Did My Own F3S Oil Change

[Capt. Bob]

Well, After having watched Lamonster's video and the other threads on this site related to Rotax 1330 oil changes, I was due for my annual oil change within the next couple of weeks and decided to do it this morning before the rains came to North Florida. It is kind of interesting how complicated the oil system is in a sense with all of the O-rings and things you have to do to change the oil. However, now having done it for the first time while taking my time, I am sure that subsequent changes will be much easier and not very challenging.

One thing I did concern myself with was changing out the 45 Torx and 6mm Allen bolts with a pair of Gold Plug bolts. For one thing, I wanted a magnet on the engine oil side and for another, I was not comfortable with the possibility of having one of those bolts get stripped. I followed Lamonster's recommendation of "snapping" the bolts free which makes a lot of sense in terms of preserving the bolt head as long as you have the tool fully inside of the screw head opening. However, with the Gold Plugs, I can simply use metric sockets to re-tension them and will not have to worry about stripping out Torx or Allen bolt heads. I followed the manual explicitly for setting the new Gold Plug torque values. I was delighted that with 9,000 miles on the 2015 F3S Spyder that there was virtually no shavings on the clutch/transmission magnet oil bolt. This was the third oil change that the trike has had since new.

Thanks again for everyone sharing bits and pieces over the past year of how they go about changing their own oil. It made the task pretty darn easy today and I got to learn more about the functions of my trike. Bob

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

Well, After having watched Lamonster's video and the other threads on this site related to Rotax 1330 oil changes, I was due for my annual oil change within the next couple of weeks and decided to do it this morning before the rains came to North Florida. It is kind of interesting how complicated the oil system is in a sense with all of the O-rings and things you have to do to change the oil. However, now having done it for the first time while taking my time, I am sure that subsequent changes will be much easier and not very challenging.

One thing I did concern myself with was changing out the 45 Torx and 6mm Allen bolts with a pair of Gold Plug bolts. For one thing, I wanted a magnet on the engine oil side and for another, I was not comfortable with the possibility of having one of those bolts get stripped. I followed Lamonster's recommendation of "snapping" the bolts free which makes a lot of sense in terms of preserving the bolt head as long as you have the tool fully inside of the screw head opening. However, with the Gold Plugs, I can simply use metric sockets to re-tension them and will not have to worry about stripping out Torx or Allen bolt heads. I followed the manual explicitly for setting the new Gold Plug torque values. I was delighted that with 9,000 miles on the 2015 F3S Spyder that there was virtually no shavings on the clutch/transmission magnet oil bolt. This was the third oil change that the trike has had since new.

Thanks again for everyone sharing bits and pieces over the past year of how they go about changing their own oil. It made the task pretty darn easy today and I got to learn more about the functions of my trike. Bob

" SNAPPING " the bolts free ..... I am not familiar with this term ..... I have learned from many others here that - after you put your tool on the bolt to give a good tap with a hammer to break the VARNISH seal loose ...... is this what you were referring to ?????? ..... Mike

[Firefly]

" SNAPPING " the bolts free ..... I am not familiar with this term ..... I have learned from many others here that - after you put your tool on the bolt to give a good tap with a hammer to break the VARNISH seal loose ...... is this what you were referring to ?????? ..... Mike

It basically means you get the wrench on there good and give it a good hard SNAP from the end of the wrench to break it loose rather than applying gradual pressure.

[Roadster Renovations]

One thing I also do is to tap the socket to make sure it is fully seated. Much less chance of stripping and you can get some road grunge up in there so that it doesn't seat like it should.

[Chupaca]

And you are right it will be a breeze the next time around..and now you will feel more comfortable trying other things...