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OK - another rookie bike mechanic question. My ride is an 02 RKC - changing oil is easy - drain plug out, oil out, drain plug in, oil in.
Helping a buddy change his Springer oil, no manual in hand - bottom drain plug out - no oil coming out. Hmm - perhaps that's not the drain plug. Looking at the oil reservoir set up - looks like a dry sump system at work. Where the hell do you drain the oil on a Hertiage Springer, and if it is at the rubber connection near the reservoir, what is there no drain plug with these things?
There is a cleverly hidden hose that goes from the inside bottom of the oil tank down to the right side of the frame. Look under the frame at the rear right side. That's the oil drain plug.
BEFORE you do anything more, look at the Owner's Manual and get a Service Manual. FAST! Otherwise, you're on the very worst path. The oil drain is at the bottom of the frame rail below the tank. I have no idea what 'plug' you pulled or how to get it back into place properly. DO NOT start the bike!
When re-installing the plug you removed make sure you use the proper torque or you will strip the threads. Go get the service manual before proceeding and find out what plug you did remove.
If the plug you pulled is on the bottom right side of the crankcase, it opens into the crank housing. Clean the plug and the threads in the case, coat the plug with Loctite Pipe sealant and torque it to 10 ft-lbs. Don't run the engine with this plug out unless you like oily floors.
This subject is right on time for me. I've got a service manual and I'm doing a bottom end disassembly. Naturally, I've removed the oil bag after draining it and I've removed the engine. There was no mention in the service manual for bottom end disassembly of draining the crankcase and it had a whole lot of oil in it. I looked under "oil change" in the maintenance section and again, no mention of draining the oil in the crankcase, only draining the oil bag. If this is normal, there is at least a quart of oil in the engine that doesn't get changed during an oil change. Can this be right?
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