Hi all.I just joined the club and am having a little difficulty navigating my way around,so apologies if this is in the wrong place/been asked SOOO ma

[Goniffe]

Hi all.I just joined the club and am having a little difficulty navigating my way around,so apologies if this is in the wrong place/been asked SOOO many times etc.

Ive just bought a 97 600n and need to change the engine oil and require a few bits of information.Is the engine oil checked on the side stand or on the main stand-at the moment the level is correct if checked on the side stand but that seems a bit odd to me.Also whats the recommended viscocity? Many thanks in advance. Tony.

[MadisonMotorsportUK]

Check it with the bike upright on level ground. 10w40 semi is fine for UK climate.

[Ttaskmaster]

Indeed. Sound advice there.

You might also want to search online for an Owners Manual - These are usually free (Yamaha might even have one on their site).

You can also find both Haynes/Clymer service manuals (owner use) and proper Yamaha Workshop manuals (professional mechanic use) for download, but these either cost (legit Workshop ones are expensive) or the free ones are technically illegal downloads. I'd recommend the Workshop one as Haynes and Clymer often have errors and black & white photos instead of clear diagrams.

For all the wonder they create, bike designers are quite stupid when it comes to certain basics. You'd think by now someone would have figured out how to angle the sight glass so that you can check the oil level without having to have the machine upright, especially on bikes that don't even have a fecking centrestand (cough Dragstar cough)!

I don't know if it's the Drags specifically or Yamaha in general, but they do like to site things in akward places. You have to remove half the bike to change the oil filter on the 1100, for example. I've seen some very awkward bits being done to an R1 as well.

[Goniffe]

Thanks a lot guys.I bought a manual off ebay yesterday but want to change the oil this weekend if poss and its not going to be here by then.Im sorry to be a pain but when you say the bike needs to be upright I presume you mean on the stand....any idea of the quantity required with filter change?I was going to measure it when I drained it but it has been overfilled so thats not really an option.I very much appreciate you taking the time and effort to help me here.

My girlfriend had a Harley streetbob which you checked the oil with the bike on its sidestand and with a dipstick.Very civilised. Tony.

[Airhead]

OIl level is always checked with the wheels on the ground and the bike upright as far as I know

[Goniffe]

Mmm not always though-my VFR's checked on the mainstand.

[Airhead]

Mmm not always though-my VFR's checked on the mainstand.

Fair enough, you need to find out the specific requirement for your bike then

[Ttaskmaster]

but want to change the oil this weekend if poss and its not going to be here by then.

So do what I suggested in the first place and get an official Owners Manual from the official Yamaha website for free:

http://www.yamaha-motor.eu/uk/services/owner-manuals/index.aspx

It will be a PDF file about 4.8mb in size and will take approximately 42 seconds to download, depending on your internet connection. That should provide more than adequate time to permit an oil change over the weekend.

Im sorry to be a pain but when you say the bike needs to be upright I presume you mean on the stand....

Centrestand, yes.

NOT the sidestand, because the bike is then not really upright.

Your other options include putting a block under the sidestand or having someone hold the bike upright (usually sitting on it) while you work.

any idea of the quantity required with filter change?

By downloading the free Ownwers Manual from the official Yamaha website, I can tell you that the exact, precise amounts are as follows:

Total amount: 3.1L

Periodic oil change: 2.3L

With oil filter: 2.6L

However, exact, precise measurement may be problematic especially if you don't completely drain the sump first and is an awful lot of fiddling around. This is made much easier by checking the engine oil level sight glass (located at the lower part of the right side crankcase cover), measuring the level against the maximum and minimum level markers along the side of the sight glass.

Most people just buy a big 4L bottle of oil, drain the old oil, swap the filter and then add new oil until the level sits between the aforementioned level markers.

Curiously, this is all covered in CBT as well as full A-licence training, which every licenced motorcyclist in the UK should have successfully completed...

My girlfriend had a Harley streetbob which you checked the oil with the bike on its sidestand and with a dipstick.

Your girlfriend had a Harley?

You have my condolences...

I wonder how much I'd have to pay them to make me a Harley Spongebob...

I reckon that'd be a great laugh!!

[mike1949]

at the moment the level is correct if checked on the side stand but that seems a bit odd to me.

Hi Tony, not only is it a bit odd but a bit worrying to me.

When you put the bike on the side stand which is on the left hand side of the bike. the sight glass is on the right hand side of the bike and you shouldn't see any oil at all because it's all flowed over to the left side. But as I have ascertained you realize by all the advice given always check oil level when bike is upright. i.e. on centre stand.

On the plus side if you need to do anything to the clutch, just put it on the side stand and you don't have to drain the oil.

[Goniffe]

If I understand you correctly Mr Garbage Man,you are suggesting that it might be advantageous to download a free pdf manual that doesnt cost anything and will have lots of information in it that will help me to work out what I need to know about this bike and I can get this free onto my computer right now in the comfort of my own home-now why didnt I think of that......?

Actually I did try but failed to find one for various reasons.Also it will probably take an age to download as our speed out here in the sticks is abysmal.But thanks for the link-I will try it later.

Actually the Harley was a damn good bike-well built,reliable and pulled like a train but an absolute pig to move around manually cos it weighed 350 kilos or more so it had to go-the XJ is a replacement for her.Bought it off a friend who put it away in his garage 6 years ago and hasnt touched it since.Amazingly everything seems to work as it should though the clutch plates were all stuck together but they freed off ok.

Thanks for your concern Mike-this is why I wanted to know the correct quantity(makes it easier to fill if you know how much there should be rather than fannying around adding bits to get the level correct).If its at the proper level on its side stand then there is obviously more oil there than their should be-Im hoping its not been run for too long with that much oil in there.

Anyway-thanks for the information all. Tony.

[mike1949]

.Thanks for your concern Mike-this is why I wanted to know the correct quantity(makes it easier to fill if you know how much there should be rather than fannying around adding bits to get the level correct).If its at the proper level on its side stand then there is obviously more oil there than their should be-Im hoping its not been run for too long with that much oil in there.

Anyway-thanks for the information all. Tony.

Right Tony, here we go. If you put the bike on the centre stand then look at the sight glass you will see two marker lines embossed into the casting, one is minimal oil level and the upper one is the maximum oil level.

But, the best guide is, if you are changing the oil, then also change the oil filter.

If you go down this road and I hope you do, take the bike for a good ride to get the oil nice and hot before draining it and you will get about 99% of the oil out .

Then, and it has always worked for me, fill up with 2.6 litres of oil.

Hope this helps

Mike

[Goniffe]

Thanks Mike.I do know how to check and change the oil on a bike.The point I was trying to make is at the moment the oil reads the correct level but with the bike on its side stand therefore when its upright the sight glass is completely covered.Obviously in the past someone has checked then filled to the marks on the glass but with the bike leaning over.Sorry if I didnt make this a bit clearer. Tony.

[mike1949]

Thanks Mike.I do know how to check and change the oil on a bike.The point I was trying to make is at the moment the oil reads the correct level but with the bike on its side stand therefore when its upright the sight glass is completely covered.Obviously in the past someone has checked then filled to the marks on the glass but with the bike leaning over.Sorry if I didnt make this a bit clearer. Tony.

the correct level but with the bike on its side stand This is what I don't understand, if the bike is on the side stand you shouldn't see any oil.

its upright the sight glass is completely covered. Correct!!

[mike1949]

Obviously in the past someone has checked then filled to the marks on the glass but with the bike leaning over.

Just re-read the post again Tony, so see what you mean, I got there in the end.

[Ttaskmaster]

Actually I'm saying you wasted money on something that is free and easy.

Actually I did try but failed to find one for various reasons.Also it will probably take an age to download as our speed out here in the sticks is abysmal.

I live out in the sticks too. Out here we're not on the main water network and we don't even have gas.

I only get 1-1.5meg connection at best and the PDF still downloaded in less than 30 seconds. Heck, even my 2006 model mobile phone running Windows Mobile 5.5 can manage it in less than a minute with only 60% signal, so I don't know what's so dysmal about your home connection.

I linked you to the official Yamaha one, but PDF Owners Manuals are everywhere. It takes a few seconds on Google.

I do know how to check and change the oil on a bike.

And yet you had to ask, "Is the engine oil checked on the side stand or on the main stand?"...

It's all in that manual

[Goniffe]

And yet you had to ask, "Is the engine oil checked on the side stand or on the main stand?"...

I asked because some on bikes its checked on the side stand and some bikes its checked on the main stand.

[Ttaskmaster]

Aside from the occasional dipstick models, most of which seem to be Harleys and therefore pretty irrelevant, just about every bike I've ever known has to be upright. That's pretty much standard and thus why it's taught so from CBT.