After my 600m service I noticed (like others on forums apparently) that my bike consumes quite a bit of oil so for an upcoming 2,500 mile trip across Europe I brought 700ml of oil with me and left with the oil level at the 'high' mark. However, throughout the trip it used so much oil that I went through all my spare oil and - struggling to find the right type in France - it took me so long to find more that I was already under the 'low' mark before I could refill again. I left the bike standing for 15 min or so and refilled to just under the 'high' mark and drove the remaining 400m home. Next day I check the bike and notice that the oil window is now completely black i.e. the oil is far above the 'high' mark! Long story short as a result of my stupidity I now have far too much oil in my bike. It was fine on the drive home but I'm worried about damaging it the engine if I continue to drive. Can someone advise how to drain a bit of oil please? I tried to remove some oil from the inlet via a straw-syringe combo I built but it doesn't reach. I also can't find any advice in the manual. Please help a fellow Ducatisti!
Hi Thomas I would drain all the old new mix and change for new oil and filter. But to drain some oil is very easy - remove the lower cowl and undo the sump bolt. Remember to go slow and only take out small amounts at a time. You really should use a new crush washer as good practice but not a problem if not. When happy tighten bolt and torque to 20 Nm See Engine Oil Change | Ducati MTS1200 Forum For full details
Thanks! I'm not exactly 'technically gifted' so you think this is easy to do at home? Where would you buy a new crush washer?
I did exactly this , and had the same concern. Took it to the dealer , said fuck all and they changed the oil. Cost me £80 , job done , worry over. shit happens
Fair enough - might do the same especially as I don't have the tools etc so would have to fork out that much anyway. Thanks!
Replacing the crush washer while only draining some oil would be tricky because the plug would have to be completely removed to replace the washer. Usual practice is to get the engine hot before draining oil in order to get it thin enough to drain properly, so hot oil would be gushing all over your fingers as you try to remove and replace the plug. I guess if you're only trying to remove some oil, then you wouldn't need to make sure the oil is hot, so less of a problem . Not sure why you need to change the oil if you topped up with the correct oil.
I would just undo the sump plug slowly as described and allow some out. It probably wont take much to get the level correct unless you have oil coming out from the exhaust:grin:
Thanks for the response. I think I'll just get a mechanic to drain some as suggested earlier. Seeing that I have already driven a fair bit since I overfilled it (and it seems fine) as well as the fact that she consumes a lot of oil, do you think I could just continue to drive until it's back under the 'high' mark if I take it slow?
I'll have a look under it this weekend although if I read the link timberwolf correctly, I'll have to remove the centre stand as well which sounds like a pain!
In that case, you have no idea how overfull it actually is. There was a similar thread on here a ouple of weeks or so ago and in that case, the advice was it probably wouldn't do much harm but I don't think the level was invisible in that case. I would be inclined to try and drain some out.
You could never syringe cold engine oil through a straw, it's much too thick. Maybe if you warm up the engine and lean the bike to the right, you might have some success with a larger tube
