G'Day again Guys.

In reference to my first thread. My first Oil change on a 98 V Star 650 classic that I bought August last year, it is still not on the road yet. I have to say here that I run the engine regular, take it on a regular run around my block and it has never dropped an ounce of oil.

As advised, after the oil/oil filter change tonight I ran the motor for a little while and then let it sit.

I came back out about 30 mins later and found a small amount of oil sitting on the floor under the oil filter cover.

I removed the decorative face plate from the oil filter cover and then checked all bolts including those securing the outside of the cover.

In relation to the three bolts under the decorative face plate. The three bolts are positioned at 12 o'clock, 3 o'clock and 5 o'clock. I rechecked the tightness of these bolts. The bolt at 5 o'clock was a little insecure and I tightened it. The bolt at 12 o'clock was fine, totally secure. I then went to check the tightness of the bolt at 3 o'clock and it felt a little loose, I then started to tighten it and felt it 'give' and it then spun freely like when you strip the thread on a bolt. I removed the bolt with a pair of long nose pliars, it's thread appears intact which to a laymen like me leads me to think the inside thread is stripped. When removing the bolt I found a little piece of plastic on the thread possibly put in there by the previous owner like 'plumbers tape' to take up slack. After tightening the bolts I ran the motor again for about 5 - 10 minutes.

The strange thing about all this is that after two hours there has not been a leak but obviously they put three bolts in for a reason, and two bolts will not do the job as effectively as three especially when the bike is running regularly which I hope it is in the not too distant future?

Can anyone advise my best course of action here? In desperation I thought of wrapping some more plumbers tape around the bolt to hold it it but err'd against this until seeking forum advice. Will I have to go to more expense and have the hole re tapped and a bigger bolt inserted.

Thanks in advance guys.

You will have to invest in some tools, like drill,tap,coil. If the PO is the one how done it:eek:, So go to ACE hardware or that ever and get you a self tapper for just a little roo-poo 1.48$ and screw it:eek:

My two cents, If you find that it's spinning freely then your assumption that it's stripped is correct...and that someone probably did like you said and used something like plumbers tape or lock tite to hold the bolt in.

I have had a couple of vehicles where the previous owner doinked something up, over tightened something. I have usually retapped it myself with a small tap and die kit I keep in my tool box. If you haven't done it before you might want to check around and see if you have a friend who's done the re-tapping work before.

One last thing, I am looking into the oil relocation kit, would that help with this issue?

Hey Aussie - yes it sounds like the PO buggered up the female thread. I guess he had a problem screwing at 3:00.

Bits of plastic suggest he (with eyes shifting rapidly left to right) gobbed it up with loctite gap filler or liquid gasket substance and put it back in there.

Like Dan suggests, you may want to look around and accumulate the items needed to replace the thread. There are a few products out there that all do the exact same thing such as:
Heli-Coil
Keen-sert
are the 2 I'm familiar with.

Both require you to drill out the old and re-tap to the next larger thread size, insert the "thread coil" and this gets you back to the original bolt size. Sounds complicated but certainly easier to do than remove a broken off bolt.

Hey Aussie - yes it sounds like the PO buggered up the female thread. I guess he had a problem screwing at 3:00.

Bits of plastic suggest he (with eyes shifting rapidly left to right) gobbed it up with loctite gap filler or liquid gasket substance and put it back in there.

Like Dan suggests, you may want to look around and accumulate the items needed to replace the thread. There are a few products out there that all do the exact same thing such as:
Heli-Coil
Keen-sert
are the 2 I'm familiar with.

Both require you to drill out the old and re-tap to the next larger thread size, insert the "thread coil" and this gets you back to the original bolt size. Sounds complicated but certainly easier to do than remove a broken off bolt.DOES Glen not have big hands and are these screws small:confused: I could be wrong:D but I can see this and that going here and there and words only him and Springer know

One last thing, I am looking into the oil relocation kit, would that help with this issue?

He has a 650, only our 1100s have the filter marvelously hidden behind the exhaust pipe.:rolleyes:

I don't have or have ever owned the 650 v-star but I would suspect relocation of the oil filter would still leave behind a bolt that can't be tightened correctly and cause a potential oil leak.

Thanks for the info guys.

I am going to try and rectifify this weekend, feel like I'm never gonna get this on the road:mad: What you get with anything second hand though isn't it, not fully knowing it's history.

With the 650's the oil filter is in a good position, no need to remove anything else but thanks for asking JH.

I suppose the next question is, when drilling out the hole of the stripped thread, I should obviously drain out the new oil so I can remove the oil filter cover to drill the hole and what would be the best way of ensuring I don't leave any metal shavings behind. I have a mate a few doors up that has all the gear, but he is so busy with his business I feel bad bugging him as he has helped me out a lot already.

Thanks for the info guys.

I am going to try and rectifify this weekend, feel like I'm never gonna get this on the road:mad: What you get with anything second hand though isn't it, not fully knowing it's history.

With the 650's the oil filter is in a good position, no need to remove anything else but thanks for asking JH.Hand me downs make better men

Aussie,

Here is a U Tube link to 650 oil change.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RMx6wptjN0

I think the cover with the three screws is only a decorative cover. The bolts unde it are what hold the O Ring and filter. There are different length screws in this cover. Check to see if you have the right ones in place and snugged down. I think the torque is 30 lbs if I remember not real tight they are not big screws.

Hope the video helps.
Dave

Aussie,

Here is a U Tube link to 650 oil change.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RMx6wptjN0

I think the cover with the three screws is only a decorative cover. The bolts unde it are what hold the O Ring and filter. There are different length screws in this cover. Check to see if you have the right ones in place and snugged down. I think the torque is 30 lbs if I remember not real tight they are not big screws.

Hope the video helps.
Dave

Thanks Dave. Yeh the bolt that is free spinnning is one of the long ones, at first I was hoping I had them wrong way round but it is in the right spot.

That video is really good, it is the one that I used to do the change, nice and simple in it's description, found it first hit on youtube a couple of weeks ago..

It's just gone 6.30am here and the funny thing is that it has not dropped any oil through the night. No doubt but if it was left it would start to leak once it is being ridden regular.

Thanks mate for getting back quickly. I'll let you all know how it goes in case it can help someone else.

Cheers.