oil and filter thread

Someone here torqued his oil pan drain plug so tight it stripped the threads out of the pan. Idiot. But I did learn.

 

K&N Oil filter courtesy of AM. Out in the middle of nowhere!! She did a great job of keeping the upright, considering the bike was a bit top heavy.

 

My mechanic said he's seen oil pans crack from over torqued drain plugs.

 

Cleaned my PC Racing stainless reusable filter and oil change on the VFR. The magnet in the filter definitely works well. Easy and quick clean and replace.

http://www.pcracingusa.com/product_index.asp

 

My old Honda Accord had a cracked oil pan - it leaked all the time & my wife wouldn't let me park on the driveway due to the leak. I sealed up the drain plug (JB WELD) & used to change the oil with a vacuum pump - made it a hole lot easier to change the oil...

 

Now that is inventive. No mess too.

 

Just did an oil and filter change for the first time on a VFR (8th Gen) No real issues, I have T-Rex sliders fitted and they get in the way when trying to remove/refit the upper Honda clips, just adds another 15 min to the job. Also discovered the torque wrench I was planning to use wont fit behind the exhaust headers, while I do have a smaller one the drive was a different size to the oil filter wrench so will have to buy an adapter. Took a guess using normal wrench, will keep my eye on it for a few 100km. no problems after letting it idle for 10 min. Heading off on a 430km ride tomorrow so fingers crossed. will take some spare oil incase but I am not really expecting any issues. Used a Gen Honda filter BTW

 

You don't need a torque wrench to install the new oil filter. I know Honda might recommend it so it's to "spec" but I just do it "hand tight" and it's always worked for me on all my vehicles.

 

I would hit the "like" button a dozen times on this but it makes no difference. I just screw the filter on until the gasket stops it from spinning. Then maybe another 1/2 turn or so by hand to compress the gasket to the seat and have never had an oil leak in over 200,000 km. I just can't fathom the need for a wrench to install a filter and the need to torque it. But maybe some don't have that "feel" for this. I never used to torque wheels but I do that faithfully now.

 

My Ducati Monster oil filter leaks if I install hand tight (as tight as I can). I use a torque wrench and a little extra. Why not? It always comes off easy enough. If you notice how tight filters are on from the factory, they must do this for a reason. I think the vibration from the motor, especially the Ducati 2 cylinder, vibrates the filter loose. I use hand tight on a car, never had a problem, but I use a torque wrench on a bike. You don't want oil leaking on your back tire.

 

I guess the Ducs must be a different animal. Like I said over 200K km and no issues. A torque wrench is not wrong. I just haven't seen the need.

 

Here is a question I've never been able to quite find an answer to. And I have a sneaking suspicion that it is due to initial short oil change intervals and the fact that synthetic could be moderately more expensive.

Is there any measurable reason why I see people saying the first oil change should be Dino oil and not synthetic? Both of my previous two new purchased bikes were changed to synthetic at the first oil change at 600 miles. And continued to run synthetic st the 1000 mile change and beyond. Never had an issue on either.

The only reason I can think of is because as I can tell most bikes say 600 for the first then 1000 for the second. Which is a really low amount of miles. Hell I can put at least half that on in a day or so.

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It is so the engine can break in and the rings seal. Too slippery oil leads to a lack of ring sealing and drop in bhp.

 

Is there a food factory source for this?

I ask because numerous engines come from factory with full synthetic as OEM. And for every website that says "full synthetic should be used after first oil change" you have just as many oil manufacturers saying it is safe for use during breakin.

I'm not all too sure this isn't something that is just oft confused just like people saying a higher octane is better for an engine.

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My understanding is, 10w-30 or 40 is just as “slippery” whether it’s dino or synthetic....the only difference is synthetic maintains its properties, what ever they are, for longer. The early oil changes are to just flush metallic particles, if there really are any, out of the engine....that thing about rings seating....that might be a myth when it comes to modern engines...auto or motorcycle. Many cars come with synthetic from the factory, Chevy started it years ago with the Corvette.... it’s properties and protection are the same at 100 miles and 15,000 miles

 

Exactly. Back in the day there were manuals written for manuals for engine break in. The 66 Mustang I am rebuilding has a small novella detailing break in. My 2005 Audi A4 has nothing like that. Nor do any of my modern motorcycles.

None of the user manuals state anything about synthetic VS Dino. Nor do the service manuals. And you are right. Friction modifiers aside(big no no on any wet clutch system) your weight tells you how it is gonna behave. A 10w-40 is a 10w-40 is a 10w-40.

I was just ultimately curious if there was any detailed information explaining if this still held true for modern engine. As a guy I had seen say before "modern fabrication let's you get down accurate as a gnats ass". This wasn't the case with the oldies and classics.

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Just do what is suggested in the manual and use what grade oil is recommended.

 

There may be better options out there if you are that picky, but the manual is never wrong as far as I am concerned. I don't always follow recommendations in the manual but don't profess to say I know better. When I did (the dealership that is) my first oil change, I just took it in and they did it. I am sure they used Motule Semi Syn and did so for the year or so that I had it serviced there.

 

When I did my first oil change a couple weeks ago, I got the Honda filter, filter wrench cap, GN4 Honda dino oil, and crush washer from Amazon. I've heard the horror stories about the filter being on ridiculously tight from the factory, but I did not have that problem. It wasn't coming off on it's own for sure, but it didn't take two men and a small boy to wrench it off either.

I didn't pre-fill the oil filter, but probably would have filled it halfway if I'd thought about it. I installed a PC V while it was draining, and forgot to add oil to the filter. Probably does not make much difference. You need to run the engine before the oil change to at least warm up the oil a bit. So the top end of the motor should still have a film on it to cover as long as it takes to get oil through the filter after the change.

Maybe I'm old school, but I'm going to run dino oil in it for the first couple thousand miles. Just to make sure everything breaks in well. Maybe these days you can run synthetic from the git go, but I figure doing it my way won't hurt anything provided the oil is changed regularly. I checked the oil that came out, and it didn't feel like there was a bunch of shavings in it. I didn't see any on the pan plug either. So like others have said, maybe a mountain is being made out of a mole hill.

 

There is some truth to the "let the rings break in" mantra, or there was about 20 years ago. The rings needed
to mate to the cross hatch pattern on the cylinder wall. Now the engine bores are coated with a very hard material
and there is simply no "breaking in" necessary for rings to seat.