Oil Change

[Gavin]

http://www.amazon.com/Royal-Purple-Performance-Synthetic-Motorcycle/dp/B000E2B292/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1361662588&sr=8-1&keywords=10w+30+motorcycle+oil

Synth motorcycle oil...wet clutch approved. If you're an Amazon Prime customer, like me, free 2 day shipping and no tax...

I'm going to order some now for when I get my Empulse (I hope to get to 600 miles the first week I have it )

Gavin

[7racer]

damn! nice find!  When I search Royal Purple all I could find was 20-50!  ordering now!

[FreepZ]

Thanks for finding that Gavin. I've ordered a couple of quarts for my oil change.

[Gavin]

No problem

I ordered some too...and don't even have a bike yet...


I halfway fear Brian or Adam coming here and telling me I picked the wrong oil


Gavin

[Shinysideup]

I think the 43 NM torque value for the oil drain plug may be a little high...

Does the plug use a crush washer? 

Yep, Adam chimed in on another thread with the missing Brammo torque value for the oil drain bolt: 25 Nm.

There is a crush washer. Don't have to change those every time, but they're cheap enough that I always do.

[FreepZ]

Just to close out this thread, the correct torque values for the transmission were posted on a different thread:

Here are the torque specs need for changing your oil.

•   Oil Drain Plug – 25Nm
•   Oil Fill Plug – 15Nm
•   Oil Check Screw – 11Nm

In a previous post I said that the oil capacity is about 1.15L when in fact you should only use about 1.0L when changing you oil. Let me know if you have any additional questions.

Also, info about the oil change is on the wiki:
http://www.brammoforum.com/wiki/index.php?title=Empulse_Oil_Change

[FreepZ]

I did my first Empulse Oil Change! w00t!

From that experience, I've updated the wiki page (with picture too).

http://www.brammoforum.com/wiki/index.php?title=Empulse_Oil_Change

I'll be curious to know what the metal particles collected on the magnetic drain plug will look like the next time I change my oil. There was about 2 grams of metal on there.
Note that I waited until 963 miles before I could change the oil (since it took me a while to get that 10W-30 stuff), so it's possible that my oil was particularly bad.

[protomech]

Very nicely done, FreepZ.

[BrammoBrian]

I'll be curious to know what the metal particles collected on the magnetic drain plug will look like the next time I change my oil. There was about 2 grams of metal on there.
Note that I waited until 963 miles before I could change the oil (since it took me a while to get that 10W-30 stuff), so it's possible that my oil was particularly bad.

This isn't a sign of anything bad.  Most of the metal particles comes from the wear of your metallic clutch plates, which share the same oil with the rest of the gearbox. 

[00049 (AKA SopFu)]

And there's no oil filter to clean that up before you see it during draining!

[Shinysideup]

Well done, Sir!

You may want to add in something (and a picture!) about wearing gloves: dirty oil is absorbed through the skin and is a known carcinogen. At least that's what it says on the side of my oil bottles.  According to the EPA: Exposure to very high levels of used oil can cause skin rashes, headaches and tremors. Our tranny oil probably isn't "very high level" but as far as cancer goes: "zero tolerance" agrees with me.

Nitrile gloves are a good alternative for those who have (or want to prevent) an allergy to latex. They are also slightly more durable.

Polyurethane gloves are cheaper and more flimsy.

Heavy butyl rubber chemical gloves work, but I wouldn't want to do brain surgery with them on! These are best if you're working with solvents. Nitrile and latex gloves will not stand up to acetone and many other solvents. But then, I don't want to breathing solvents either.

I remember the old days when I used to wash out air cleaners in a bucket of gasoline with my bare hands. Didn't affect me. Didn't affect affect me. Didn't affect me me me.

[7racer]

I just did this oil change at 250 miles.  I know way early.

Anyways, I would suggest that everyone fill from that breather tube.  It is a royal PITA to get to the fill spot, even with that harbor freight gizmo (didn't work at all).

I know Brammobrian stated that the amount of particles where normal so I fear that when I post these pictures there will be a run on early oil changes.  But here you can see what it looks like after 250 miles.  And what it looks like mostly cleaned off.

[Richard230]

I have never seen that much metallic debris during my 50 years of changing engine oil and separate transmission oil.  I don't see how that ferrous material could come from the clutch, unless the clutch uses steel friction plates, instead of the more typical cork-type material. 

I was just reading an article in the January issue of Sport Aviation that begins on page 30 and discusses metallic debris found in the oil of private aircraft engines.  It shows a photo of 1/4 oz of metal debris (which looks just like your photo) on page 33 that if found in the oil filter of a Lycoming aircraft engine would require the engine to be disassembled and inspected for severe wear and possible rebuild.

If it was me, I would be changing oil every few hundred miles until the debris goes away.  If that stuff got into the transmission's bearings, it couldn't be a good thing.

[implovator]

While that is a lot of debris, I'm not really worried for the following reasons:

• I've never owned a bike without an oil filter and I suspect that oil filters catch as much or more debris during break-ing.
• In this transmission, debris should settle as sediment pretty well and is not likely to circulate since the oil is not pumped but rather picked up by gears.
• There are no crank bearings or piston rings in this application, and those are the surfaces that I worry about most in an ICE engine.
• I tend to not worry until I see chunks.

Regardless of my positive thinking, it was my intention to change the oil well before 600. The miles are going by pretty fast though, so chances are I'll change it this weekend with maybe 650 on the clock. If I find anything different, I'll post up pics.

[Gavin]

The wiki page looks great...thanks!!

Gavin