According to the owner's manual for my '95 GS:

"Drain the engine oil thoroughly and remove the oil filter. It is not necessary to install an oil filter. Refill the crankcase with fresh engine oil all the way up to the filler hole."

1. Does anyone do this as part of their winterizing procedure?
2. If so, how much oil does it take? I used about 5 litres today and it doesn't seem to be anywhere near the filler hole

Quote from: beRto on October 20, 2007, 10:45:59 PM
"Drain the engine oil thoroughly and remove the oil filter. It is not necessary to install an oil filter. Refill the crankcase with fresh engine oil all the way up to the filler hole."

1. Does anyone do this as part of their winterizing procedure?

Hmmm.  Can't say I do, but then again I've never put my bike away for the entire winter, so ... 

Quote from: beRto on October 20, 2007, 10:45:59 PM
2. If so, how much oil does it take? I used about 5 litres today and it doesn't seem to be anywhere near the filler hole

I don't know how much it would take, but I get the feeling that it's going to be a lot.  Maybe these photos will give you a better idea of the volume you're trying to fill ( ):





Yes, the normal oil level really IS way down there:

few gallons maybe  seems like a waist to me though 

Yea why would you need to fill your bike full of oil. It won't even run with that much oil when it comes to getting it out. I can only see they suggest doing that because the oil will insulate the bike from the cold and stop the parts inside getting too cold and siezing. However you wouldn't need to do that unless you were leaving it out covered in snow which in turn would turn your bike to a rusty heap. Winterizing is just silly.

Its simple. Very Very Very simple.

Park bike in garage. Attach any forms of security you use. Drain the fuel system and tank. So bike is dry. Cover bike in a nice warm dust sheet. Turn off the light and shut garage door.

Done.

The only possible extra thing you might want to do is buy a battery tender, and attach that permanatly. I mentioned that before good makes are Opti-mate or those that do a similar job of reconditioning batteries. Leave that attached, they take little power to run and will keep the battery exercised for when you get the bike back out again.

I'd assume the higher oil level is to prevent rust. Filling the case would do a pretty good job of it. If you're in a humid climate, or ever experienced electrolises, you'll want to give it a shot.

You can always re-use that oil, say change it at 1,000 miles until it's 'used' if you feel bad about it.

Make sure you tie a ribbon from the throttle to the oil dipstick so you don't try to start it overfilled come spring

Quote from: ohgood on October 21, 2007, 03:28:40 AM
I'd assume the higher oil level is to prevent rust. Filling the case would do a pretty good job of it. If you're in a humid climate, or ever experienced electrolises, you'll want to give it a shot.

Exactly.  The purpose of flooding the crankcase is to immerse the transmission and bottom end in oil to prevent rust.  Unless you live on Hawaii or in Florida, or you don't have a dry place to store it, you can skip this.

Quote from: GeeP on October 21, 2007, 07:04:12 AM

Quote from: ohgood on October 21, 2007, 03:28:40 AM
I'd assume the higher oil level is to prevent rust. Filling the case would do a pretty good job of it. If you're in a humid climate, or ever experienced electrolises, you'll want to give it a shot.

Exactly.  The purpose of flooding the crankcase is to immerse the transmission and bottom end in oil to prevent rust.  Unless you live on Hawaii or in Florida, or you don't have a dry place to store it, you can skip this.

Exactly - unless your leaving it outside in heavy rain or snow i wouldn't worry.

Don't drain tank.  Full tank helps prevent rusting.  Fill it up, add stabilizer, drive bike for about 1/2 hour so stabilizer reaches carburettor.  Then park it.

Have only heard change oil, not full top up as you mention, but makes sense for same reason as full gas tank.

Don't start it up for a while every few weeks either, commonly done.  This only develops condensation, which needs about 3/4 to an hour of riding to disperse.

Remove battery and keep it charged, use a trickle charger about every 6 weeks. 

Drain the carbs.

Put it on centre stand and something fairly soft, like a few layers of cardboard, under front wheel to help flat spot problem

If you are storing somewhere that's not dry, may want to use S100 to coat metal parts against corrosion (not on the brakes)

My tip would be to fill it with the cheapest grade engine oil you can find.

You'll be draining it all out afterwards (before you ride it) anyway.


Then either recycle the oil or put it back in a bottle and keep it for next winter when you want to do it again.

last winter I left the bike covered with fabric motorcycle cover (under the balcony-garages are very expensive in NYC and it's not easy to get them either) I didn't ride my bike the entire winter but every week (on saturday) I started the bike and let it warm up and then let it idle for 30min - 1 hour.  It seems to be working fine. I think I'll do the same thing this year... it would be lovely to have a garage...