Changing oil... Oh Sh**!!

[RBX QB]

Alright, so pulled the bike out of storage... short ride... 10 miles or so... Now I'm focusing on an oil change.

The oil appears low in the window, top half of the glass is FUBAR, but has been for a long time. Pulled the filter, and VERY LITTLE oil comes out. So now I'm a little worried, but the engine sounds and runs normal, no smoke, no visible metal... etc... etc...

I put on the new filter, and start putting oil in. I get about 3 quarts in, nothing registering in the viewing glass, so I shine a light in the filler, and the level in there is quite high. Certainly higher that the viewing glass.

Keep in mind that things are now going VERY differently than the lst time I did the oil, so I'm sweating a little.

I'm wondering if the glass is now toast. I decided to just drain the oil and start over rather than risk things. Pull the filter, and NO OIL COMES OUT!

Now I'm downright  .

I put the filter back on and run the engine for just a minute to see if that made a diff... pulled the filter. This time a little more oil came out, but certainly not the 3 quarts I put in... nor the 3+ quarts that should have been in there to begin with. Used the light in the filler again, and pretty much the same high level as before.

Question... What am I missing?

At this point, the bike isn't going anywhere, which sucks because today is the first really nice day this year.

[jerryz]

You are missing the oil drain plug under the engine and the 2nd mesh filter in the right hand case.

[RBX QB]

You ever have one of those days?

Hi... I'm a dumbass.  Something about missing the obvious needs to go here.

[rockaduc]

As said above...hello drain plug.

you already said it

[Langanobob]

Don't feel bad - go over to the No Moto Content section and read through the "Epic Brain Fart" thread, you'll see that we ALL do these kind of things, and lots worse 

[needtorque]

As I was reading the OP I kept thinking "why is he only mentioning the filter?" lol.  Some of the shit we do is so stupid.

[ungeheuer]

You are missing the oil drain plug under the engine and the 2nd mesh filter in the right hand case.

I wanted to laugh, but I've lived long enough to know it'll be my turn to do some kinda dumbass thing pretty soon.  We all have days like this....  lol.

[scott_araujo]

The drain plug will work but I bet it would have drained really well if you just moved the drain pan away from being directly under the filter.  At least, that's how things usually seem to go for me

Scott

[fouramdesigns]

I changed my oil in the S4 a few weeks back, and I could never locate the mesh screen. I used the FAQ on here, bought the 21mm socket, looked all over but could not locate. I got a good return on oil, filled back up including half in filter 3.5 qts. Did I mess my bike up? Still learning as I go about it. Picking up a shop manual next week.

[Howie]

I changed my oil in the S4 a few weeks back, and I could never locate the mesh screen. I used the FAQ on here, bought the 21mm socket, looked all over but could not locate. I got a good return on oil, filled back up including half in filter 3.5 qts. Did I mess my bike up? Still learning as I go about it. Picking up a shop manual next week.

Ducati says clean the screen every 18K miles, so, not to worry.

Look below the sight glass and you will see a 14mm hex.  That is the cover for the screen.  Under there is another 14 mm hex.  That is the screen.  Some older Monsters and Monsters that read oil temperature have the 21 mm cap.  If your oil level is between the sight glass lines with the bike vertical you did good.

[pennyrobber]

Don't feel too bad. I knew a guy who tried to change the oil in his car himself for the first time. He refilled the engine will all 5 quarts through the dipstick tube.

[Buckethead]

I knew a guy who's dipstick tube rusted off his automatic transmission. Freaked the hell out when he pulled the dipstick and it was totally dry.

Crawled underneath and figured out that there was a hole in the case. He figured that was where all the oil was leaking out of.

Decided to fill it up and drive directly to the mechanic. Poured 4 quarts of ATF down the dipstick tube.

Told the mechanic that it looked like it had all leaked out by the time he backed out of his driveway.