FZ1 Oil Change

This is a simple service but also easy to mess up.  There is an excellent write-up on Pat's Motorcycle Page.

Tools Required

• 17mm socket
• oil filter socket
• oil funnel
• drain pan
• aluminum foil
• nitrile gloves

Supplies

• 3.1qt Yamalube 20-40 or equivalent*
• oil filter:  Emgo 10-22222, 10-22232, 10-22230, or equivalent
• crush washer, Yamaha part #214-11198-01
• rags
• cardboard

Procedure

This is easier to do with the bike on the center stand but it does not have to be.

Warm up engine for about 10 minutes.  Turn off, then loosen or remove oil filler cap.

Remove drain bolt on opposite side of motor with 17mm socket and allow oil to drain.

It is helpful to put the bike on its side stand to drain out the last bit of dirty oil from the oil pan.

Place aluminum foil on exhaust headers to prevent oil from contact with hot exhaust pipes.  Remove oil filter using oil filter socket.  Ensure oil filter gasket is attached to filter, not the motor.

Place a new crush washer on the drain plug, flat side toward motor.  Crush washer direction is important.

Bolt in the drain plug.  Manual says torque to 31 ft/lbs.  I just do finger tight + 1/8 - 1/4 turn.  This does not need to be tight, the crush washer will seal at low torque.  The risk of damaging threads is much greater and more difficult to repair than the risk of losing a little oil.  The plug will not fall out.

Put clean oil on the new filter gasket, then bolt on the filter.  Manual says 12 ft/lbs. but again finger tight + 1/4 turn is plenty.  Do not over tighten.

Chrome

Refill with 3.1 quarts of appropriate engine oil.  Do not overfill.  I mark the bottle so I know when to stop pouring.

After filling with the appropriate amount, run the engine for 5 minutes.  The manual says to let the engine cool for a few minutes and check the level with the bike on the center stand.  In practice I've found the oil level continues to rise in the glass for an hour or more and will read low if checked too soon.  Do not overfill, wait at least an hour before checking.

Oil at correct level

That's it!

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* Note:  Yamaha no longer sells Yamalube 20-40.  From browsing the FZ1 list my understanding is they now recommend Yamalube 20-50 or equivalent non-synthetic oil, however many FZ1 owners switch their bikes to full synthetic.

Bandit Oil Change

April 8, 2012

An oil change is a quick service that's done frequently so it might not seem worth documenting.  But, I've read enough BARF posts by newer riders who aren't sure how to check their oil, much less change it, that I think it's worth a short writeup.  Plus, if done incorrectly it's possible to do major engine damage by over-filling, under-filling, or stripping threads.  My Bandit has a heli-coil in its oil pan, so I know from first-hand experience that it's possible to immobilize a bike by performing this service incorrectly.

Time required is 30 minutes to an hour.

Required supplies:

• 21mm socket
• Oil filter socket
• Drain pan
• Oil
• Filter - Emgo 10-55660 or equivalent for the Bandit
• Crush washer
• Nitrile gloves
• Cardboard
• Foil
• Trucker hat

I use Motul 3000 10w-40 non-synthetic in the Bandit, and a Cat Diesel Power hat.   I've tried many combinations of oil and hats.  Motul 3000 and Cat seem to work the best.

 

Warm up the bike for about 10 minutes and put it on the center stand.  Place cardboard under the bike, and put the drain pan under the drain plug.  Loosen the oil filler cap on the right side of the bike.



Set the ratchet to loosen by flipping the switch to the right.



Remove the drain plug.  Loosen by turning the ratchet toward the front of the bike.  The drain plug is upside down on the Bandit so it can be momentarily confusing figuring out which way to turn it.  Trust me, you do not want to turn it the wrong direction.



Let the oil drain.  It will never stop dripping so don't wait, 10 - 20 minutes is enough time.  Then put a new crush washer on the drain plug. Note, crush washers are directional. The larger flat side should go toward the drain pan, small side facing the plug.  The bike may leak oil if the crush washer is upside down.



Put the drain plug back in.  The torque spec is 17 ft. lbs.  You can use the spec if you want to, but having stripped the threads in my oil drain I believe 17 ft. lbs. is too tight.  Finger-tight plus a quarter-turn is enough.

Next, place the foil underneath the oil filter on the exhaust headers and remove the oil filter with the filter socket. A fair amount of oil may come out.



Make sure the filter gasket comes off with the old filter.




Apply clean oil to the new filter gasket, then fill the new filter about half full with clean oil. I don't remember what the oil filter torque spec is on the Bandit, but finger tight plus a half turn is plenty.



Next, fill the bike with new oil.  The Bandit takes 3.7 quarts, almost a full gallon.  Do not overfill.

 

Run the bike for about 5 minutes and check for leaks.  Then shut it off and wait for a few minutes.  The oil level should be just below the full line in the sight glass.



If the level is too low, fill gradually until the oil level is just below the full line.  If it is too full you will have to drain some oil out.  There isn't a clean way to do this that I know of.  The method I've used in the past is to get a second clean drain pan and drain all the oil out, then put most of it back in.  It's hard to drain just a little without the drain plug falling out.  Recycle the used oil and filter at a recycling center or used oil pick-up location.

Shell Rotella now JASO-MA Certified

The choice of what engine oil to use is one of those religious wars among motorcyclists. For the majority of bikes that never see more than 15k miles it probably doesn't matter. For those of us trying to get 100k or more out of our engines, it might matter a bit. To summarize, "JASO" is the Japanese Automotive Standards Organization, and "MA" is a motorcycle-specific rating. Motorcycle-specific oils are typically JASO-MA rated.

I've encountered basically two opposing viewpoints in motorcycle forums: 1.) motorcycle specific oils are formulated specifically for the high demand that performance engines place on components. To use anything else risks engine damage; 2.) oil rated for motorcycles is formulated the same as other engine oil but it costs more.

I haven't found a lot of evidence to support either claim. If you can find someone with that many miles on his or her motorbike, ask them about their oil and oil change habits. I'd be curious. I know only one person with more than 100k on an SV650. She uses Motul synthetic blend.

After a lot of googling and reading forums I visited Mark Lawrence's web site where he goes into some detail about oil refining and why he uses universal "C" rated oils in his bikes. So I decided to try C-rated oils. These are generally intended for diesel engines, although searching forums will reveal that some people are using C-rated oils in motorcycles. I run non-synthetic oil in the Bandit due to reports of Bandits having clutch slippage issues with synthetics. So I tried non-synthetic Shell Rotella 15w-40, then switched to Chevron Delo 400 15w-40. I noticed a slight performance improvement with the Chevron oil so that's what I've been using for the last 50k miles or so. So far none of the bikes in which I've used C-rated oils have blown up or had clutch problems, but it's always been a concern that big rigs and motorbikes don't share much in common. It's occurred to me that maybe diesel-rated oil might not be the best thing for motorbikes, and that trusting opinions on Internet forums might not be wise. But, since there is almost no long-term wear data on motorcycles I continued my experiment.

So the last time I was at Kragen they were having a sale on Shell Rotella. This was no longer my brand but I happened to pick up a gallon and noted that it is now JASO-MA rated.



While this doesn't definitively prove that C-rated oils are safe for motorcycle engines, it's some reassurance that using them in motorbikes might be OK. Who knows, maybe even better for engine life than regular oil, which is what some people claim. For the time being I've switched from Chevron back to Rotella--I feel that by going to the effort to have their oil certified for motorcycles Shell is paying attention to a small minority of their customer base. That's a good sign. I still wouldn't use their gas though.

Meanwhile the experiment continues, 60k miles and counting.

Further reading:
* Rotella forum: Rotella for motorcycles
* Shell Rotella home page
* Shell FAQ: Can diesel oil be used in motorcycles?
* Mark Lawrence's web site
* Bob is the Oil Guy Motorcycle Forum