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Always double check your work!

4K views 48 replies 16 participants last post by  GligorovDimce 
#1 ·
So I have a great/ funny story for you guys...

Anyone ever do an oil change (or any maint) and just completely forget to tighten bolts because you got distracted?

Well... Did my first oil change on the bike (Trying out Rotella T6)... (No I don't care about your opinion on what oil I use).

Wait, lets fast forward... The next morning, I'm taking a 150 mile trip via the turnpike in Central Florida. About 40 miles in, I hit a toll, pay it and rip on it a little out of the booth. About 6 miles down the road, all of a sudden I notice a bit of smoke in the mirror... OH SHITTT what did I break now!! So I start getting over and brake it a bit only to find that if I touch the rear brake, it just locks up so I'm thinking the worst. I clutch it, get to neutral shut it off and coast to the side (not much traffic thankfully). I get off and look around the bike (rear is COVERED in oil) and then I saw the stream of oil flowing out of the drain hole... lol (facepalm).

So I start laughing while I call AAA because I have a membership and none of my friends have trucks. So they tell me my cycle isn't covered (no surprise there) and they call a flatbed anyways. $75 for the pickup and $4/ mi. So, I immediately look for the nearest autozone on my phone and see there is one 18 miles away... eff. So I start walking...

4.5 miles, 2 cop cars, 1 roadside service truck and 2 hrs later, the flatbed finally shows up (it's 90 degrees out and I feel like I was walking the desert).

Takes me to autozone, I get the bike off and run in to see if they have a drain plug (they did)... Re-did the oil TIGHTENED the plug/ oil and prayed it wasn't seized... Fired right up!

Instead of a $8000 piss, I only lost around $160 lol

Rewind, what did I do? Well, I hand tightened the plug, moved the pan out of the way so I could tighten the plug, stood up to get the wrench and realized I had to pee real bad... Never ended up tightening the plug all the way.......

Moral of the story? Always check your work! Hopefully you all can laugh at my expense and never make the same mistake.

Could have been a very expensive bathroom break but I got lucky!

-Andrew

(sorry, drunk, board, need to get my post count up lol)
 
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#8 ·
Glad you and your bike are ok bro...
 
#23 ·
Good story, but how do you double check ignorance? Which in my case i was big time ignorant to the position of the sator. I reveresed the stator while reinstalling it, and when I cranked up the motor, phucking lead wire of the stator got all chewed up. So learned my mistake by buying a new stator and reinstalling it the correct way.
And yes, our mind does play games with us sometimes. While I was about to tighten something on my bike my phone rang, I got in my pocket, took the phone out and answered. and misteriously lost the bolt i had in my hand. Spent whole day looking for it and finally gave up. Then at night when I was about to go to bed, I took my phone out of my pajama pocket to charge, and the bolt came out with it too, I put the bolt in my pocket while answering the phone and had no idea it was there the whole time. I blame the high side I had couple of years ago where I banged my head and was kocked out for 1/2 hour... memory loss...
 
#24 ·
Your situation was different... While my error was a common sense error, I could have easily gone back to "double check" the torque on all the bolts I had to take out/ adjust (1 bolt lol). You COULD have potentially made a double check by reading a writeup or tech notes and such...
 
#25 · (Edited by Moderator)
Glad it all worked out for you, and that it did not turn out to be a total loss on the bike.
You're obviously a very humble guy to point out your own failing in this foolish act. To learn from it, and to offer your mistake in observation and advice to others. :thumbsup:
 
#29 ·
On my semi truck,i hand tight the oil filter,then re tight it little with the wrench, and i thought its enough, and let me tell you, the oil filter is 16 inch long,5 or 6 inch diameter,and where it goes on engine its big as the tread of the rear axle bolt on the motorcycle.
So i am driving 200 miles and park the truck,and checking in the shipping office,and go out and all i see is oil below my truck, black puddlle of oil, probatly arround 6 sq feet.
So i said, what the f..k? And i see its from oil filter.i re tight it hard, with hands and then wrench (like 20 nipples holding them at once :th_SmlyROFL: LOL
And lost probarly 2 galons. The oil capacity on semi truck is 11 galons , one sucks in the oil filter and 10 in engine!
Just so you know to rebuilt engine on semi truck is 16 000 dolars.only parts are 10 000 dolars.
 
#37 ·
Now the prices of tires are up so much that for 10 tires i need 4 grand, and the usuall breakdowns and maintance, costs about 10 grand a year.
I have to many toys that i spend money on it, and let me tell you,
I have 2 big loves, wife and my bike, both empty my walet, but only one never complains :))
 
#35 ·
Alright mine dosnt have to do with oil but same concept... I got all new plastics, case savers and rearsets ... So I have the bike on stands, after finishing installing everything I put the front tire down, then went and put the kickstand down thinking to myself I don't want to drop my practically brand new bike when I remember someone had posted a picture of the vortex rearsets showing how the kickstand was blocked because if the new position of the pegs. So I put the kick stand back up to see if I could drop the kick stand with my heel like I was always able to. So I practiced dropping the kick stand and putting it up back and forth thinking to myself well mine is fine no problems or obstructions leaving the kick stand up! (Dumbass) So I go to the back stand put the tire down and let the bike fall towards the kickstand thinking to myself I know the kickstand is down I was just checking it ... As the bike was falling I realized something was wrong the bike was leaning to much and I hugged the rear section of the bike around the front seat and the subframe and lifted the rear of the bike completely off the ground with just the front tire down and all the way leaned to thr the left holding the bike up so the left side case saver and plastics were off the ground.... I started to yell for help cause I could not hold the bike much longer and I didn't have the strength to put it up from where I was holding it... My 12 yr old son luckily heard me yelling thinking the bike had fell on me and came running to help me from inside the house... I told him to lift it from the bars and we picked it up together ... Coolent spilled out and my heart was pounding I couldn't believe I did what I did I have no idea how I was able to hold it how I did because nothing got touched... And I always thought how could someone drop they're bike .... Double check everything you can and always watch your stand when putting the bike down off the stands
 
#44 ·
i lost 3 quarts on the driveway when changing the oil on the car. forgot to check on the old gasket on the filter. it stuck to the block. tightened the new filter against it. everything looked good. pore the oil in, check level, pore more.???? what a mess!!!!

leason learned. check the gasket everytime!!!
 
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