Hopefully the first of a long flood of newbie questions, now that I can hear an engine turn on. ;D
So...how do I change the oil? I'm going to be ambitious and change the engine oil as well as the back-end shaft drive oil.
I have the general impression that I should just use crappy grade oil and run it for the summer, and then replace it with more expensive oil in the Fall. Does this sound ok? Not that I have the money for anything but crappy grade oil at this point anyway.
The weight on the back end is written on the shaft drive cover (or maybe the frame...don't remember, but it's back there somewhere). What weight should I use on the main engine oil?
I've got a filter somewhere...
The shaft drive looks easy enough...pour it out from the bottom nut, into drain pan, pour new oil in the top. Where do I change the main engine oil? I'm assuming there's a nut on the bottom of the engine I need to go hunt for tomorrow. Any nuts I should stay away from?
I'll post details of my first accident as soon as I can't contain myself any more and take her for a ride...I keep telling myself I *have* to wait for money to come in for insurance, tax, titling, etc.
Dave.
Dave -
The engine oil drain plug is on the lower left side of the engine. It is a fairly large bolt head - don't remember the size off-hand bit it's at least 14mm. Look near the side stand way down low & you can't miss it. I'd say to get the best oil you can afford. Motorcycle specific dino oil (non-synthetic) is not much more than crappy oil. With that, you don't have to worry about getting an oil containing friction modifiers which may make your clutch slip. Also, change the oil filter while you're at it.
Rear drive oil is as easy as you describe - except you need to reinstall the drain plug before you pour the 80w Hypoid gear oil into the drive unit. You can use 80w90 Hypoid as well. A quart of that stuff will get you through 2 or 3 drive oil changes.
Do you have a Haynes or factory workshop manual yet? Many of the questions you'll likely have from here on can be found in either of those books.
H2O
I run delo 400 from walmart, 5 qt's for like 9 bucks.
its diesel oil, 15w50
dchakrab,
If you don't have a haynes manual yet let me know and tomorrow I will scan in the relevant pages for changing the oil and then email them to you. Just let me know what the easiest version is for you to receive the pictures. JPG, TIFF, GIF etc.. Or if you know what program you use to see the pictures that would be just as well. Or I can fax you the pages if that is easier.
-Heather
Thanks, guys!
I actually should have both the Haynes and the Yamaha manuals on a Lucky CD. I didn't think they'd cover something as basic as an oil change, though, so I didn't think to look there. Will definitely do that soon. Thanks for the offer, hfarley...hopefully I'll find my CD, so I won't need it.
Dave.
No problem just pop me a line if you can't find the cd! Actually come to think of it I think I have one of those cd's or something else to do with the vision as well. Now you are going to make me go and look! LOL!
-Heather
Castrol GTX 20w50 or as close as you can get to it, year round. Get it at Wal-Mart. Or, use the Wal-Mart brand of the same weight. Your winter Vs. summer thinking is erroneous.
Oh, I wasn't thinking summer vs. winter, I was thinking about running a crappy oil for a few hundred miles and then changing it out to something better from then onwards, whatever the season. It just happens that that would mean riding on it for the rest of the summer.
I ended up going with Haunter's suggestion...found Delo 400 SAE 15w40. A gallon was something like $8 and tax.
Rear: Rotella Heavy Duty SAE 80w90, 1 qt.
Smallest funnel they had (probably still too big, might have to make a funnel out of rolled up paper) : 35 cents.
Tire Polish: Free sample :)
Cheap scratch remover / polish: $2
Now, if I could just find the oil filter somewhere...I know I had just a couple of weeks ago, and now it's vanished without a trace. I've got to organize this apartment more before I go out of my mind...
D.
If the tire polish you're referring to goes on the rubber of the tires - sidewalls - most people don't recommend using it. Too much possibility of it getting onto the traction / tread area creating a slick spot on the tire. I'd much rather have safe ugly tires than unsafe pretty ones any day.
H2O
True, tire shine is best left to cars with straight sidewalls and flat contact patches.
The haynes book will cover all your simple and regular maintanance, and it's written in a way that's relatively easy to understand even for a non wrench IMO.
I'll finally be switching back to fully synth 10w40 once I get my gaskets in. I've been running Syntec synth blend 20w50 for my last couple oil changes. Wish I could find a nice 15w40 oil in the stores around here, that would be just about perfect.
No Walmarts? I don't like shopping at the evil empire myself, but they're the only game within walking distance, and Haunter recommended the Delo 400 stuff from there.
D.