How NOT to do an oil change

[Cloggy]

That really sucks mate, do appreciate your honesty though. We have all made our own mistakes in the past. I once overtightened spark plugs in my old car (without a torque wrench), this also cost quite a bit to put right . If it's any consalation I did learn from it.
Anyway keep your head up. Hope you get it sorted swiftly, without any further hick-ups.

 

[Mattberkshire]

Update - got the bike back today. It wasn't my overtightening that cracked the sump. I threaded the bolt. i.e. it went in at an angle and after pushing it too far it cracked the sump.

Same result (large bill) but makes me feel slightly better!!!!!!:rockon:

 

[HavBlue]

I repaired the crack on my ER-5 sump with Aroldite, and the petrol tank and the right hand engine casing.

OK, enough of this foreign language. I take it "sump" means oil pan? If so, I can see what happened. If not, what the heck is a sump? I polished out my oil pan and a torque wrench is not one of the tools I would use to do an oil change cage or bike. I gotta tell ya, while reading the original post I was LMAO but I do feel bad for the bike.

 

[Cloggy]

OK, enough of this foreign language. I take it "sump" means oil pan? ..........

Yeah thats the one :thumbup:

 

[HavBlue]

Yeah thats the one :thumbup:

Cool, I thought my bike was missing something. I mean, I wouldn't want them bikes across the pond to have something we didn't. They might go faster or something......

 

[reiobard]

Cool, I thought my bike was missing something. I mean, I wouldn't want them bikes across the pond to have something we didn't. They might go faster or something......

somewhat off topic and somewhat not, do we have an oil pump like GSXR's that will pump oil to the engine even in the even of the front of the bike being elevated? I Know that back in the say GSXR's and like bikes had no pumps and when wheelies were done for a distance they would run out of oil, and seize engines.

I want to learn to wheelie and don't want to blom myh engine because of it...

 

[reiobard]

i wasn't curious so much for the fact that i think i will be riding miles down the highway on one wheel but more for the knowledge fact. I was intrigued. and don't like the thought of even the shortest time without oil in the engine. so it was more of a curiosity thing.

 

[gmickey2001]

I have one of the analog (lever indicator) and also less expensive torque wrenches. As long as they are not mis-handled, I believe they are just as accurate as the more expensive clicking type.

They require your participation, in that you look at the scale and reach your target torque.

It's simpler, cheaper, and I think because you have to keep your eye on the indicator, less prone to the type of accident that you experienced.

FWIW :rockon:

 

[Fred]

I got curious about the oil starvation possibility and checked the manual.
The oil pumps's pickup is in the center of the sump, so it's not ideally positioned. On the other hand, the sump is not very long at all. And the transmission is mounted very high up, so the oil doesn't have any other place to run to.

Now, if you've got the bike vertical and are riding a mile long wheelie, I suspect you'll have problems. But a normal wheelie that lasts for a few seconds shouldn't be a problem.

I remember my Ninja 500, which didn't wheelie with my 220 pounds on it. But it would do a sweet stoppie, and each time the oil pressure light would come on while the rear end was in the air.

Fred

 

[steveindenmark]

Thanks for your honesty. If everyone wrote their mistakes in these forums I am sure it would give a valuable lesson to all of us so that we avoid making the same mistakes.

My words of wisdom here are that torque wrenches are almost never needed. Just make sure you tighten things up as tight as you can and never use extention bars. You do not need to be super human to tighten sump plugs, filters etc...in fact it is better if you are not.

 

[ded]

I did same mistake last sunday

 

[cdogg76]

I did a similar thing about a year and a half ago. I didn't use a torque wrench, just a normal 6" or whatever ratchet. I wanted to make sure it was good and tight, and ended up stripping the pan. It didn't crack, though.

I tried using a +1 bolt for a while, which also didn't crack the pan, but it still leaked.

Fortunately my cousin is mechanically savvy, so he helped me change it. The pan cost me about $100.

I actually just changed my oil a couple weeks ago, and the drain plug is seeping a tiny bit of oil. It hasn't dripped where it's parked, but when I put a paper towel to the bottom if it, a little bit of oil shows.

I haven't researched it just yet, but it might be that I used a copper crush washer and that doesn't crush easily enough? The one I removed was silver color...aluminum, I suppose? It actually got very tight very suddenly when it got down to the base. I learned my lesson--I'm not forcing it tight. Since it's not really leakign, I'm not in a huge hurry to fix it. Unless I see it drops, I might actually wait until my next change and just figure out the right washer to use...

 

[Soap]

Luckily I got this kind of training with my apprenticeship with BAE Systems but I don't know what I'd do without it, but it's pretty easily done and I've nearly done it a few times not paying enough attention. Live and learn and like you said, you aren't the first or the last.

 

[geetarhero]

From a person with TONS of cracked oil pan experience there is a far easier way to fix it. In the VW scene low is better and ive had my fair share of cars that have frame laying withing 4 inches of the ground at all times. that leaves oil pans about 2 inches off.

anyhow, rather than replacing a $200 oil pan every week all it took was a bar of soap and you rub the soap into the crack filling it. then cover withheat resistant tape.
honestly, it works. the oil beads off the soap and there is no pressure or anything that goes against it so it stays put very easily.
if nothing else itll help you macgyver the bike to limp it to the dealership and save on towing costs

sorry to hear what happened though!

 

[chemicalsmile]

Did the exact same thing bolting the valve cover onto my old BMW. 2 bolts snapped off in head....friggin newton meters

 

[sjryser]

So I need to be a torque wrench huh? Well I need to start pricing them..oil change in T-600mi.

 

[tuningfork]

makes a case for the old-school "beam" torque wrenches I suppose