I've been wondering about something for a few weeks. I changed the oil in my 250 and it calls for 4.1 quarts, conveniently just over a gallon, barely. So my question is; after draining all the oil form the engine, how much oil remains in the oil cooler and hoses? I know that not all of it drains out because the oil cooler is lower than the highest point of the oil lines. What do you guys with 250's do?

 

I don't worry about the spec. sheet. I fill the crankcase until the oil is up to the top full mark in the sight glass, start and run it. Then shut if off after checking for leaks and let it sit while I clean up and then recheck the level and top off as necessary so that sucker is full when I start riding again. I also check the level before each day of riding and top off as necessary, that's what the partial oil bottle is for sitting on the shelf next to the quad in the shop.

 

yeah that's what I did, add oil 'till it's between the lines. I ended up not using the whole gallon so that's when I realized that there must still be oil in the cooler and lines. I just wanted to see what other people did. thanks

 

Lownranger,
I have a '03 AC 250 4x4, and when I bought it new from the dealer, he recommended changing the oil with 0w-40 AC synthetic. I was skeptical, but he showed me that it covered my warranty, and I'd only have to change it once a year( an AC publication, which I kept ). I bought the Change Kit: a gallon of oil , a filter, and a spout for the oil jug. When I changed my oil after break-in, it took almost the gallon to fill the case to the full mark.
After riding for a year, I did the same drill. Same amount of oil ( I added the bit I had left to the bit I had from last year; maybe in 15 years or so I'll have enough to change the oil for free!) I didn't have to top up the motor this year, we'll see this year if I have to.

BEAN

 

Hey 'baby', how many miles do you have on a 'year' of use? I put the synthetic oil in ours too at about the 400 mile mark. Then we went on vacation(s) and put on about 7-800 miles. Now I'm thinking about changing the oil again - as soon as I can shovel my way back to where we keep them - and once the temp gets acceptable for outdoor oil changing.

 

My dealer advises me that the synthetic oil is good for double the miles of standard oil. So that's 600 miles between changes. I like to swap out the filter at 300 miles and top off the oil system. The filter has the dirtiest oil in the engine. I could never go a year between oil changes as I average 500 miles every 2 months.

 

I probably don't put that many miles on my wheeler, maybe 500 miles a year so far. When I changed my oil this NOV, it didn't look that bad. It looked about like my truck oil looks at 1000 miles.

BEAN

 

Jeez Bear, it sounds like you commute on your machine[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img].

The people who work at the local dealer (where I did not buy our machines) are all young kids. The shapely, cute, but not-so-smart babe who works the parts department told me she thought the synthetic oil thing was a waste of money. Sharp as a marble, that girl...

I had heard (and this has been 'discussed' to death on the forum) that the synthetic oil will not break down at high engine temps like regular oils do, and my air cooled Cats would definitely benefit from it. Makes sense to me so I'm in. The longer time between oil changes just seems to me to be a common sense issue, but the 'how long' between changes is probably up for debate. Since changing oil is a pain, the longer the better - ha.

 

MrTommy, I don't commute anymore as I found it bad for my health. I found the Seattle/Puget Sound riders group on this forum, a very active bunch of riders and posters. Just look at their thread on the 'Where to ride" forum, over 825 pages and better than 16,500 posts. I get to ride alot because my weekdays are also free and I have been on a ride with the "group" 5 out of the last 8 weekends, plus one ride on a wednesday with 3 group members. I have also been on several rides with some of my local boys and girls around the loacal area. Yeah, I am spoiled when it comes to riding. Plus like you, my wife rides with me alot when her work allows. The '05 400 has over 400 miles and 36.5 hours on it aready. So, to me the synthetic oil makes sense. The synthetic oils were developed for jet engine because the heat from the things just destroyed regular oil. Yeah, sounds like your parts counter cutie is just that, a cutie.