Oh man...the posts on this forum are right.

The temptation to over tighten the bolts on the oil filter cover is indeed great.

No, I didn't overtighten - or break - the studs.

I'll use the same method I use for most any fastners that that seal a gasket - finger tight then another half turn with the wrench.  It hasn't let me down yet.

That's a great method.

My all time favorite is:

Tighten it until it breaks - then back off a bit. 

better method is "tighten till you hear a small crack...then back off a bit"

torque it down till it strips, then back it off 1/2 a turn

I think rangerbrown has met my brother, who not only strips threads and breaks bolts, he does the same thing to the replacements...

and if the treads arn't the same, (course>fine) a bigger more powerfull wrench will make it work, or a larger hammer will make it fit.

Yeah, you know the guy...

I just changed the oil in my bike for the first time since I bought it.  Well, I half changed it.  Apparantly, the last time the last owner changed it, he stripped one of the bolts.      The nut turned and turned, but it wouldn't come off.  I finally had to cut the nut off the bold with a Dremel tool.  I cut a slot in the end of the bolt and tried to get it out with a flathead screwdriver, but the bolt just split off on one side.  I finally managed to grab the bolt with some vice grip pliers and turn it out 1/5 of a turn at a time, unlocking and relocking the vice grips every time.  Took me over five minutes just to unscrew the bolt.  And I had to take my whole exhaust system off to have room to work.

I now have a GS in my garage taking up my wife's parking space with no oil, no filter, and no exhaust.  And it'll be Tuesday before the bike shop is open again.

At least the block isn't damaged (other than the nick I gave it when my Dremel tool slipped).   

Oops.  Double tap.

I used to like to do oil changes but I've had several episodes that turn them into LOOOOng mechanical headaches.

On time on my BMW R1100GS I used a Framm filter and the filter seperated from the housing so when you tried to spin it off, it would just spin and not unscrew. 

This required a trip to the dealership (via trailer - BMW's NEVER go on a trailer!) to have it cut off - all because I wanted to save $4.00 on filter. I witnessed this once before when my friend's Ducati oil change go south for the same reason. Now I only use stock filters - ain't worth the trouble

I now treat oil changes like any other mechanical surgery I need to perform on my bike(s) - with caution and a cool head.

Quote from: gsmetal on February 26, 2006, 07:07:12 AM
I used to like to do oil changes but I've had several episodes that turn them into LOOOOng mechanical headaches.

On time on my BMW R1100GS I used a Framm filter and the filter seperated from the housing so when you tried to spin it off, it would just spin and not unscrew. 

This required a trip to the dealership (via trailer - BMW's NEVER go on a trailer!) to have it cut off - all because I wanted to save $4.00 on filter. I witnessed this once before when my friend's Ducati oil change go south for the same reason. Now I only use stock filters - ain't worth the trouble

I now treat oil changes like any other mechanical surgery I need to perform on my bike(s) - with caution and a cool head.

Why didn't you just put a pan under it, and stick a nice long screwdriver through it, and use that to unscrew it?

You couldn't do the screw driver trick - the housing had detached itself from the rest of the filter.

So when you drove the screw driver through it, it would still spin uselessly.

I'd have probably popped it with the screwdriver to drain it, then tried cutting the plastic shell off.  But I'm not fasmiliar with that bike, so maybe it was recessed or otherwise hard to get to.

Having read many GStwin posts before attempting my first oil change, i was reluctant to use a wrench at all to tighten the bolts.

I just attach the socket to a screwdriver handle and tighten by hand only.  It's worked so far!   

Quote from: Admiral Crunch on February 26, 2006, 08:56:34 AM
I'd have probably popped it with the screwdriver to drain it, then tried cutting the plastic shell off.  But I'm not fasmiliar with that bike, so maybe it was recessed or otherwise hard to get to.

It's not recessed once you drop the oil pan!