HD 103 Oil & Filter

Let's now take a look at replacing the engine oil and engine oil filter. The engine oil dipstick is located on the right side of the motorcycle, immediately behind the transmission dipstick and fill location. You'll start by unthreading it, and pulling it right out of the filler spout. If you take a good look at the new style dipsticks, they are clearly marked to check the oil not only when the motorcycles level, but also there are marks on the dipstick to check it on the kickstand, both hot and cold. Real important note when it comes to engine oil: I don't like to see an engine run low on oil, but I would certainly prefer to have three-ounces or a 1/2 a quart less than three-ounces, or a 1/2 a quart more of oil in an engine.

Never overfill in engine with oil. Reason is, once the oil gets hot, circulated and expands, if there's too much, there's nowhere for it to go. The system doesn't work correctly. Chances are it'll breathe heavily out of the upper breather tubes. And you may run the risk, where the pressure builds from the excessive oil expansion, of blowing a gasket or seal.

I've removed the dipstick. I've cleaned it. I wanna just put it back into the filler spout allocation. I don't wanna thread it back down. I wanna leave it loose in the spout, but I don't wanna run the risk of any foreign contamination entering through the open spout itself with the dipstick removed.

Just having it placed there loosely will remind you to fill the oil before tightening the dipstick. Underneath the motorcycle in a forward location, the transmission drain plug would have been vertical, up and down into the frame, into the transmission case. The engine oil drain comes from the front and runs horizontal. It's just like draining the transmission. Use the 5/8 socket.

Now there is gonna be between three and a 1/2 and four quarts of oil here. So make sure you loosen the drain plug, have a good clean drain pan ready, something they can accommodate four quarts of oil, or thereabouts, and then slowly unthread it out by hand. Hold pressure against the threads, and let the oil start draining. Again, engine oil, just like any other fluid in the motorcycle, is a critical lubricant. Always do a good inspection of the fluid that you're draining, not only for quantity, especially when it comes to engine oil.

If you know you've got an approximate four-quart system, but yet when you're due to change your oil by regular maintenance schedule, you only drain out two quarts, you really better do a little research and find out where are the rest of the oil went. Was it underfilled the last oil change? Is the engine actually consuming oil during normal operation? Same will apply with this drain plug as it did the transmission. It needs to be thoroughly cleaned of any pipe sealant.

The O-ring itself can be easily removed with a 90-degree pick. Compared to the new one, make sure it's the same size, same dimension O-ring, and then discarded, make way to install a new O-ring. The thread's clean. I'll do a quick inspection of the magnet. And I come across this often.

Well, the Twin Cam Engine is primarily made of aluminum. What good is a magnet on the drain plug? What you need to remember, even though the outer portions of the engine, the cylinder fins, the cylinder head fins, the crank case are cast aluminum or extrude molded aluminum. The internals of the engine, whether it be the crankshaft, the connecting rods a handful of the internal cam mechanisms, oil pump mechanisms are made from steel. If they start to wear excessively, this little magnet is gonna be the telltale that tells you something is going awry.

If this is excessively loaded with shards of metal or chips or fragments of metal, you really need to do a little looking around to find out where it's coming from. For the most part, I very rarely see any metal contamination on an oil drain plug. The magnets are typically clean. I can then prep the threads. Just a little pipe sealant.

Set the drain plug aside. While the engine oil is draining, and I mean allow it time, so it thoroughly evacuates the oil pan, now is the time to change your engine oil filter. So what we'll do is spin the motorcycle around, get a good clear view with the oil filter, get a new filter, prepped, ready, and change the oil filter while the engine oil is draining. I've spun the motorcycle around, so we can get a clear view with the oil filter. While the engine oil is draining thoroughly from the oil pan, I'll take the time to remove the old oil filter, clean up the mounting surface and install a new oil filter.

The key with removing the oil filter, you have to use caution around the sensors, and also be aware of all the charging system, wiring, the regulator, and where the connection goes into the crankcase. Don't get it saturated with oil, and do not disturb its routing, or cause any harm to any of the wiring or the sensor itself. Obviously it is a horizontal mount filter. Once you loosen it, some oil will come out of it. I like to use a flexible style funnel.

Sometimes I'll even put a oil absorbent mat under the funnel in case any gets out of the back of the funnel. I always like to use Jims Slim Jim oil filter removal tool. It slides right in there, even with the flexible funnel in place. You grab the filter, just jar it loose. Once it's loose from the mount, you should be able to unthread it by hand.

In this process, there's two schools of thought. One, loosen it just enough, so it drains, allow it to drip, or try to loosen it very quickly, and get it away, stand it upright, and then take it away from the motorcycle. Whatever way you're more comfortable with is the way to go about it. I myself like to get it loose, try to get it free from the mount, and stand it up quickly. I can stand it up.

At that point, any residual oils captured in the filter. I've got a clean shop towel, and I can put this oil filter aside. You'll see I didn't lose that much. The residual is draining out of the flexible funnel. I'll give it a moment to drain completely before I remove the funnel.

Depending on the actual configuration of the motorcycle, a lot of times I'll leave that funnel in place. I'll make sure the mount is clean, the old gasket off the filter is removed. And with the old filter, I'll get my new filter prepped. They come sealed. I'm gonna remove the seal itself.

I'll make sure that the O-ring or the oil filter seal is in place. We'll open up a fresh quart of oil. Now these motorcycles take typically four quarts. So I've got three full to refill the oil tank, and I'll use the fourth. I'll fill the oil filter.

You're not gonna overfill it, you're just gonna fill it once. Let the filter material absorb the oil. Wet the O-ring. Now, again, there is two schools of thought. The way the oil system is designed, the oil filter itself fills almost instantly when you start the motorcycle.

I, myself, am more comfortable filling the filter, saturating the filter material, wetting the O-ring, and installing it on the motorcycle. Again, do your research. Do what you're more comfortable with. I'll check that mounting surface one more time. Make sure there's no residual.

And then I'll carefully install the new filter in front of the front cylinder. As a tip to filter, obviously, I will lose a little of the clean oil. But you thread it on quickly. Get it started. And thread it on until the seal makes contact.

And you really shouldn't be losing any more new clean oil. Once that new oil filter is snugged against the mount, I can now remove the flexible funnel. And this is a nice handy item to sneak in and out of that tight area where the filter mounts. I wanna take a moment, make sure any residual that might've escaped from the backside of the mount when we removed the original filter is wiped up clean. If you have to, you can use a little light solvent.

Take a moment and wipe up all the base of the frame. And again, when you're underneath the motorcycle cleaning and inspecting, it's also a good time to make sure any other components are in their proper location and in proper working order. Make sure, for example, this cover is correctly installed and locked into its proper location. With everything cleaned up, my hands are cleaned, dry. I just wanna grab the new oil filter, make sure that it's tight against the mount, and just give it a twist, an additional half to a full turn of tight to the mount is more than sufficient.

You don't wanna over-tighten 'em. They do expand when they get hot. And once they expand, they do seal to the mount. It's not like they're gonna leak if they're correctly tightened to the oil filter mount. With the new filter in place, filled with clean oil, I'm ready to get back to the right side of the motorcycle, install the drain plug, and fill the oil filler neck or oil spout with clean, fresh oil.

The oil change will be just about completed. With the oil fully drained out of the motorcycle, I replaced the oil filter. I can now re-install the prepped drain plug. Little bit of pipe thread sealant and a new O-ring. I'll start it in by hand.

Make sure it threads in nice and free. You can almost bottom it just by hand. I wanna remove the oil drain pan, which has almost four quarts of fluid in it. I'll set it aside. You definitely don't wanna spill this, whether it be on the lift or on the floor where you're changing your oil.

Four quarts will spread out quite a bit. I can then use the 5/8 socket, tighten up the oil drain plug until it just contacts the surface, contacts the old ring. I'll wipe up any residual, which there shouldn't be a lot. You gotta work nice and neat, nice and clean. Then I'll torque the oil pan drain plug to the factory recommended torque specification of 14 to 21-foot pounds.

Once it's torqued correctly, I'll do a final inspection, wipe up any residual. We can then return to the dipstick. I'll remove the dipstick, which we've already cleaned. Set it aside on a clean shop towel. I can then refill the engine oil with high quality, correct weight engine oil.

You don't wanna try to just spill it in. You definitely wanna use a funnel. You can use the same funnel that you use to fill the transmission. Just make sure you clean it up of any residual transmission fluid. And then the capacity of this system is between three and a 1/2 and four full quarts.

I recommend putting in three full quarts. The fourth quart, I opened, used approximately 1/3 of it to fill the oil filter before installing it. And then I'll dump the other three full quarts into the dipstick allocation, the oil spout. And as with most lubricants, always make sure you're using a high quality product. Make sure it comes from a new sealed container, and make sure that you fill carefully.

Don't spill any to the surrounding area or on the exhaust. Any oil that may be spilled, you have to clean up immediately. You don't wanna run the risk of it smoking when the engine gets warm off a hot exhaust, or possibly contaminating the rear tire. Once again, capacity is between three and a 1/2 and four full quarts of oil. I've dumped in three full quarts into the dipstick allocation.

I've used approximately 1/3 to a 1/2 a quart to fill the oil filter when I changed it. So at that point, I know I have at least three and a 1/2 quarts of oil in the motorcycle. That is sufficient to check the oil level on the dipstick. And again, the dipstick is clearly marked on jiffy stand, or with motorcycle upright, or vehicle upright, which is leveled the way it is now. I wanna just thread that dipstick right until it bottoms, unthread it, and check your reading on the dipstick.

As long as it falls within the hash marks on the dipstick in the level position, that is adequate amount of oil to start the motorcycle, let it get warm and recheck. Make sure your dipstick is screwed in and tight to the oil filler spout. And again, you can, with the way the dipstick is manufactured, check your oil level, not only cold but hot, but you can also check it with the motorcycle level, or on the kickstand or jiffy stand. Again, make yourself familiar with the motorcycle you're working on. Utilize the factory service manual, and make sure you're using the correct lubricant in the correct location.