I hate airhead oil filters!

[caponerd]

Finally bit the bullet and put in a fresh oil filter. I hate doing that so much that I only do it every other oil change.

I will not replace the oil filter without first removing the exhaust system. The damn o-rings and shims and gaskets are just too tricky to position, while slipping the filter cover/oil cooler connection in past the left-hand exhaust header.
Even with the exhaust pipe out of the way, it seems to be trickier every time I do it.
This time, I covered the metal shim and the white o-ring with heavy grease to keep them from falling out or slipping out of position. And I covered the gasket with heavy grease too.
That worked out pretty well, but there was something missing from the kit this time: No square section o-ring. Did they decide those were redundant?
Should I find one somewhere and put it in?
My oil light went out when I did a test run of the engine.

Incidentally, when I took the cover off, I found the square section o-ring had somehow gotten partially sucked into the intake hole for the oil cooler. Is this why they might have decided to leave them out of the kits?
I had to take the thermostat/valve apart to get the remains of the old o-ring out. Anyone ever had this happen before? I guess I was running the last 6000 miles with the oil cooler unable to pass oil through.

[bmwrench]

Check the box the filter itself came in. That's where I've been finding them for some time.

[ME 109]

I wouldn't worry about oil not going to the cooler.......
I would be more concerned that oil was not going where it was supposed to, as in through the filter and not around it, before entering the oil gallery.
However, unfiltered oil is preferred to no oil.
It is also possible that oil was returning to the sump in an unknown quantity, and not going through/around the filter and into the oil gallery. The oil light would behave normally in this situation as well, if I'm not mistaken.


The square section o ring is very necessary. It will be ok to use an old one if you must.

[boxerboy81]

The filter change is a tedious job isn't it.

I also remove the whole exhaust, because that gives you the opportunity to correctly check the cannister depth and inspect the valve spring at the bottom of the cannister.

It also allows you to renew the anti seize on the exhaust nuts and to clean the threads.

[bgoodsoil]

I pulled off my left header and beat in a flat spot with a hammer so I'd have clearance for a wrench. It's been easy ever since.

[Rucksta]

I lay the R80G/S on its left side so I can at least see whats going on without crawling on the floor.
Socket head bolts make a difference.

[DoktorT]

Originally Posted by Rucksta

Socket head bolts make a difference.

Oh yeah, allen heads with a ball end allen wrench make a world of difference for the cover plates bolts. Every Airhead should have them.

[R100LT]

Doing mine as we speak ... But I am doing a total service ... So no headers getting in the way. I did found out something new today ... I never knew that my oil THERMOSTAT was painted silver .

[Bluespinner]

Originally Posted by DoktorT

Oh yeah, allen heads with a ball end allen wrench make a world of difference for the cover plates bolts. Every Airhead should have them.

I just changed the filter in my R80/7 this weekend and decided to finally replace the top hex head bolt with an allen head bolt. But no sooner had I congratulated myself on this smart move than I started to worry that sometime down the track if it becomes hard to shift I'll end up stripping out the inside of the allen head. Anyone had any grief with this option? In the end I went back to a hex head, but cut it a little shorter so it comes out before it hits the frame. Seems to work.

[Uncle Pollo]

What are you guys talking about?

[bikerfish]

all my airheads have allen head bolts for the filter cover, in 25 years of wrenching and riding, I've never had an issue changing filters, never had to remove the exhaust header, never had to remove the lower when I had an RS( I cut a notch in the lower to allow access)
I simply lie on the floor next to the bike, loosen the screws, take the cover off, change stuff out, and back on with it. yes, the cover can be tricky, you have to take it out and put it back a certain way, but once you figure it out, it's actually pretty easy. filter change usually takes me about a couple minutes at most. NOW, none of my bikes have oil coolers, so that does simplify things.

[Renner]

Originally Posted by Uncle Pollo

What are you guys talking about?

changing oil filters, getting the o-ring seals right, managing the cover and bolts.

yours may be due for some attention?

so far I'm feeling fortunate... even measuring cannister depth with the "depth" end of calipers doesn't require [right] header removal on the bikes I've faced.

Sometimes I install the o-rings and cover twice... to make sure I did it right the first time.

[caponerd]

Originally Posted by Renner

changing oil filters, getting the o-ring seals right, managing the cover and bolts.

yours may be due for some attention?

so far I'm feeling fortunate... even measuring cannister depth with the "depth" end of calipers doesn't require [right] header removal on the bikes I've faced.

Sometimes I install the o-rings and cover twice... to make sure I did it right the first time.

Don't know my left from my right! I said left header.

I'm still confused about the square section o-ring. The kit clearly didn't have one in it, and now I'm thinking the last kit I installed didn't either, so I used the old one last time I changed the oil.
Did they change the design of those filters within the last few years? I wonder if the reason the square section 0-ring got sucked into that hole was because there was nothing for it to bear against (the outer face of the filter?), so it was flopping around loose in there, and the oil going into the hole to be sent to the cooler just pulled a bit of it in, which then sucked it into the thermostat valve, where it got caught.

[Beater]

Originally Posted by Rucksta

I lay the R80G/S on its left side so I can at least see whats going on without crawling on the floor.
Socket head bolts make a difference.

+1,000,000

Drain the oil first, then lay the beast over. The GS and G/S's have such small clearances with the oil filter this job can be painful. In my opinion, this is the one good reason to think about high pipes.

[R100LT]

My LT/RT isn't a problem long allen keys ... The RS is a bit of a pain ... But I can think of a dozen more maintenance jobs that are more of a pain with my fat hands