How to do an oil and filter change on the Yamaha R3 / MT-03

This is another great writeup by my friend mfgchapin over at R3-Forums.com.  Thanks!

There’s a lot of debate on how to break in a bike, what brand oil to use, what weight, mineral, semi-synthetic or full synthetic, but the one thing that’s not debatable is changing your oil and filter often will guarantee a happier and longer-lived engine.  It’s easy and relatively cheap, so read on.

Tools & Supplies Required:
Gloves (seriously, these are necessary, cancer sucks)
12 mm socket
17 mm socket (if using a K&N filter)
4 mm Allen wrench
Oil filter wrench or Phillips screwdriver to hammer into the side of the filter
Oil catch pan
Replacement drain plug crush washer
2.5 quarts of oil new oil
Funnel
Replacement Oil filter
Torque wrench

First off, I like to do all my work on a rear stand.  It’s not totally necessary, but it’s more stable and I prefer the bike to be upright.  It’s especially nice for this job since the oil drains easier.

You can actually do this without taking off any fairings, but I find the work area a little cramped.  Taking off the left fairing only adds about 10 minutes to the job and gives you a lot more room to work with.

Step 1:  Start with the trim piece under the seat.  The 2 bolts come out with a 4mm Allen, then it pulls out of the rubber grommets.

Step 2:  Move on to the lower fairing, where 3 bolts come out with a 4mm Allen.  The Japanese love to fit fairings together with hooks and tabs, so be careful not to break them when you’re pulling off the lower. Start with the upper portion of the fairing by pulling down and away out of the hook.

This hook goes into the slot on the lower fairing.

Move to the front, lower portion of the fairing and there are tabs held in slots. You need to pull the fairing down into the wider portion of the slots, then the whole thing can slide back and out.

This is what you’re left with.

Step 3:  You always want to run an engine to warm it up before doing an oil change.  This warms up the oil so it flows out better, and it circulates it to pick up as much debris in the oil that has settled to the bottom and flow the debris out with the old oil.  If the engine is cold, run it until it’s at 3 bars on the dash temperature display.  Put the catch pan under the bike and loosen the drain bolt with your 12 mm socket.  This is probably where you’ll want to put gloves on since nobody likes getting burned by hot oil and/or skin cancer.  Motor oil is bad for you, try not to get it on your skin.

Step 4:  Remove the oil filter.  You can use an oil filter wrench to loosen the filter, but they tend to round off on me and this filter was especially tight from the factory, so I hammered a Phillips screwdriver through the side of the oil filter and used it like a wrench to loosen the filter.  As long as you only stab the end of the filter away from the bike as seen in the photo, you’ll only puncture the filter and nothing vital on the bike.  Obviously, be careful if you choose this method, and try not to knock the bike over.  When you remove the old filter, be sure you remove the old gasket and don’t leave it stuck to the bike.  Installing a new filter with an old gasket still stuck on the bike is a common way to get a bad oil leak.

Let everything drain for a few minutes, gently rock the bike back and forth a little, and let it drain a bit more.

Step 5:  Remove the old washer from the drain plug and put a new one on.  Thread it back into the bike and torque it to 20 Nm (14 ft lbs).  That’s not very much, so it’s important you don’t over-torque and strip the threads, especially if you are using an aftermarket aluminum drain plug, they are very easy to strip.

Step 6:  Open your new oil filter, I like K&N filters because they have a 17mm nut on the end that’s drilled for safety wire.  I used a KN204, which is a little shorter than OEM, but a KN148 also fits, it’s just a little longer.  Dip your (gloved) finger in new oil and rub some on the filter’s O-ring.  Fill the new oil filter about half way with fresh oil, then thread it onto the bike.  Get it as tight as you can by hand, then give it maybe 1/16 of a turn with the wrench to snug it up. It doesn’t need to be super tight, the service manual calls for 17 Nm (12 ft lbs).

Step 7:  Refill the bike with fresh oil.  The filler cap is on the other side of the bike.  Go ahead and dump in the first quart, but watch closely as you’re pouring in the second not to over-fill, just in case all the old oil didn’t drain out.  When you see oil in the window, put the filler cap back on and run the bike for a minute or two to let the oil circulate. Check it again off the stand but upright and fill as necessary.  Mine took a little over 2 qts.

Fairing installation is the reverse of removal. They’re pretty flexible but be gentle with the tabs, especially as the bike gets older.  The plastic gets more brittle with age.  For the lower fairing, the longer bolt goes on the bottom right by the kickstand.

Reset your oil interval by going to the trip meter before the odometer.  Hold reset until it blinks, let go, then hold again until it zeroes out.  Job’s done!