I thought y'all might enjoy hearing about my first Savage DIY maintenance adventure.

I got the Savage Thursday.  I didn't ask the previous owner about the what maintenance it needed.  So I figured it was time to do the oil change anyway. That never hurts.  

I don't have a manual yet, so I reviewed Greg_650's excellent thread on changing the oil. I went down to the dealer yesterday and bought a filter, both "O" rings and 3 quarts of oil. I gather the the 17mm wrench, the 5mm allen wrench.

I warmed the engine up for about 5 minutes, shut it down and put a pan under it. I got on the ground and started looking for the drain plug.  

Right off the bat I burned my finger on the hot exhaust. Then I found the 17mm plug, opened it up and about 2 ounces of oil came out.  I couldn't imagine how the engine could possibly run with that little oil. The plug was well above the bottom of the crankcase, but oil definitely came out of there.

I let it drain while I replaced the oil filter with no problem. Put the drain plug in and added a quart of oil.

When I checked the level on the sight glass, it was over full. Hmm, that doesn't seem right. So I get on my back and look at the crankcase again. Then I found the real drain plug.

So I drained about 3 quarts of oil, replaced the plug and filled it up.  All was good.

So i wasted a quart of oil and burned my finger.  I guess this makes me an official shade tree motocycle mechanic.    

Layed it over to change oil?  i never thought of that. .



Steve

If you are doing the oil change on the sidestand it helps to stand the bike up straight and rock it back and forth over center to get all the oil out. Also the capacity on the engine is more correct than the manuals. Max

First oil change! I guess I held the bike not exactly at the 90 degrees angle because after 2.3 quarts the oil still would not show through the oil window. I played with the angle and shortly realized that I had to drain half a quart. I decided to drain excess oil slowly but it was windy that day and during one powerful gust my face got splashed with draining oil. In addition at that very moment the plug escaped my oily fingers and fell into the bucket. By the time I recovered the plug almost all the oil was gone. I had to clean up and drive to the store for another quarts. This time I did everything right and even considered the direction and speed of the wind. The whole debacle took me almost two hours. At the end it got dark and I ended my first oil change with the balancing act of holding the bike in one hand and flashlight in the other while looking for the oil level.
Good memories!

I lightly burned my neck, with the exhaust, looking under the bike for the plug. Everyone thought it was a hicki

Here's a tip that works on my '02, place the kickstand on a piece of 2x4 (1 1/2 inch high) and fill the crankcase till you just see the oil at the bottom of the sight window. When you rock the bike up to level the oil should be close to the middle of the glass.

Ya'll doin good...real good.

Give yourself a hand.........

Max_Morley wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:12:


Thanks, Max. I'll try that next time.

Steve