The Hot Oil Disaster of 2014

 

  Ah, so I make it a point to oil the change on "Black Tiger" my 2009 Honda CBR600RR/A ("black tiger" has a better ring to it than letter/number designations).  I go out and get the necessary 3 quarts of Mobil 1 MX4T motorcycle oil 10W-40 (per manual, though interestingly, regular Mobil 1 would work just fine [by manual] but AutoZone was charging almost the same price at $8.99 per quart!  What the heck?) 

$8.99 per quart, baby!  Yeah!

  I remove the chain guard and carefully back up the bike and apply liberal amounts easily and in good fashion and notice there's a little tiny bit too much slack on the chain itself that will requiring some tightening which I'll check in the manual tomorrow, then I get to removing the lower faring.  Ah.  This is no easy task as there's two hidden tricky clips that caused me concern.  I didn't want to smash and destroy the lower faring after all or rip-out and crack anything.  Removed the middle and upper faring and still it wouldn't give.  Turns out after some wrestling an hour later into it I got the lower faring off.  Interested how it'll all get back together, about 20 bolts all on the garage floor now, though in good placement for putting back together nicely.

  Removed the now easy-to-see drain bolt and torqued-off the oil filter.  Noticed it was an actual Honda brand filter so the kid had it serviced at a Honda dealership I'm guessing.  Took a bit of a tug but it came loose and drained the oil carefully avoiding the exhaust pipes evilly placed right underneath using a WalMart bag.  Nice and clean and nary a drop spilt anywhere.

Hay-ay!  Uhnnn!  I dare not spill a solitary drop lest I get punished!  (for the ladies).

  Waited a few minutes and replaced the bolt and new filter which I smoothed over with old oil for a good seal and torqued correctly to-spec both and filled her up with the nice MX4T Mobil 1, all $30 worth and gave it a start.  Seemed to run nicely!  Good!  Took me a whole hour mostly because of the stupid faring which it turns out I can avoid removing from now on I think as I can probably get-around and maneuver all of it anyway, though good-to-know how to remove the plastics if-necessary.

  Decided to put a little SeaFoam injector-cleaner in the gas tank and let it run as an afterthought for a few minutes after I stopped the engine.  Let it run a few more minutes to check for leaks and..

  WOOOSH!  It sounded like my bike was under water.  Indeed, oil was spraying everywhere from the filter.  Crazy madness.

  Of course, smoke burning off the clean exhaust manifold pipes as well.  A bloody mess.  I manically run to turn-off the spitting engine as I watched it puddle hot oil all over the garage floor, trying not to slip.  Ugh.  WHY?!

 

 

 

   Becky was amused and took a snapshot of the doom and then got me some sawdust and paper towels.  I've never epic-failed on a motorcycle oil-change before.  What gives?!  Confused, I consulted Lord Google.  Becky continued to assist, still a bit amused that something so simple I've done several dozen times over the last 30 years alluded me utterly. 


Smoke from burning oil blurred this photo.  Doomed bolts in forefront to be submerged soon as I scramble for paper towels.

  After a lengthy cleanup (she wisely gave me a pad to back the bike's front tire over so as to not get the tire oiled for later danger, Becky's quite good at crisis management) I checked the manual.  Everything was to spec.  I don't get it.  I went online and checked the oil filter number:  PH6017A.  I went into the trashcan to find the old filter: PH6017A.  I went to look at the new filter box which I had just bought and installed from the trashcan as well: PH6607A.  Ah.  Details.  Attention to details.  Ugh.

  Well, the oil cannot be re-used as it mostly spilled into the original oil pan and overflowed everywhere spraying everything.  I wiped the area down (luckily avoiding cars as I had allowed "Black Tiger" her own space for this operation.

Black Tiger no like wrong oil filter.  Now I poo-poo diarrhea all over your garage you bad boy.  Pffft.

  On a good note, if I had been riding, I likely would have gotten hurt or died.  Hot, spraying oil all over that rear tire would have made me wreck quickly and the bike would have seized, destroying it and costing me a lot and I'd crash hard.


                        
 
 So I'm off to WalMart to buy some more oil, a correct filter, and another oil pan.  I think I'll work on it tomorrow.  Becky, amused that I normally ace this operation, just shook her head.. and handed me a paper towel roll.

Looks like you f*cked-up your motorcycle a bit.  Covered in oil?  Here, have a flower, silly boy.