I know that this topic has been hit before, but it was my first experience with it. Did my 1st oil change yesterday, supervized by my boyfriend who is an experienced rider(Honda XR 650) and mechanic. We were both silenced by the spring. We first thought of tipping the bike over, but then came up with a few more ideas. He thought of the grease idea, and I asked if it was okay to put that in there. I came up with the idea of using some sort of string to suspend the spring as we slid the filter in and then pull the string out. That was what we went with. Quirky though.

I read some posts on this after the fact. Got a few laughs out of it, Thanks! . Glad to know that I was not the first to struggle with this one!

LG

 

next time just lay the bike on its side.... dumps the gas out of the carb but works fine... ive done it every change..

 

A bit more professional way of keeping the spring from dancing around on you is to apply a small amount of grease to the spring and then install it. Remember, a little dab will do ya'!

Another way is to deform one end of the spring so it "locks" into place.

Both work much better than spilling gas everywhere by laying the bike on it's side.

Hope this helps.

 

but marty the gas cleans the oil stains off the floor....lol j/k....

 

Oil stains on the floor? What is that all about? Do you tip the bike on it's other side before removing the oil filter?

I have a friend of mine that works for a large to remain unamed railroad. He keeps me supplied with a roll of "Haz-Mat" oil absorbtion matting so that never happens!

 

might not be the best way but i held the spring in place and slapped the cover on real quick lol

 

my garage is used to change oil on my wifes car and my truck .. so ... im not always the cleanest when it comes to changing oil....lol

 

LOL, good ole centrifugal force! (or something like that ) I know what ya mean though.

 

His thought was correct. There are quite a few motor oils that actually use grease as an additive. A small dab won't hurt a thing.

 

Too funny...

I ended up using a rubber band that i cut so, like you, once the spring was in place, I just pulled it out one side.. that seemed to work fine and seems to keep the 'hasmat' folks happy.....

Also, I will put 1.3 qts of oil in vs the 1.5 qts (approx 1.5 ltrs) they recommend with the filter change (I do lean the bike forward to get the oil out of the filter area...into the oil pan...) since that seems to be the right amount of oil once its run for a bit, filled the filter area and settled.

Dave