I just conducted my first oil change on my new DS. What a pain in the a$s. I have never had so much oil on my bike, me, and my driveway. I pulled the plug out of the oil tank which is hell to get to and had oil going everywhere. I let the oil dran from both plugs for about an hour and then pulled the oil filter and once again oil all over my motor and totally covered my skid plate. Maybe some of you guys can give me a suggestion on how to change the oil without the mess. My girl was definetely not impressed with the quart of oil running down the driveway. I then changed the oil on her z400 without spilling a drop. It was a pleasure to change. "whats the deal?"

 

Take the hose off of the engine where it goes into the case from the tank. That makes it a bit easier to drain with out making a huge mess. As for the oil filter there is no real way around getting a bit of oil on the engine but I stick some rags under the cap when I take it off and that catches most of it. I also but rags under the hose when I take it off to keep oil from going all over the motor. It take a few times to get good at knowing where to put the rags but I can change the oil and not get but a few drops on the bike and floor. Good luck.

 

when i drain my tank i take some cardboard and make a V with it that seems to work great never get any oil on the bike but when it comes to the filter yeh i just use some rags to get all the oil and like they guys usually say clean the screen [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

where exactly is that screen? i lookd for it last time i changed the oil and couldnt find it.......

 

The screen is attached to the fitting in the bottom of the oil tank that the large suction has attaches to.

 

when you in front of the quad on the oil tank there are 2 nuts the one on the right with the hose undo that and it should be there you have to pull it out tho i know i have an 02 and i just did mine for the 1st time and it was clean as could be

 

thats exactly where i looked......... wierd.........

 

A tip for not getting oil all over when changing the oil filter is .......get a car jack or any jack or park one side on a hill, jack up the side the oil filter is NOT on and then undo it with an oil catch or pan under that side.

 

Just like Hez, after the first time I flip the left handlebar onto a chair or tire and change the filter almost horizontally.

 

Long time reader, first time writer, finally saw something I could maybe help with! I too spilled oil everywhere the first time I changed it, so I tried to rig up a funnel, that worked until the funnel filled up and overflowed, so here's what I did:

I went to home depot and bought a 3/8 (I think) ball valve, a 3/8 nipple, and a 3/8 to barb fitting. I removed the plug from the oil tank (and got oil everywhere) and installed the ball valve using the nipple. On the barb fitting I put a two foot hose. When I change the oil now I just screw the barb fitting and hose onto the bottom of the ball valve run the hose to my oil pan and open the valve. Not a single drop spilled!!! Then simply close the valve remove the hose and put the original plug from the oil tank in the bottom of the ball valve (just to keep dirt out). Then I drain the case, and to do the filter a turn the bike almost on it's side. My last oil change I used one paper towel to clean up! (not a couple of pounds of oil dry).

There's only two things that I can see wrong with this. The valve sticks down from the oil tank about 3 inches and if something (like a branch, not that I every hit any trees) gets in there it could possibly bend the tank or worse yet, break it off. And number two, the original plug from the tank has a magnet on it, so does the one on the case so I don't think it would be a big deal.

I hope this helps