Road Trip Oil Change, again…

Another day of mostly relaxing and helping out the family we were staying with.

I had just changed the oil in Montana but the bike was having all kinds of problems with the new oil so it was time to dump it and put in something better.  I put in Shell Rotella T synthetic then.

At first it ran great, butter smooth shifting and ran much quieter etc.  But over a few long hard days shifting had gotten rougher and rougher to where I was having to double clutch a lot of the time to get it into gear, and the oil level stayed fine.   After prolonged high speeds the bike would develop this god awful whine, using a screwdriver to my ear I tracked it down to the cam chains.  It was bad enough that on the highways I couldnt even hear the pipes over the screeching of the engine. It literally sounded like I was running a turbo in there somewhere, it was bad.  But then after it cooled off overnight, everything would go back to normal and it’d be quiet and smooth as can be untill the bike warmed up several hours later.

As many of you know my bike’s probably had the most leaks of anyone here due to my stupidity er.. stubbornness to ride when its below 0.  I’ve had leaks from all of the common areas in addition to the bottoms of both jugs, the stator grommets, both sides of the crankcase and more I should probably just change my nickname from lynx to leaks heh.  Well afer much work (years) I was able to fix all my leaks and with no riding in cold temps this winter they have stayed fixed,  that was until I ran that damn Shell Rotella T 5w-40 synthetic.   I started getting seeps from everywhere all over again.  I felt bad for leaving lots of oil drips all over the nice concrete driveway I was parking in,  even when it was leaking before it never left quarter to silver dollar sized spots.  All my leaks came back with a vengeance all at once.   @#$%!!

Time to get rid of that shit.   How to change the oil on the road:  Lasanga pan and a big flat rock from the neighbors yard.

With the bike a little more level you can put the 17mm wrench on a few inches above the ground and it will hang there.

Then just step down on the wrench to loosen it and do the rest by hand.  Piece of cake, no lift needed.

I didnt change the filter in Montana because I was in too much of a hurry then and I already had gotten a mild leak from under the oil filter plate then.  When I had gotten the tire put on back in NM I let the dealer change the oil, since its free to me and in the 3 yrs they’ve been doing it always done a good job. Until now.  I knew I shouldn’t have let them touch it when I saw that new tech in the back.

They really over-torqued these f’ers and stripped out the center one, dammit.    Tip:  a box end wrench can be used as a cheater for more leverage in a pinch like this, or hooking two wrenches together.

Got the oil changed, this time the only thing I could find was Casterol GTX 20w-50, and hosed off the bike real well to watch for more leakage.  All my oil leaks magically vanished and in 5000 more miles have not resurfaced,  except for the oil filter plate that leaked a bit all the way home from the stripped out screw.    Dealer did make it right when I got home and bitched, they re-tapped it and put in a timecert.

I know that Rotella T synth is real popular on this board and I hope I dont break any hearts or start a flame war saying its total crap and I’m never putting it in my engine again.  I think a lot of it comes down to my previous oil leaks and that stuff just being too thin for this hard of use.