Any oil level fudgery on the busas?
- Thread starter Flows
- Start date
dcnblues
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Even if advised to, don't look at the sight glass with the bike on the kickstand. You may get some advice to do so, but I think that stems from a poorly written or translated early shop manual.
Bike needs to be held level and balanced (front or rear stands may throw off the accuracy).
Fill it to mid level, run the engine until it's warm (and flowing through your new filter) then top off to whatever makes you comfortable. I like three quarters up the sightglass.
Bike needs to be held level and balanced (front or rear stands may throw off the accuracy).
Fill it to mid level, run the engine until it's warm (and flowing through your new filter) then top off to whatever makes you comfortable. I like three quarters up the sightglass.
Doesn’t the motor require four quarts of oil after an oil and filter change?
Arghem, yep for one of the most moded bikes on the planet... A mass production factory can only ever create a canvass. Mine was assembled by some kind of local uber guru for one of this countries most 'particular' and it was definitely top of the sight glass from the first change. I'll have a chat with him and see what the thinking was there. Sounds like oil pressure, flow, distribution, cooling, cavitation, aeration etc. are not a thing on the busas like some of those are on the Zeds.
Berlin Germany
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the following photo is just intended to show what is definitely the wrong position / orientation of a motorcycle to check the engine oil level.
i post it because - sorry - your question sounds like you have
only super little or no experience
with repairing/maintaining a bike.
get the fitting damn manual 2 ur busa and read it word by word !
and pls
get the right torque wrench esp. for the litte M6 steel screws that enter the alu (clutch cover etc.) - ONLY 10 Nm allowed !!!
The sight glass has two lines on it-make sure the oil level is between those two lines and you are golden...I check the oil with the bike on the side stand with blocks of wood under it and I put a level on the tank...
Easy-peasy.......
Filled to low line in sight glass
(after engine is warm, and oil has had a couple minutes to settle, bike upright)
is 3.25 quarts
Filled to middle line is 3.5 qts
Filled to upper line is 3.75 qts
4 qts will fill the window.
More than 4 qts is overfilled.
(after engine is warm, and oil has had a couple minutes to settle, bike upright)
is 3.25 quarts
Filled to middle line is 3.5 qts
Filled to upper line is 3.75 qts
4 qts will fill the window.
More than 4 qts is overfilled.
Haha, nope, ex mechanic, worked on race teams including land speed record attempts, had cars on the cover of magazines, currently finishing off my own plane. Very technically capable but always assume I know nothing as there is an interesting tip, trick and gotcha in every machine and there is no substitute for experience on type. Also a self confessed fussy prick, which I know for a fact has saved a few lives in my time, there is no machine of any sort that I have not found needed fixing or fudgery directly from the factory. In my experience it is always up to the owners to finish the painting. Factory design engineers inevitably have commercials and marketing kybosh at least some of their good work... That's me /confessional. Now Berlin, that might be exactly the right inclination by the time you get it down here.
Good data 6, cheers.
I’ll answer my own question, yes! It’s worked for me since 2006 and nearly 82,000 miles. I drain a gallon minus maybe a half cup if that much, and add a gallon.
dcnblues
Registered
Almost forgot because I used to do this wrong. The oil drain bolt has a crush washer. The flat side goes against the bolt, not the engine case. It's the round side that deforms, so that's what you want against the case.
Yep thanks, also with rolled washers the edge faces the hardest material.
Couple of ticks I picked up from doing the first one just now:
Good to see the guy before me had applied silicon grease to the faring connectors
Those closeups are to help anyone know which way to gently twist and tweak to release them.
Reach around with the flat of the trim tool you used to pop the push clips to push (not pull) the back mushroom. Keeps the process under control.
Couple of layers = no drips on the headers
Leave the filter off to drain so long as you are not in a windy / dusty workshop
Tipping the bike from side to side gets more out of the galleries / cooler lines.
I usually flush a splash of new oil through as well.
Sump plug goes in last.
Quick and dirty borescope while the plug is off.
Fill the filter up! You are only going to spill a tiny bit if you get it on slick.
For the obsessively retentive or is it anally compulsive (?) you can cut the filter and run your neodymium magnet stack and 10x magnifiers over the media to see what you can pick up on. You can even take a oil sample analysis if you are a big data type.
One thing I will say is I need some serious convincing that that filter needs to be done up to 20NM! Even high vibe direct drive aircraft engine don't need more than 15NM. I don't know any motorcycle mechanics that feel comfortable doing them up that tight either and it is more than twice what I would normal do. They tend to tighten with pressure and age as well. Maybe it is a high revving / high vibe inline 4 thing. Happy for someone to explain the underlying engineering. I see the filters use a finer thread but the durometer of the O-Rings is still just as soft as anything else... confused face..
I put a torque wrench on most fasteners...but I still hand tighten oil filters.
I don't trust oil pan drain bolt, or steering kneck bearing nut/jam nut torque specs either.
Brakes, suspension, internal/external engine, I always torque to spec, with anti-sieze, or medium thread-locker on most.
I try to be very precise in what I work on, but some of the specs(or designs)engineers come up with, is questionable.
My 2 cents(one cent in this economy).
I don't trust oil pan drain bolt, or steering kneck bearing nut/jam nut torque specs either.
Brakes, suspension, internal/external engine, I always torque to spec, with anti-sieze, or medium thread-locker on most.
I try to be very precise in what I work on, but some of the specs(or designs)engineers come up with, is questionable.
My 2 cents(one cent in this economy).
Lols yep, makes a massive difference if it is torqued dry, lightly lubed, thread only, head and thread, heavily lubed, graphite in that order up to 50% IIRC. There are tables for that usually it means dry but that is never going to be the case with a filter or drain plug.
Oil filter. . Half a turn from contact with housing, lubed o ring/gasket.
Sump bung. . New washer and nipped up by hand using a short 3/8 ratchet with a little extra crush on washer..NEVER EVER use torque wrench, I’ve seen too many stripped thread (in engine case) disasters from torque wrench use.
Ya think you can trust your trusty torque wrench on an aluminium badly worn thread.. think again!
Sump bung. . New washer and nipped up by hand using a short 3/8 ratchet with a little extra crush on washer..NEVER EVER use torque wrench, I’ve seen too many stripped thread (in engine case) disasters from torque wrench use.
Ya think you can trust your trusty torque wrench on an aluminium badly worn thread.. think again!
Good to see the common sense brigade in town, there is also the issue that most torque wrenches are not at all well calibrated or ch!t quality. I have a few and they are spot on and also vital for things like case through bolts but then have to be accurate. Pre torque and angle is often more accurate and then there is the holy grail of bolt stretch but that is more than a bit ott (off the topic).. Not bad for yet another oil thread 
Good to see the common sense brigade in town, there is also the issue that most torque wrenches are not at all well calibrated or ch!t quality. I have a few and they are spot on and also vital for things like case through bolts but then have to be accurate. Pre torque and angle is often more accurate and then there is the holy grail of bolt stretch but that is more than a bit ott (off the topic).. Not bad for yet another oil thread
+1
All my torque wrenches were calibrated when I bought them, and I have since at some point sent them all in for calibration.
I can get them done through work, and Snap-On doesn't charge alot to do theirs.
And stretch bolts...torque to 30%, turn 90°, back off a quarter turn, or some other pain in the azz sequence, lol...pass.
I hate those things!
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