back towards the top. That way I can unscrew the filter and catch the oil at the same time. Never spilled a drop. Works great.

 

LOL, and a lot cheaper than my solution. I yanked the stock filter mount off and replaced it with one I got from NAPA that mounts the filter vertically.

 

JB,

I made one of those filter removers, and the second time I used it I had a pretty tight filter and it would spring and spin on the filter. I was 400 miles away from home in a parking lot, and had no way to get it off except the old screw driver through the filter trick. Now there's a mess. I now have one of the HD strap wrenches that uses a 3/8" drive extension and ratchet.

As far as pans go, I have a pan that will fit under the bike when I'm home. I go to a grocery store and get an alunimum roasting pan for .59 when I change on the road.

regards,

Bill