Engine oil level question

In the process of finally changing the oil. My Clymer manual states that the engine can take up to 3.9 quarts when removing the drain plug and oil filter, or 3.2 quarts if only removing the drain plug and not the oil filter. I removed the main drain plug and the oil filter. After doing this I put 3 quarts of Mobil 1 synthetic motorcycle oil. I've let it settle for quite some time now, and it seems that it's already up to the full line at only 3 quarts - Should the clymer manual read 2.9 quarts rather than 3.9 quarts? Is the Clymer manual just plain wrong, or am I overlooking something?

Post edited by: sakiguy, at: 2006/01/09 22:32

Start it and let it idle for a minute or two. Shut it down and give it time to drain back down. It should read lower after that.

Thanks, that definitely did the trick. First time the oil's been changed since I had the bike and I've gone over 6,000 miles. Going to try to do it every 3,000 now. I used synthetic oil thinking that I'm going to get more performance and possibly even prolong the life of the engine. I wonder however if it truly is better than regular motorcycle oil. Were talking about a $6 difference per bottle here. Am I just wasting money or do you guys think synthetic is better?

i run mobil 1 in my truck but i have never used it in my bikes, allways heard not to but dont know why

The place where you put the oil is the cavity that holds the clutch. It is pretty much separated from the area under the pistons except for the connecting oil pan. If you were to drain your oil and remove and toss the filter, then take your engine out and rock it on the pan, you would find that between 1/2 qt and a quart of oil will come out. Oil also hides up in the cylinder head / cam area and doens't come out when you remove the filter. This is normal. Warm your bike BEFORE removing the drain plug and filter. Let the thing drain for at least 1/2 hour. You will get a bit more old oil out if you rock the bike a bit as well.

Also, when you fill, you DO need to run the bike some and the oil will get to the odd parts where it doesn't initially flow and then you can put in almost a 1/2 qt more.

The filter is completely independent of the oil you add. Oil only fills the filter after the engine is started. That's where the majority of your oil drop comes from, because from there till the next change the filter will be full of oil at all times. As to synthetic, guys have claimed oil leaks caused by running it. I've never run it, but would think there would be no problem. I did run the semi-synthetic Golden Spectro on the long 10,000 mile rides I used to do and it worked great. For everyday riding I'll just stay with regular oil.

Regular oil is fine. Synthetic oil is more hi-temp resistant. If your bike runs hot or you live in death valley then an air cooled bike might benefit from it.

10,000 mile trip, nice. Most I've done is a 400 mile trip - Las Vegas and back. Going to head down to San Diego in spring and do a nice 1,000 mile trip.

I had let the oil drain for more than half an hour. I'll try the rocking method next time.

I'm definitely going to switch to regular oil on my next oil change, and save some cash.