How to get rid of excess oil

[FuzzyRider]

So I go to change the oil in my trusty steed today and everything goes well. I get oil to the middle of the sightglass, start the bike, let it drain for about 4 minutes and add in enough oil to get to max mark on the sightglass. Well, when I come home from dinner and go back into the garage to check the bike over before tomorrow's ride I notice that more oil has drained down out of the engine into the pan and now the sightglass is filled - *sigh*. So, the question is how to get oil OUT of an FJR without going through the hassle and mess of pulling the plug.

The answer? Take that old turkey baster you have in the garage, remove the bulb (which crumbles apart anyway), insert a soda straw (the kind that you can bend at the end), pull the straw through the small hole at the end of the baster tube until the ridges from the bending elbow seal the straw into the baster tube. Then insert the soda straw into the oil filler tube (you'll have the straw at an angle pointing down and towards the center of the bike) bend the straw until it goes straight down and fish around a little until you get the straw to go down into the oil pan. Put mouth over the large end of the baster tube and suck some oil up into the tube. Keeping vacuum with mouth pull the straw out of the oil filler hole and deposit the tube full of oil into an appropriate oil disposal container (we DO want to be envrionmentally friendly right, I mean we wouldn't want to just put the oil into a cup and then pour it down our shop sink would we? ). Repeat until oil is at desired level in sightglass.

Then pour the 1/8 quart too much oil that you pulled out of the bike down the drai....uhhhh...I mean put the oil in your pan that you take to approved oil disposal centers.

Honestly if I had known it was only 1/8th of a quart too high I probably would have just left it alone but since I didn't know how much was in there and I didn't know how sensitive the motor was to overfilling I went through the above process.

 

[C&C]

It probably wasn't overfilled in the first place. Perhaps some oil from the oil filter slowly settled back into the crankcase; I believe this the cause of the oil rising syndrome mentioned in past oil threads. Even though the oil filters contain an anti-drainback gasket I believe a slow drainback occurs. JMO

 

[Wicked Webby]

Ya,

I wouldn't worry too much about a slight over fill.... A lot over fill, is a different story. But yours sounds pretty slight.

WW

 

[Herkypilot]

I have a Pela oil pump I use to change the oil in my cars / lawn mower/pressure washer/remove over-fill. It can be found here: Clicky

This easily removes over-fill and then you can pour the excess into your used oil container.

Herkypilot

 

[FuzzyRider]

So apparently the consenus is that slight overfill won't cause a problem - good to know. Next time I'll leave well enough alone.

 

[tyronewildman]

4 1/4 guarts w/new fliter puts it over the top of the site glass but that's correct. After riding it(U do check that the filter "O" ring isn't leaking) check it agin with it on center stand & running & it'll have oil in the center of the glass. When U turn it off & it gets cold the oil will again fill the site glass. Just for giggles, turn your key on before filling with oil & oil level lite should be on & it'll go off somewhere between filling the 3rd & 4th quart...Later,,,De

 

[Constant Mesh]

This is silly. Just put in one gallon. Check the level after you've ridden it for a few hundred miles. If it's too low to suit you add a few ounces.

 

[abarron576]

Sounds like "much ado about nothing". It would seem like a few oz. overfill mike be beneficial it you plan to keep her up near the red line area as some oil will be "hung up" in the upper engine when winding her out.

 

[Bustanut joker]

Sounds like "much ado about nothing".

Thats what all these responses seem like :blink: I belive fuzzy was actually trying to humor us with his method of "excess oil removal" . Check the last line

Hey fuzzy I laughed, so you got through to one of us :lol:

:jester:

 

[Knifemaker]

From my understanding, and reading from the discription of the proceedure on several bikes owners manuals, I understand the process should go like this:

1. Warm the engine for several minutes.

2. Place the bike on a level surface and turn off the motor.

3. Wait about 5 minutes and check the oil level in the sightglass, Keeping the bike level.

This does not cover leaving the bike for 4 hours and checking the oil level then. After a few hours or overnight, ALL bikes will drain a bit more into the crankcase. Every owners manual I have had , said to check the oil level a short time after the bike's engine was warmed up.

Just in case the FJR was different than every other Japanese bike I have owned I got out the manual...

From the 2006 FJR's Owners Manual:

TO CHECK ENGINE OIL LEVEL

1. Place the vehicle on the center-stand.

2. Start the engine , warm it up for several minutes , and then turn off.

3. Wait a few minutes until the oil settles, and then check the oil level through the check window located at the bottom -left side of the crankcase.

S0, checking the oil level on a cold engine is not the way to go ...............

KM

 

[FuzzyRider]

Thats what all these responses seem like :blink: I belive fuzzy was actually trying to humor us with his method of "excess oil removal" . Check the last line
Hey fuzzy I laughed, so you got through to one of us :lol:

:jester:

Well I'm glad that I got at least one person to laugh at the story!

To everyone else - thanks for your comments. I don't believe there's any further need to beat this dead horse.

 

[FJRMGM]

1/2 quart too high is not going to break the engine when its running because the oil is circulating and you will never have all five quarts sitting in the crankcase at the same time.

 

[odot]

Isn't that what they call trail braking?