Oil change woe

[STurgisSTeele]

Whew!

Peace and All Good

 

[SMSW]

My buddy did the same thing a few weeks ago while changing the oil on his VTX at my house, we got a plan together, quickly pulled the bolt and filled the hole with my finger until he could get the washer on and bolt replaced.... The only surprise was not a drop of oil on my finger! I guess there wasn't enough time for the new oil to make it down to the oil pan....

I hope he checked his sight glass before starting the bike. I rather doubt there is room in the upper engine for almost a gallon of oil - and it flows down into the crankcase pretty quickly. I usually add a bit, and see the change in the sight glass within a minute. If he forgot to pour in the new oil after draining the old, starting the bike could have the so called 'unintended consequences'.

 

[Jethro77]

I hope he checked his sight glass before starting the bike. I rather doubt there is room in the upper engine for almost a gallon of oil - and it flows down into the crankcase pretty quickly. I usually add a bit, and see the change in the sight glass within a minute. If he forgot to pour in the new oil after draining the old, starting the bike could have the so called 'unintended consequences'.

Good point! VTX has no site glass just dipstick, maybe it just all stayed in because of the finger on the straw effect???? not sure...

 

[peckerwood]

I once saw a mechanic, after changing oil on a car, take the oil drain plug off to replace a leaky drain plug gasket. To prevent oil from emptying from the "unplugged" drain hole, he had someone else apply vacuum to the filler hole on top of the valve cover - with a shop vac. It was a very simple idea and worked well for his purposes. None of the freshly added oil drained out and he was able to replace the leaky drain plug gasket.

I worked at one of those quick oil change places, and we used the vacuum trick quite a bit.