Ari, you have to be careful generalizing by telling everyone lefty loosey. I can think of dozens of examples from watches and circular saws to motorcycles car and trains where righty loosey is true. Someone is libel to round or shear a nut or strip a thread on a reverse threaded fastener
My 900ss Ducati had the oil filter recessed into the engine case and a torque spec of like 20 ft lb for some reason . Needless to say KN pot metal hex was rarely up to being removed making the psycho method of just stabbing it pretty much the standard procedure .
There is no worse feeling than changing your oil and not spilling a drop. Then accidentally knocking over the container you used for your used motor oil just before you were about to cap it.
I did it once, then I misplaced the container on a bench and a burst of wind threw the used oil all over the shop. So frustrating, but a funny story afterwards.
i had my drain bolt drop in through the hole of my drain pan once...good job I am an expert with chopsticks and was able to get it out again. Took me ages though.
@@Megolhen I use a 10 oz empty salad container to catch my 1.5 qts and just replace the plug with a new one every annual change since the washer is usually fused to the plug anyway. Then transfer to a 5 lb empty protein powder container for disposal.
I'd like to add: After you changed the filter and filled up the oil. Remember to let the engine work for a few minutes and recheck the oil levels. Some times, the filters soak up enough oil to change the levels.
as per my manual, i only change my filter every 3rd oil change... I've never used the same amount of oil on a change, so premeasuring like above I would never do...I use my eye to know its at the right level Put some oil in the filter, put some oil on the gasket on the filter as well, that will help it come off easier next time... I've only ever used my hands for filters in 35 years... As long as you do it in the proper intervals and lube the gasket, it wont need a wrench.
Before the “drive a screwdriver” method, I usually tape some sandpaper on the filter, and then try the strap. It usually works, helps get that extra little grip if someone overtightened the filter.
My trick for overfilled oil. Take the pump and straw from a (preferably used up) tall kitchen liquid soap dispenser, thoroughly wash out any left over soap, then just use it to siphon out the excess oil. The wider straw and pump easily draws out oil.
If you pour the oil with the spout up instead of down like you do in the video, you have to tilt the oil bottle more to get oil out and you're less likely to spill. It also makes it easier to watch the can volume as you pour.
I knew the screwdriver trick when my original filter wouldn't budge with the filter wrench with a paper towel between. I chopped most of the filter in half in one good heave. I've now learned of flathead screwdriver at an angle to softly slow "tap" the filter loose. And when I say softly I mean I was too gentle and it took 5 minutes of love tapping and promising the bike things to let go of the filter.
It might not work if the filter is really stuck. It'll ust tear through the filter and make a huge mess leaving you not much left to work with. Do not recommend.
Lefty loosy righty tighy can be replaced with the right hand thumb rule: point with your right hand's thumb towards the direction you want the oil filter or drain plug or whatever nut you want to screw in or out, and your fingers will point towards the direction of the turn you need to apply.
Some oil bottles have a built-in funnel like Motul. And I use an oil filter with a hex bolt on the end like HiFlo. Oil filters should only be hand tight. The hex bolt has a predrilled hole for safety wire.
I’ve been away from motorcycles for half a decade now.. these videos, as simple as they are, gave me a jolt of motivation to pull out the old girls from the garage and get them running again! Missed your MC garages videos Ari Hanning.. so glad I came across this channel! Great work 👍... now to go get that troublesome old Honda VT250 F started
Pro cleaning tip: to get the rest of the oil out of the concrete that the kitty litter doesn’t clean up use a weed torch with a sweeping motion like using a fire extinguisher over the area and the oil will burn off. Use wisely and don’t stay in one spot too long and no more oil stain.
Nice video. Good advice. Glad you are teaching riders how to care for their motorcycles. I always have an old blue tarp I put under any liquid related maintenance task. In 30 years of riding and wrenching I still can’t hit the dang pan.
Don't forget disposal. In the U.S., you can take your spent oil to any local auto parts store and they will have a collection device in the back for it.
You can also take one of your ratchet straps and wrap it around the base of the oil filter. Just overlap it a couple times (in the correct direction) and then when you pull it compresses itself around the filter. It's saved me multiple times when the socket and strap types have failed
@@WDGFE I used it on my bike after removing the factory / brand stickers and I can confirm it works and it did not damaged the painting (but try it out in some hidden under corner of your plastics to see if it affects the color or not, a small dot missing painting under a plastic's place nobody will ever see wont matter much if it does happens to erase it)
There's also the chain wrench type filter removal tool. If they don't grip they crush the filter in until the do grip, and the type that you fit a ratchet onto the end of are very useful as you can fit them almost anywhere with ratchet joints and extensions and stuff.
Great advice! Not much to add.... but, when I pull the drain plug, I always stand the bike up off the side stand and get out all the used oil possible that I can. Also, Visegrip makes a chain wrench that works great as a last resort before the screw driver method! lol... I’ve used a screw driver when nothing else was available. Always enjoy your videos. Ride safe my friends!
Old leather belt that wore out the holes is what I use if a filter gets stuck... But I really haven't had to use it on my vehicles in 35 years, only others that don't put a bit of oil on the oil filter gasket when installing....Prepare it right on install , it will come off so much easier later ;)
I had a strap type oil wrench that kept slipping on the super tight filter. So I drilled a hole through the strap, put it on the filter, then screwed a self-tapping screw through the hole into the filter. Success!
Must remind me to watch this one every time before an oil change. Been there, done that, so many times (enduro bikes are sooo demanding), but I always make a mess😀. Great video!
Doing a tune up and couple of projects for my friend and had to do the screwdriver hack 3 times on one filter because it was so tight. I sent him videos of me having to do that and then showed him how to properly tighten an oil filter.
Yamaha air-cooled four bangers used a filter inside an aluminum housing, held on by a big hollow bolt with a very small head, 12mm I think. Both bikes I had the PO had rounded off the bolt. So much fun getting that off, had to destroy the housing, then find a replacement.
Another tip if your oil filter wrench is slipping with you twist it is to wrap some masking tape around the filter before putting the wrench on. It helps it grip better
Yep Ive had to take a screwdriver and a hammer to a filter. I have two different style oil filter wrenches and neither were grabbing it. Never had to do it twice on the same vehicle though. Because if I struggle it’s time for one of those k&n filters I can get on and off with standard wrench. Clean up tip. If you don’t have rubbing alcohol for getting oil off of your skin or maybe or maybe you have some but have a cut on your hand or arm . Dawn dish soap works great. It’s actually what they use to get oil off of wildlife after an oil spill.
I have a claw-type oil filter wrench that is driven by a 3/8" ratchet. It expands to fit 90% of the motorcycle and car filters out there, and is pretty low-profile, so ti fits into tight spaces. It's like having a full set of cap-style wrenches.
That's the best one. Works way better than the cap ones too because it'll bite into the filter. Works better than a screwdriver too, I can promise that.
Pro tip from a dealership lube tech, get yourself a 3 jaw universal adjustable oil filter clamp. It fits on a ratchet and will fit everything from tiny oil filters do big diesel filters. It has arms on springs that will clamp down super tight on the oil filter.
I tried it once and without having the proper equipment plus a lift, it wasn't pleasant. I opted to just take it to the dealership to have the oil changed. Kudos to all those who can, you have my respect but I will just pay someone to do it for me. Good video, learned a lot.
Curious what bike because most are relatively simple with some exceptions for poorly designed full fairing bikes (those suck). For me it is actually a time thing because on two my three bikes it takes 15 minutes for the change but about 5 minutes set up and 10 minutes clean up after. The shop the one time I did it was 90 minutes AFTER the 20 minute wait to check in. Oh, an no lift here...two tools, a drain pan and a funnel for one bike...one tool for the other...we won't mention the third bike.
Thanks, Ari. Good, practical video for the less mechanical among us like me. Would love to see a DIY video re checking/cleaning/changing air filters and checking/changing coolant. Thanks and great to see you and Zack at RevZilla now.
A proper size filter wrench is a must. Avoid straps, most won't let you torque new filters to spec with them and alot of strap wrenches won't give you enough of a throw to turn the filter in the first place because exhaust headers or frame or something will be in the way. I was working on a security company Honda ST1300 that had a stuck filter. It was a round filter so no socket attachment would work and it was so seized on the engine that when I punched a screw driver through and tried to turn it, it just ended up tearing the top half of the filter off. So use a filter that accepts a aocket attachment and torque the filter to manufacturer spec (usually 11-14Nm on most manufacturers I've seen but check your manual), not hulk tight
I really love re-watching this shop manual series. I learned a lot of this stuff the hard way when I first started motorcycling in my teens. The hacks are great & show me that there's always more to learn. Keep it up, thanks!
Great video! Heres a couple more tips for removing a stuck oil: Spray PB Blaster Penetrating Catalyst where the filter mates with the engine and let it soak for a few minutes to let it work its magic. Wipe off and clean off the filter where you will be gripping it (by hand) and it should come right off. Harbor freight also sells dedicated oil filter remov channels locks as well.
Put oil on the gasket when installing and only hand tighten, and it should come off easy... has worked for 35 years for me, i never have used a wrench on a filter
For anyone with a hard to reach oil filter I STRONGLY RECOMMEND the K&N Oil filters because they have a bolt on the end making getting them off sooo easy. My 1999 BMW 1100r oil filter slips up into a hole so a strap wrench doesn't fit and seems to be a weird size so the normal oil filter socket tool doesn't grab enough. First time I had to stab it with a screwdriver to remove it because it was your basic oil filter.
Generally I think K&N makes garbage products so I wouldn't trust them anyway, but I've heard of a few cases where that "bolt" on the end of their filters just breaks off.
Dog training pads from 99 cents or dollar tree, helps contain spills or your dogs mess, comes in Large and XL.. and great tip with the aluminum foil. Thought i was the only crazy person that did that...
Over filled at least to top of slight glass is absolutely fine. When the engine is running. Oil isn’t even visible due to pump sucking it up. Now if when on there’s still oil above site glass. Then yes that’s too much oil and will froth from crank. I always fill to top line but oil in filter and head always raise it to top of site glass. Which is fine as once one oil is pumped by more than half by oil pump.
Is it really fine bro ? I accidently rode for almost 15-20 kms with 100 ml more than prescribed (1200 ml) Now i saw its above the F line from sight glass😢
Ah great video!!! Can we have one on Sag adjustments/suspension tuning. It’s very complicated these days with the introduction on electronic suspension. It took me ages to get my head round BMW adjustments. The manual and suspension is a total mind ***k
I already know how to change my oil. But I gotta watch Ari explain it. Great videos. I usually learn something new. I think he should have mentioned the form-a-funnel though. I guess you could use aluminum foil like he did, but its easier and reusable. maybe revzilla can sell that if the dont already. works great to keep oil off the headers.
I tried the screwdriver method once. The filter was on so tight from the dealer the screwdriver shredded halfway through the filter. I eventually coaxed it off with channel locks and I keep a pair in my garage to this day to coax stubborn filters off!
One cool trick i found for getting a stuck filter off was using the awful rubber strap wrenches with a lining of sandpaper on the inside of the strap. It got a filter off that the socket had rounded off.
You can check out Stahlbus oil drain valves to avoid a big part of the mess. They are decidedly less cool than a homemade, wonky, last-resort "hack" - but they work.
It is good to see you here again my dude! Also thanks for the tips. Had to use two screwdrivers to get my last filter out XD. I would now always recommend prefilling the oil filter and have an extra bottle of oil in case your last one falls!
So well done, gang! I will share this clear and concise video with newer riders for years to come! Thanks for keeping these how-to videos upbeat and encouraging, I think it’s the best presentation for teaching, especially for nervous beginners. I also learned about the last resort, stab an oil filter with a screwdriver method from this video! I’ve never had a filter that stuck on before, but it’s good to know about any repair method that legitimately uses Trotsky assassination levels of violence!
Please don't tell people to use the screwdriver method. It's disastrous when it doesn't work. Filters usually are only stuck on because the filter gasket wasn't lubed, which is the case on a lot of brand new bikes.
Great video! If you'd need another video idea: how about checking old fluids? I mean discussing the color and smell of the old fluid that comes out of the engine / gearbox / cardan / forks / cooling system / brake system. I know what to check for on engine oil, but don't know what can go bad with the others.
Nice video. But one little tip I have is if you want to put in a 'full' bottle & a 'bit', put the 'bit' in first. If you over do the 'bit' top up the 'bit' bottle from the full one. When your 'bit bottle' is right, just chuck in the rest of the 'full' one. Filled to the mark :-) Safe riding. Dave (VFR1200 X)
The first filter I took off my NC700X was so tight that I resorted to the screwdriver through the filter trick, only to tear off the top of the filter. So if that happens, there's one more trick. Get a cold chisel, and tap it into the base of the filter, till it gets a good notch going. Then you can use a big hammer and a large flat head screwdriver to hammer that filter around. Be careful not to gouge the block.
I have found that if you let the engine cool down before you attempt to remove the oil filter, it comes off easier, or buy a K & N filter with the 17mm nut.
