changing oil on a 2008 yzf450

[andybudlight2001]

I don't want to sound like an iddiot but here it goes. I just bought an 08, rode 2 times. I was changing the oil step by step from the owners manual. I drained all the oil, replaced the oil filter and buttoned everything up. I added almost 2 quarts of oil and nothing was reading on the dipstick. So i added a little more, The dipstick never read anything. So now i have a whole buch of oil in the bike but the dipstick is dry. Any help would be appreciated.

[Wiz636]

Drain the oil back out. Refill with the correct amount per the manual. Start the bike and let it run for a few moments, shut off. Then check the dipstick.

[grayracer513]

First, before you run the bike, drain all that oil out and start over. Then, read the manual again. You missed at least one step.

Your bike has a dry sump oiling system. Unlike cars and Hondas, the oil is not stored in the crankcase, but in a separate reservoir or tank. It gets pumped from there to the important places, then drains back to the bottom, then gets picked up by a second pump and sent back to the tank.

In the '06-'08, the tank is cast into the front of the engine. The dip stick goes there, and the drain is the one near the front on the left side. The crankcase drain is behind the frame rail on the right side rear of the engine. You must drain both volumes to do the oil change correctly. Now, here's the twist: Yamaha has you refill the oil by adding it back to the crankcase, instead of the tank, so there is no oil where the dipstick lives until after you run the engine. That's what you missed.

Drain the oil, service the filter, then add back 1.07 quarts (34 ounces). Then, start the engine and run it for about one minute, shut it down and give it another 30 seconds or so, and THEN check the dip stick.

[k0ncept]

First, before you run the bike, drain all that oil out and start over. Then, read the manual again. You missed at least one step.

Your bike has a dry sump oiling system. Unlike cars and Hondas, the oil is not stored in the crankcase, but in a separate reservoir or tank. It gets pumped from there to the important places, then drains back to the bottom, then gets picked up by a second pump and sent back to the tank.

In the '06-'08, the tank is cast into the front of the engine. The dip stick goes there, and the drain is the one near the front on the left side. The crankcase drain is behind the frame rail on the right side rear of the engine. You must drain both volumes to do the oil change correctly. Now, here's the twist: Yamaha has you refill the oil by adding it back to the crankcase, instead of the tank, so there is no oil where the dipstick lives until after you run the engine. That's what you missed.

Drain the oil, service the filter, then add back 1.07 quarts (34 ounces). Then, start the engine and run it for about one minute, shut it down and give it another 30 seconds or so, and THEN check the dip stick.

:D

Just as he said..

[Justin89]

Just make sure you let it sit as Gray said because I made that mistake when i first got my bike... the oil started comming out of the dipstick hole because i checked the oil right after killing the engine. Rookie mistake, I know!

[freerideyz250]

The manual also states, running the engine briefly prior to doing an oil change. Is that necessary, and if so, what is the function of it?

[grayracer513]

It does a number of things. One is that it whips up some of the sediment that settles to the bottom of things so that it is more likely to be drained than stay in the engine. Another is that it pre-lubricates the engine, which can be important since, as we already noted, there is no oil in the tank when the engine is first started after an oil change. That means that there will be no feed oil until some has been returned to the tank by the oil system, and that oil has been pumped though in a large enough quantity of fill the empty oil filter well and run through the oilways. That could take 15 seconds or so.

One more thing; loosen the dip stick when draining the "tank" on the later bikes. They won't drain well otherwise.