While reading the owners manual for my SP450 I notice it says after draining the oil tank, take the hose loose, remove the screen and clean it, thus making it necessesary to prime the oil pump. Also, it says that there will be a cupful left in the engine and to drain it, you must take the plug out of the crankcase. Do you guys do all this, or just simply drain the tank and change the filter? I have yet to find the plug in the crankcase! It will be time to take my break-in oil out soon and I was just wondering about all this.

Please advise
Thanks
Benji

 

Most check the screen the first oil change. be careful and hold both nuts with a wrench, some have cracked the plastic oil tank. Also remember to reinstall with a thread sealer.

 

ha, i have a metal oil tank.

whenever i changed the oil i drained the tank, drained the crank and put a new filter on. put new oil in the tank started it up let it idle for a minute or 2. turned it off and checked the oil, and added some if it was neccisary. never had a problem

 

Yep buy the used oil take from e-bay for about 10 -20 bucks and change it.

 

what little oil is in the engine i dont bother w/ it and never had any problems myself.

 

This is all pretty much as I imagined it would be. My HD EVO has a screen that cleans the oil going to the lifters, but I only look at it about once a year.
The only thing I haven't learned from you guys is where the drain plug is on the crankcase. I have looked that sucker over several times and have not spotted it yet. Unless, it has a line attached to it and is on same side as the tank. I doubt this is it because it looks as if it has a slippage mark painted on it.

 

crawl under neith your quad, on the bottom of the motor there will be a REALLY BIG (half to 3/4 of an inch head) allen head bolt. there is your drain plug. seriously though, you dont really need to bother with it, just change the oil in the tank and the filter. there isnt even enough oil in the motor to discolor the brand new oil.

 

Benjio I hear ya, I have looked several times myself and said the same thing as all the others. Im not going to take out a cup or so of oil when it doesnt really make that much of a difference anyway.

 

Thanks for all the input. I will drain the tank, change the filter and call it good. BTW, I am really liking my ATV! I live in a rural area where I don't even have to haul it. From my garage I have my choice of 3 creeks and can be at any of them in 5 minutes. There is no law enforcement, so no hassel about riding on the streets.

 

On my 500, the crank case drain is right on the bottom facing the right side of the quad .. it's a 14mm hex head bolt.

Under the bike, there's a long slot in the skid-base, using an open-end 14mm wrench you can crack that plug and unscrew it. If you have very large hands you're going to have trouble with this. My hands aren't big by any means and I had trouble with it. Moreso with the reinstallation of the plug. I guess if you have long fingers it would be a bit easier.

All I know from the service I had to do on mine after dunking her .. I don't look forward to having to take that plug out again. Why such a large quad with such a small engine is so darn congested boggles my mind .. my Warrior was MUCH easier to work on ...

The darn filter is another thing that bugs me .. instructions state to put some rags under that area to catch the oil from the filter .. I DO like the autmotive type filter, but there should have been space under it for a catch container, or an opening in the skid base to let the oil through ..

I won't even begin to talk about changing the spark plug!!! LOL