doing an oil and oil filter change on a 2009 V Star 650..a little more of a pain than some other cycles but not too bad. theres a screenshot of the maintenance page during the last 30 seconds of the vid.
nice work on the video good to see the torque wrench used on the drain plug, you should also use it on the filter cover allen bolts, with a hex driver - and make sure you put the short and long bolts back in the same place, or you will trash the engine (the long bolts will hit moving parts if they are in the wrong place). Dont change your oil without a torque wrench - too loose and it will fall out, all your oil will drain out and you will blow your engine (there is no low oil warning light). Too tight and you strip the threads out on the alum engine case - a cheap torque wrench from harbor freight is better than wrecking your $1000 engine. You dont have to jack up the bike to change the oil. (you dont have to buy a lift). You can get to the drain plug with the bike on the kick stand, and it will drain the same leaning or level. When the oil is draining it normally wont hit the frame on the left side, but when you take the filter cover off it tends to drizzle all over that side of the bike. You only have to change the filter on every other scheduled oil change. The owners manual tells you how much oil to add in each case. DONT fill it up to the high level mark on the site glass - when you start the engine and fill the filter with oil, it will be low if thats what you did - just put in the right amount of oil, and you are good - there is no where else it can go, unless you spill it all over the bike and on the floor while you are filling it.
I have the EXACT same bike. I am about to change the oil for the 1st time. Thank you for this video. Do you have a video on changing fork oil? Or final drive oil?
Owners manual schedule is: replace engine oil every 4k miles replace oil filter every 8k miles check the final drive gear oil on the hub every 4k miles, replace every 16k miles there is no carbon buildup in the final drive oil, it does not get hot One thing to check every oil change or every year at least is the pivot points on the rear brake linkage - if the linkage gets sticky (usually by the pedal) the brake will drag and wear out your rear brake shoes quickly - white lithium spray grease, and hit the kick stand pivot while you are at it. these bikes are really good about not leaking oil. The two common spots for a leak are 1. if you adjust the valves and dont replace the valve cover O rings. Always buy new ones, because they are $4 each, but if they leak it takes 2 hours to get to them again to put new orings in. 2. the spot where the neutral indicator switch wire comes out, left side of the engine, near the clutch cable lever. If you start finding a puddle under your Vstar where you park it, check your level before you ride, and fix the leak. The bike has NO low oil level indicator light, if it sucks air while riding you will ruin your engine in a matter of minutes with no warning.
The transmission gears and clutch are in the same oil bath space as the engine - so you must use a MC rated oil (with no extra slippery lubes added) or your clutch will slip. The bevel gear oil in the hub on the rear wheel is hypoid 75W or 80W oil.
