Virgin Oil Change

So, I feel all manly. I just did my first ever oil change (myself). I did it on the new bike of course... man the old oil was nasty.

I don't know the level of prior maintenance, so to be sure I am going to change the oil again in 1500 miles. The honda HP4 oil I used didn't turn out great in this test, despite being really expensive. I bought it betting it wouldn't be better than cheaper stuff, but not wanting to deal with it right then.

http://www.xs11.com/stories/mcnoil94.htm

So, mobil 1 synthetic from now on.

The oil change was an interesting experience. I was successful in changing the oil, but with a few snags. First, the manual shows a pic of "catching the oil in a pan". The bike holds a bit over 2 quarts, and the "pan" in the picture looks to be about the size of the pie tin. Not having anything dedicated to catching oil, I grabbed this used aluminum rectangular tin...

The picture lies!! No pie tin would hold 2+quarts of old oil! The original tin OVERFLOWED as Denny helpfully ran and got another one for me. It was a small spill, quickly cleaned, but frustrating (btw, Dawn dish soap deals with motor oil as well as food oil. And now you know!).

So, now I had 2 pie tin type things full of black warm nastyness. Ick. I changed the filter out (more oil spilled, guess I should have expected that, but I am a nub), but other than that all was well (the pictures didn't seem to lie at this point). I used the oil filter wrench to tighten it to spec and then poured in the new synthetic/petroleum blend. I fired the bike up and it was MUCH happier with new oil. It probably hadn't been changed in a while.

So, now I had the 2 tins filled with oil. Somewhere, online or in the manual (don't remember which) it said that you can re-use containers to take in the old oil for recycling. So, I tried using the small funnel I had to pour the oil from the pie tin things into the 1 quart bottles I had purchased...

Bad idea. Oil spilled quite liberally. So, after more paper towels, rags, and about half a bottle of dawn soap and some scrubbing, that was up, and I smelled thoroughly of motor oil. I went and took a shower.

I left the oil in the tins, and then this morning went to advance auto and discovered they make oil capturing bottles for this precise purpose. Note to Suzuki: TELL PEOPLE. Don't put a pic of a pie tin. Interestingly, in the now acquired (online) shop manual, instead of a pie tin, they show something more reasonable. ><

I poured the pie tins into the fancy new oil pan thing, sealed it up, and put it away. Not sure what to do with the pie tins. I don't really want to just throw them away (with the oil) but I don't know of anything better to do with em (open to suggestions).

Next job is to install saddle bag brackets (possibly tonight), and the windshield arrives on Friday. I want the windshield because of rocks (still could be an issue with the full face), and because windsheilds get you seen 30 some % more often than not (kinda like white helmets).

I wanted to do my own valve adjustment, which needs doing, but while the actual inspection/adjustment is easy, the proceedure in the manual is something like:

1. Remove and drain gas tank. 2. Remove fuel lines. 3. Remove (carefully) carbs and such. 4. Remove all spark plugs. 5. Remove something fancy, fragile, and expensive sounding. 6. Poke valves for 5 minutes. 7. Spend the next 2 hours replacing everything you just did, making sure you didn't knock stuff out of alignment.

Given my lack of space and experience... I will leave that to some pros (This time Gadget, This TIME!!). The "pros" at the local bike shop quoted 140 for the inspection adjustment, and will install the new ($7 apeice NGK irdium) spark plugs for me for free, since they have to remove/replace all that stuff anyway to get to the valves. With that done, the only piece of maintenance not done will be replacing the airboxes/airfilters, which I can probably do myself. I will make sure before I drop it off at the shop.