My First DIY Oil Change

[cearley]

I decided that I would lower the cost of owning my RT by doing my own oil changes. No point in giving all that cash to the dealer for something I could handle myself. Besides I like to be hands on when it comes to my ride. After reading all the tips on this forum I knew it was doable, so I went and got all the goodies I would need to GIT ER DONE. First thing I need was a set of ramps. Found Rino ramps at Walmart for around 50 bucks. Then I ordered a case of 12 Royal Purple 10-40 Max-Cycle from Amazon for $134. I got a bargain at a little over 11 bucks a quart compared to the almost 16 bucks the local auto parts store sell them for.Wow the savings are adding up fast :yes:. Then I figured as long as I am gonna do this I should get the new upgraded filters for the engine and transmission, so it's off to the dealer 84 miles round trip. I got the new tranny filter housing and was admiring it when I noticed that it didn't come with the O-ring. To my surprise the 2 O-rings I ordered cost nearly as much as the new filter housing. :shocked: The total was around 25 bucks for all not counting the 1/2 a tank of gas and 2 hrs travel time.
Yesterday afternoon UPS shows up with my oil around 5:00 PM. Damm!! I wasn't supposed to arrive untill sometime today. If I had know it was coming sooner I would have started prepping the bike:yikes:. So after supper I decide to dig in and start saving all that money I've been dreaming about. Figured I would knock off that puppy in no time. I got the mirror and side panels off lickety split. Then got stumped with those dumb darn plastic rivet thingys that hold the oiltank grill to the frame. The top one came out easy enough, but who was the evil bastard who thought installing the lower ones upside down inside the frame :cus:. After fooling around for for what seemed like 2 hours ( was more like 10 minutes) I got the rear lower one out. :yes: I was about to start struggling with the front rivet when I realized that all I had to do was swivel the grill out of the way by pivoting on the front rivet. YAY I discovered a short cut, an all by my self. Sometimes I'm so smart I amaze my self:joke:. Now I look inside to see where the oil filter housing is located and OMG look how deep that thing is buried in there. I don't have anything that will reach that !! Time for some Yankee ingenuity. Start diggin through my tool box for a way out. I was lucky enough to have 2 sets of millimeter allen keys so I ground the L end off of the 5 MM key and taped it into a 5 MM 1/4 " drive socket and walah I can now reach the oil filter housing. There I go amazing myself again. This is starting to become a habit. It was only after I cracked the bolts loose on the housing that I remembered something about removing the bottom splash pan to access the filter housing.:banghead:.
Too late the oil is already drooling it's way out of the filter housing, so I just let it do it's thing while I try to look underneath to see how to get to lower pan off. After assessing the situation I made the brilliant decision to not remove the lower pan. Lucky for me I have small hands and I managed to remove and re-install the oil filter in spite of the tight space. I had to pull the splash pan down with one hand and manuver the filter in and then the housing. The transmission filter's lower bolt being blocked by the frame required a drilled hole in the frame as suggested by Lamont. Thanks Lamont!! That tip alone save me lots of grief. Now that its done I can look back and be thankful it's over, at least for close to 5000 miles from now. I should recover my investment in the next oil change, assuming I don't go broke trying to save more money. LOL

 

[Bob Denman]

:congrats: You are much braver than I am... :shocked: :bowdown:

 

[pellcitypete]

Am I missing something I changed the oil on my 2011 rt-s and didn't have to remove any mirrow.Is it differant(oil changing)on differant models? pete

 

[StanProff]

Am I missing something I changed the oil on my 2011 rt-s and didn't have to remove any mirrow.Is it differant(oil changing)on differant models? pete

Mine is a RT S SM5 so I don't have the trans filter. I didn't remove any panels or mirrors. Using the Lamont method (Bottom splash pans already gone) I went at it by pulling it up on the rino ramps so I could get under it and removed only the small panel at the oil tank. The only tricky part was getting to the one allen on the oil filter cover, I found that by changing my position under the spyder I could feel and almost see the bolt to get it on and off. Not really a problem. My biggest problem was getting the oil tank drain broken loose. Man that thing was tight!

 

[cearley]

Same here. I really had to grunt to get the drain plugs out of the oil tank as well as the engine. Yes the mirror had to come off to remove the upper panel. The upper panel sits on top of the lower so it must come off. One other thing I didn't like when I saw it was how close the exhaust pipe is to the gas tank. I may consider wrapping that section in the future. If the pipe turned down sooner BRP could take the indent out of the gas tank and increase the capacity.

 

[NancysToy]

I do remove the mirror and all the side panels. I prefer to open things up for a thorough inspection at each service interval. It can be done without removing the mirror and upper panel by bending and using the right tools, but it is just as easy to take off the panels, IMO.

If the OP is talking about the fasteners on the lower, black splash deflectors, they are not plastic rivits. There are tabs on the deflector that go over push darts on the Spyder. These must be carefully pried loose from the free end. Be careful...it they break off the deflector where they bend, the deflector needs to be replaced. Aslo be careful to engage the hooks on the front of the deflector first, when replacing it.

 

[Dudley]

Same here. I really had to grunt to get the drain plugs out of the oil tank as well as the engine. Yes the mirror had to come off to remove the upper panel. The upper panel sits on top of the lower so it must come off. One other thing I didn't like when I saw it was how close the exhaust pipe is to the gas tank. I may consider wrapping that section in the future. If the pipe turned down sooner BRP could take the indent out of the gas tank and increase the capacity.[/QUOTE

You don't have to remove the mirror or upper panel to remove the lower painted panel.