Changing My Own Oil/Filter/Air Filter?

[jeffmiller]

Guys you were great support and help during my Helibars and Garmin 2610 wiring installs...maybe you can help guide me and ease my fears here. I want to stop paying my Honda service guy my hard earned money that he probably spends on too much beer anyways, and change my oil/oil filter/air filter myself. I am at 5K and want to ramp up for this before 6K hits.

Any tips? Photos? Advice? Oil and filter recommendations? I have heard a lot of negative on the K&N.

Any advice will be appreciated.

Jeff Miller
2004 ST1300A4/Helibars/Garmin2610/PanEuro Top Box/Hyperlites

[Killtimer]

Jeff

The most useful tool you can have if you're a little apprehensive is the Honda service manual. Available from Helm Inc (http://www.helminc.com/helm/search_service_owner.asp?Style=helm&class%5F2=AHC&mscsid=4WGP0J85Q9H69P6XSBU9N8L9DVB0B8Q1) This and a good torque wrench are the first tools any home mechanic should invest in IMnsHO.

For the oil change all you need is a 17mm wrench and a cap style filter wrench to fit your filter. Pick up a filter and take it to a Napa/Target/Sears/Autozone/etc. and make sure you get the right size. I use a pint yogurt (plastic) container wedged up under the filter to catch the resulting spill. Side stand/Centre stand......... both have advantages. Follow the procedure in the Service manual for the air filter. The only hint here is to be very careful you don't drop anything into the cavity under the airbox. It's next to impossible to retrieve anything without a time consuming dis-assembly. ;)
HTH

[jackpine savage]

Honda direct has good prices on filters and also has the service manual.

http://www.hondadirectlineusa.com/stores/byProduct.asp?prd=Filters&str=10&ID=971651048

I bought 4 oil filters at once and that's worked out well.

The K&N air filter has been discussed quite a bit in this forum. Some people like them an notice the extra horsepower, others have evidence of the k&n letting small particulates through. I don't want to mess around with washing and re-oiling so I replaced the filter with a Honda air filter at 12K miles. Also, some have had extraordinarily tight screws holding the air filter cover down. Mine were not overly tight and came out with out a problem. You may want to buy a good quality magnetic screwdriver that fits the phillips screw heads tightly. With one it was almost impossible to drop a screw into no mans land.
David

[Kennedy]

After you get over changing the oil the first time it is not really that bad of a job. As mentioned above the proper filter wrench will make the job go a lot easier.
I can do it most times with out spilling any but , well some times lets just say the drive way gets a hell of a mess. :)

[crazykz]

Get a good filter cap wrench. Vector makes one that fits the OEM filter. Drag Specialties sells one but it's actually the Vector one.

You might have questions about what filter to use and what oil. Oil is an opinion so maybe for your first oil change just stick with what Honda has to offer. You might still be stuck with a choice there if you haven't converted to synthetic yet. Honda makes dino oil and synthetic so you may have to choose. Since you're looking to change at 6K I would switch to synthetic if you haven't by now. Honda has their GN4. There are plenty of threads on oil so search and read before asking about oil. Not trying to discourage you from asking questions just asking you to look over the oil threads first before posting.

The filter thread has gone around too and after Purolator came out and said they did not recommend their filter for the ST people went back to the OEM filter. At least I did. There's a mobil one and a K&N one too. Some use these but not as many as the ones that stuck with the OEM one.

Here's a thread I put together on changing your oil/filter and the final drive oil. Don't worry about the time but the steps I list try to help you save time.
30 minute change (http://www.st-owners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5161&highlight=minute+change)

Here's another post I have that shows how to use tin foil to keep your headers free of dripping oil:
http://www.st-owners.com/forums/showpost.php?p=36005&postcount=21

Hey, good luck. It's a pretty easy task once you've done it a few times and IMO it's not worth paying a dealer for.

Curt

[nm6r]

Jeff

The most useful tool you can have if you're a little apprehensive is the Honda service manual. Available from Helm Inc (http://www.helminc.com/helm/search_service_owner.asp?Style=helm&class%5F2=AHC&mscsid=4WGP0J85Q9H69P6XSBU9N8L9DVB0B8Q1) This and a good torque wrench are the first tools any home mechanic should invest in IMnsHO.

For the oil change all you need is a 17mm wrench and a cap style filter wrench to fit your filter. Pick up a filter and take it to a Napa/Target/Sears/Autozone/etc. and make sure you get the right size. I use a pint yogurt (plastic) container wedged up under the filter to catch the resulting spill. Side stand/Centre stand......... both have advantages. Follow the procedure in the Service manual for the air filter. The only hint here is to be very careful you don't drop anything into the cavity under the airbox. It's next to impossible to retrieve anything without a time consuming dis-assembly. ;)
HTH

This is very good advice.

I would also add a torque wrench or two. There have been several instances where dealers and do-it-yourselfers have overtightened the oil filter by putting on by hand. You will find the torque wrench(es) to be a valuable asset to your tool collection for any other service on your prize ST.

Ray
http://www.frontiernet.net/~st1300rider/smile04Bikerwheelie.gif

[Putt]

65 mm the correct size for the Honda OEM filter??

Putt

[crp5]

Lots of great info above. The trick with the tin foil is excellent! Not a drop anywhere on the bike after you are done. Another link you may want to read is the Fairchilds.... step by step with pictures. I used it my first time out and it went perfectly. Grab some Mobil 1 75w-90 synthetic gear lubricant and change the rear drive fluid as well. It only take a few minutes more.

http://www.thefairchilds.org/bikes/st-oilchange.html

[jeffmiller]

Ok...I see the rear drive drain...but where the hell is the fill?

And for the Mobil 1, do I need four quarts? Five? How can I tell I have enough? Some posts show exactly one gallon, other people are saying between 4 and 5 quarts.

Jeff

[crazykz]

Ok...I see the rear drive drain...but where the hell is the fill?

And for the Mobil 1, do I need four quarts? Five? How can I tell I have enough? Some posts show exactly one gallon, other people are saying between 4 and 5 quarts.

Jeff

Put in 4 and watch your site glass. Start the bike and let it warm up then shut it off and wait 3 minutes. Look in the site glass and if it's between the lines you're good. If not poor in a little more until it's in the middle of the site glass.

The drain for the final drive is towards the bottom of the final drive. The fill is up and to the left of the drain. It's a rather large cap with a 17mm nut on it. When you take it off it has a rubber o-ring on the cap. Fill the final drive with hypoid oil until it just starts to run out. Then put the cap on and clean up the drips.

Curt

[mbrewer566]

I would recommend waiting longer than a few minutes, and not to add more than 4 quarts. I added 4, and the site glass looked low. Added some more, still low. Finally, after adding 1/2 quart, looked almost full, and I thought no way I'm adding more. Finished cleaning up for the next 20 minutes or so, then looked again and level was almost to top of sight glass (i.e. overfilled). I won't make that mistake again. 4 quarts, then wait 30 minutes, likely not add any.

[crazykz]

I would recommend waiting longer than a few minutes, and not to add more than 4 quarts. I added 4, and the site glass looked low. Added some more, still low. Finally, after adding 1/2 quart, looked almost full, and I thought no way I'm adding more. Finished cleaning up for the next 20 minutes or so, then looked again and level was almost to top of sight glass (i.e. overfilled). I won't make that mistake again. 4 quarts, then wait 30 minutes, likely not add any.

You don't have to wait 30 minutes but to each his own. I did the same thing and I just make sure that it's no more than halfway up the site glass after 3 minutes.

Curt

[Kennedy]

I believe the manual calls for 4.1 US quarts. Had to check my self as I am now using yanky quarts instead of litres. Just changed mine this morning and put in 4 + a dribble which should be the .1. And the level is fine after checking it using the proper method.
May be the service manual should be re written for the four + the dribble?

[jeffmiller]

With regards to the Moly question:

The manual specifically forbids the use of Moly and any oil that considers itself "energy saving" as it will cause clutch slippage.


I can attest to the .1 as I had to add that last bit at the end.

Learned the hard way on the filter removal....Blooey!....oil everywhere.

Wasn't that bad and beats the SH*T out of giving the dealer $85 and the better part of a day.

[Kennedy]

Oil on the center stand is a good thing, will never rust.