Xt600e Oil Change Mystery
 

Greetings.

Just thought I would share my experience of changing the oil on my Xt600e 4PT model... Tell me if its just me....

Last year just after I bought the bike I wanted to check the oil level and after following the manual procedure which says 'run it for at least 10 seconds and check' and much confusion as to why there appeared to be no oil in it at all, I worked out that running the engine is not good enough - for some reason I have to ride around on it for 10 mins to get an accurate reading.

Even then - when I'm as sure as I can be that the oil level is right - for the whole of last year if I feel bottom edge of the airbox there always seems to be an oily smear as though there is a tiny smidge seeping out...

Today - a year on - I changed both the oil and filter. Followed the manual procedure to the letter.... First odd thing was that only about 2.1L of oil came out - I say odd since the manual told me to put 2.8L in I assumed 'about' 2.8L would come out. Its not been burning oil - things only done 6k miles since new - it was definitely filled correctly last time - and the tiny quantities in the airbox wouldn't add up to 0.7L even over a year!

2nd odd thing was that when I got to about 2.1L on the refill - the oil tank was 'full up' and it started overflowing out of the filler hole. So having learned from last years experience, I put the filler cap on, ran the engine for a couple of mins to pump it round a bit - the oil level then went right down and so I carried on filling the oil up to the 2.8L specified in the manual. Ran the engine again & measured the oil level - as per previous experience - despite engine having been run - nothing on the dipstick. Rode round a few lanes for 30 mins, came back, measured the oil - bang on 'max' on the dipstick.

I bought this bike for the character, but it seems even doing basic jobs like changing the oil have character !!!!

Am I normal ?

Andy

There are two drain plugs. One where you'd expect, under the engine, and the other in front of the frame. The bolt thats dead front and center above the bash plate. When you remove this, hold a container close because the oil is gonna fly out! These two plugs will get all the oil out.

Yup 2 drainplugs.

If you overfill the engine, the oil eill end up in the airbox when you get the engine nice and hot.

As you've discovered, you need to check the oil when the bike is fully warmed up.

Cheers for your replies chaps. Yep - know about the 2 drain plugs. Like I said - I just followed the instructions in the manual... I drained them both - left it for a couple of hours with both open and the filler cap off just to be sure...

I presumed oil in airbox would be a sign of overfilling - but doesn't explain why its doing this when according to dipstick the oil level is OK (as checked immediately after 30 mins of riding) ? Is it normal on this model to always have a tiny little bit of oil in the airbox or is it a sign that something is wrong ?

A bit is okay, theres even a draintube for the airbox.

You can poor oil in the bike, faster than it can "drain" down in the bike. I've also stood there with oil going everywhere from the fillerhole.


I usually poor 1,5-2ltr in, and let it sit for 1-2min while i clean up the tools and all, and then top op with the rest.

even with both drain plugs removed not all the oil comes out :nono: the xt cases are designed differently to most engines due to the way the oil is scavenged and pumped, the only way to get all the oil out is to lean the bike right over on both sides as there are baffles/wells in the cases that hold quite a lot of oil :innocent: its designed so that the pump is allways primed and the gear box is never dry at start up :thumbup1:

i also repeat the leaning the bike over both sides after filling before start up for the same reasons :thumbup1:

On my XTZ660 the manual says to `bleed` the oil filter housing after an oil change by loosening a nut and making sure oil comes out whilst the engine is run. I think yours is probably the same.
I have read the many posts about this daft design feature and for the last year I have been checking and topping up from cold and it seems to work fine on my bike:thumbup1:.
My bike uses about a litre of oil every 1000 miles which is not unusual for a big single but bl00dy expensive! Love it to bits though. Took it on a round trip of 230 miles to Epsom today without hitting reserve and I was cruising at 70-80 most of the way.

Oilconsuption like that isnt really normal, mine uses about 100ml at 1500km or so, and my bike has 75.000km on it.