Oil Change Attempt

mandyscoots · Post by **mandyscoots** » Sat May 10, 2008 1:56 am

I am going to try to attempt to change my motor oil and gear oil.
I need to know what type of oil I should get. I saw on the oil change tutorial that synethic oil may be better after break in? My buddy has about 850miles on it. Name brands would be great info and weights.
Where can I get this? Do I have to buy it special or can I just get it at like napa, or shucks or something?

Sparky · Post by **Sparky** » Sat May 10, 2008 2:32 am

Well, unless the dealer already did a first service, you should take it into a Genuine dealership to keep the warranty valid.

This thread has the details on the gear oil and engine oil change. If this is the first oil change, you will need a replacement spin on oil filter. Be *sure* to torque it down properly, using a torque wrench if at all possible.

The oils involved are pretty standard. The engine oil recommended by the manual is 15W40. This is "diesel engine" oil, although it is perfectly fine for gasoline engines. Asian scooter companies tend to use this sort of oil because it is formulated to work in heavy-use and industrial applications; considering the punishment a high-revving scooter engine dishes out to oil during stop and go traffic, this is a consideration. The most common "name brand" 15W40 oils are Shell Rotella B (which you can get at any Shell station) and Mobil 1. You can use the more common 10W40 you can find at most powersports/motorcycle dealerships.

Gear oil is 85W140. This is somewhat less common than 90 weight gear oils used in other motorcycle and scooter transmissions. NAPA should have a bottle of 75 or 85W140 somewhere. It is also used, I believe, for marine applications in the transmissions of outboard motors. Any boating or personal watercraft store should have the stuff.

After break-in, either full or semi-synthetic is a good idea. "Dino" oil will work perfectly well in a pinch. The synthetic stuff does give you an extra cushion when it comes to break-down over time. I believe Genuine says that you can go 1600 miles on synthetic vs. 1000 miles on mineral based oil in a Buddy engine.

mandyscoots · Post by **mandyscoots** » Sat May 10, 2008 2:35 am

I bought my Buddy used so there is no warranty.
Thank you for the advice.

Post by **ericalm** » Sat May 10, 2008 7:07 am

mandyscoots wrote:I bought my Buddy used so there is no warranty.
Thank you for the advice.

Was the first service done on the Buddy when you bought it? if not, you may want to take it in to the dealer this time. this service includes a bunch of other checks in addition to an oil change.

mandyscoots · Post by **mandyscoots** » Sat May 10, 2008 9:02 am

The person I bought it from had not had anything done with it and I have put almost 300 miles on it since I've had it.

From everyone's posts about oil changes, I am long overdue. I was thinking it would be better to take it to the dealer too, I can't drive it there, and I was just really nervous about getting it in the back of the truck, that is why I posted another thread about the best way to get it in there.
When I brought it home I just rented a trailer because I was so scared to get it in the back of the truck. But I think it is rediculous to rent one again just to go get an oil change. Ecspecailly if we own a truck.

Thanks for the input though.

jmazza · Post by **jmazza** » Sat May 10, 2008 2:52 pm

mandyscoots wrote:The person I bought it from had not had anything done with it and I have put almost 300 miles on it since I've had it.
From everyone's posts about oil changes, I am long overdue. I was thinking it would be better to take it to the dealer too, I can't drive it there, and I was just really nervous about getting it in the back of the truck, that is why I posted another thread about the best way to get it in there.
When I brought it home I just rented a trailer because I was so scared to get it in the back of the truck. But I think it is rediculous to rent one again just to go get an oil change. Ecspecailly if we own a truck.

Thanks for the input though.

Yeah I'm with Eric- the first service should be much more than an oil change, most importantly checking the engine to make sure it's all settling in correctly.

How many miles do you have total on it? There's varying recommendations on when to do the first oil change... But since you don't know what the first owner did, if there's any way to get it to a dealer, obviously it would be safest.

DennisD · Post by **DennisD** » Sat May 10, 2008 3:47 pm

I've changed oil in my scooters for years. I go to Auto Zone or some other chain parts house that has oil on sale and generally use the same brand all the time. For the last couple of years I have used Kendall GT 1 10w40 or Havoline 10w40. Both are dino. Never a problem. It doesn't take much, its cheap and readily available. I change oil every 1000 miles or less if the mood strikes me. At 1000 miles sometimes there is still seen a bit of the "clean oil" color, not just black gunk. Change is good. If you just bought it and aren't sure what the previous owner did, change the oil and then you know when and how it was done.

I understand that many own a scooter for the first time and want to treat their baby as good as they can. Relax. You're not going to hurt your baby if you follow the maintenance schedule as far as oil changes and ride using common sense. There is a lot of hype about oil. You can get lost in all of the scientific explanations of why this or that is best and mine is better yadayadayada. Its oil, not manna from heaven. It might make a difference in running on the edge, high tech racing machines on the track. Maybe.

Dennis

jrsjr · Post by **jrsjr** » Sat May 10, 2008 4:46 pm

+1 on all of the above. Also, you want to search the archives and read up carefully on tightening the oil filter. See for example:

http://www.modernbuddy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3816&highlight=oil+filter
http://www.modernbuddy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3135&highlight=oil+filter
http://www.modernbuddy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2895&highlight=oil+filter
http://www.modernbuddy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2496&highlight=oil+filter

The oil filter on the Buddy has to be cinched down tight or it will vibrate off while the motor is running and dump all your oil, resulting in catastrophic failure of the motor. This has happened to several members who changed their own oil and even to some folks who had their oil changed at their dealer.

Leeroy Jenkins · Post by **Leeroy Jenkins** » Sat May 10, 2008 8:40 pm

I safety wire my filter and blue loctite my drain plug.

my $0.02

~L. Jenkins