Amonza

My response to that was…"well, of course"…then I grabbed the manual to check. But yes, I can confrim that I am removing the sump plug, the 17mm 'badword' on the left of the motor hidden behind the bottom frame rail.

Hi guys first post on this forum and you guessed it, its a "help me please"! This is a problem that has vexed me for a little while now, and I realy would like to find an answer. Here goes. My wife rides a 2008 XVS650 custom, that we have owned since new, I do the wrenching and this is the bike in question. According to the manual at oil change there should be 2.6 litres (3.4 quarts)of oil to replace without a filter change and 2.8 litres (3.0 quarts)with a filter change. Now, the procedure that I employ at oil change time for all of our bikes (all Yammies too) is the same. Run it up to operating temp, which usualy involves a quick ride of about ten K's or more (6 miles +). Bring her back to the shed, sit her on the side stand (bike, not wife) no block under the stand, place an oil pan under her and whip the sump plug out, take the oil filler plug out as well, then remove the oil filter if that is being replaced. Walk away for about half an hour and have a coffee, a beer or whatever and leave the whole lot to drain. Return to the bike, take it off its side stand by sitting on it, and turn the motor over by running it for a seconds to pump any residual oil out that might be hiding in the motor somewhere, always pumps a little bit more out, then I leave the bike to drain a little bit more as I get ready to refill, ten minutes, maybe. With this XVS650 I have only ever been able to drain about a litre of oil out of the motor, ever. I have checked its oil level prior to oil changes and that is OK, never low, always towards the upper mark on the sight glass. So after putting about a litre of oil back into the little cruiser, she is full again. Where is 1.6 - 1.8 litres hiding in this motor that can't be drained, and how do I get it out? Anyone have any ideas or experiences with this? I have been engaging a campaign of very frequent oil changes thus far, however as mileage climbs on this bike I would like to find an answer. Thanks in advance for any ideas or clues that you might have.