should be either 14 or 17mm.

You got the wrench on the right bolt?

If damaged, you may need to get a pair of vice grips.

are you sure its not basically rounded off? i.e like somebody tried to use a crescent wrench on it?  Those things are round-o-matics in the right hands.

check the tec section for pics to make sure you are on the right bolt, I am not very tool handy but learning and I did the oil change in a few mintures after looing at the pics, and belive it is a 17 mm,

MY 2000 is a 14

A six point box end wrench will do better than a 12 point.  Max

You've been posting here and modding your bike for YEARS now and you haven't ever changed your oil filter?   You top up your oil multiple multiple times between oil changes?  

How many miles do you go between oil changes?   How many miles between filter changes?

I'm curious -- some here change their oil & filter every 500 miles which I find excessive.  I change my oil at least twice a year and my oil filter gets changed at the Christmas break oil change.  I adjust my valves every 10,000 miles (valves are due again during a vacation break as a matter of fact).

You are aware our bikes make finely powdered metal that rides around in our oil?  That unless you use magnetics to get it all out of your oil system you are depend on a relatively coarse oil filter to stop the stuff from recirculating?  And once that filter gets plugged up with crap, the bypass valve on the oil filter opens up and coarse stuff recirculates round and round and round again?

I also work on the "other" side, like Justni does.

To reply to Oldfeller, I bought the bike in October 2005, left it in a garage for ... months forgetting the petcock on "prime" so I had to haul it to a workshop...

I've been buying parts for years, that's true, but so far I've only fiddled with removing the tank umpteen times to get to the spark plug, changing mirrors until I could find the kind that allowed me to see more than just elbows and shoulders, and fitted a rev counter.

I also bought tons of other bits I've yet to fit...

Most of you guys live in a house with a garage, I live in a 5th floor apartment in a condo with one of those "hotel style" underground garage, all I have is just a rectangle in yellow paint.

In the state she's in, my Savage will do some... 300 miles (give or take) on one quart... remember I have a serious issue with a leaking oil cap that's already ruined two pair of jeans and one set of boots - which are now my standard riding gear.

I'm well aware of the metallic crud that's in the system... the point is I've never changed the oil filter myself, (I've been billed for it every time though) and since I've seen all sorts of shapes and sizes, from mini-cartridge to simple steel gauze, I just asked.

So, what's it like ? Is it compatible with any other kind, like a more modern 2-4 cylinder model or an enduro ???

I WANT to change the filter but nobody stocks them for bikes off the market over 10 years ago...