I left my Savage last October with... one good battery, half a tank of gas and...
...events got in the way and it wasn't until December that I had the opportunity to ride her a few times around the block...
...bad weather during the winter, I was away for months on end, come back in April but I somehow shyed away from her...it...that...beast waiting for me in the garage...
I eventually summoned up some courage, went in and circled her, getting closer and closer, like a man who's been away from farm animals too long and is shy of his old horse...
I slipped the key in the ignition, twisted it one click, tried the lights, horn OK, flick the starter...
...chug chug chug pofff coff sclack! ...
I went on like this for some 15 minutes, until it came to me I forgot to pull the starter on the carb...
...silly !
OK, recharge the battery, check the oil... can't see a thing... how can I check the oil with my head 1" from the ground
and balance the bike on its two wheels?
I finally managed to find a "helper" to stand the bike
almost upright... a stack of Land Rover magazines!
So, last time I checked the oil I looked and could see nothing... so I added 1/2 pint... then another 1/2 pint... then another... HOLD IT!!!
If I'm adding so much oil and still can't see through the little oil-window, chances are I already had enough oil and overfilled, right?
So, find the proper 17mm wrench, balance the bike on the Land Rover magazines, and apply delicate pressure (5lb hammer) to undo said oil plug nut...
...realize I haven't got anything under the sump, race to find suitable container (3 liter laundry soap bottle to which I hastily cut away one side)... undo oil plug which by now is finger loose... hold oil plug firmy between wrong side of fingers (why can't the upper side of our fingers be as grippy as our fingertips?) and presto! expect 6, 7 pints of oil to surge out!
drip drip drip
???
3 pints poured out... black as charcoal...
???
Now, wait a minute, just the other day I had topped up one full liter (2 pints+) and hadn't ever started the bike, and now all she returns is a measly three pints?
What on earth was going on ?
Could I have been running the bike on... one pint ?
PS at least there was no fuel in the oil...
(By the way, as two of said three pints+ are actually good, new oil, how can I now recycle the ... stuff I drained? I have a diesel truck with a 65 liter tank - 17 USgal - do you suppose if I pour one pint every tankful I can just burn it away with my diesel? I know it sounds barbaric, but what else can I do? after all, it's a mere 1.5%, no two stroke runs on so little oil...)