Changing my oil for the first time How many miles should I put on it before the first change and seconds change? I need some help on choosing what's the best oil? Synthetic or conventional Should I change it to synthetic or wait longer for it to brake in and what the best brand's? Who make a good oil filter? ? I have a 2016 xt250 thanks in advance

I like to change the oil within the first 50 miles or so on a new bike. Then again with a couple hundred miles or so. Oil is the most important thing to these air cooled engines. I use Amsoil 20W50 in mine. I would put synthetic in at the first change. Oil and filters are cheap for these bikes, and keeping them changed can only extend the life of your engine.

Enjoy!

I'd also change it several times within the first 500 miles. I'd wait until 500-1000 miles before switching to synthetic. You'll find plenty of oil related conversations here. Mobil 1 seems popular.

Filter - be sure you get the correct filter. The 225 and 250 filters are physically the same size, but are different and not compatible. A couple folks have killed engines by using the wrong filter.

Do you change oil and oil filter or just drain it a put oil back in?

I don't want to start an oil thread, but it's interesting how thinking has changed on this issue over the past decade. Most cars now come with "maintenance minders" which recommend oil change based on usage, rather than a fixed interval. For a Honda Fit or HR-V, for example, owners were warned not to do an early oil change, but to follow the maintenance minder, which in my case meant every ~8000 miles.

Engine manufacturing and oil technology have improved dramatically in the past decade. Both cars used ~2 oz of oil between changes, barely enough to measure on the dip stick. The Fit had 104,000 miles on it when I gave it to my daughter last year.

Given that the XT225 isn't going to rack up 8000 miles in a single year, I plan to change oil annually, probably in December or January, when it's likely to sit idle for some weeks/months at a time. That's probably overkill, but it's only 1 quart.

I change both the oil and filter because they're cheap. The filter in the XT is closer to a screen than a real filter, and it's pretty easy to clean. So cleaning and re-using is a viable option. Though I wouldn't use one more than a couple cycles.

Yes, engine technology has advanced dramatically over the years. But the engine in the 225 was designed in the early 80's to be cheap, reliable transportation in 3rd world locations. Internal clearances are enormous by modern standards to tolerate lots of debris.

I can't say for certain, but I'd presume the 250 isn't a lot different. While modern cars have fancy alloys and coatings, I doubt Yamaha was willing to spend the money for that on a modestly priced bike. The R1 has all the goodies and its price and performance reflects that. While the XT surely benefits from manufacturing technology cross-over, it does not have all the goodies that allow car engines to run for 300,000 trouble free miles.

You also have to compare how they're used. A car doesn't spend the majority of its life at 5000-6000 rpm in the dirt. Cars are water cooled so their operating temp is constant regardless of the environment. Cars also have separate sumps for their engine and transmission so debris isn't shared between them.

What??? The oil filter is a traditional pleated paper filter, not very big, but for only 1 L of oil, it doesn't have to be. There is also the supplemental brass screen on the opposite side of the engine, but that's an entirely different matter.

There's probably lots of XT225s that have changed to after-market paper filters but it's common knowledge that the stock filter is a woven bronze screen. The stock OEM replacement filter from Yamaha is the same.

In fact the picture in your post seems to be a woven metal type rather than a paper element.

Both the owners manual and the workshop manual specify cleaning rather than replacement except in cases of damage.

patuca

The stock XT225 filter LOOKS like paper, but is a metal screen. I personally have never seen an actual paper filter among the 1/2 dozen aftermarket types that I'VE LOOKED AT...but probably someone makes one.

They're not too expensive; I change mine about every second oil change.
I also use magnets...magnetic oil drain plugs aren't available.





Alexd

Thanks for the clarification; that was very helpful.
One less consumable maintenance cost.

Yup...I changed the stock filter to a K&N 143 and haven't looked back.
It gets soaked in solvent, cleaned, blow-dried and put back into service. I put over 20,000 miles on the last K&N I had in my TW200, without any issues.

Hmm - tell us about these magnets, how big are they, where are you putting them, etc?

There's much previous discussion, but I'll try to summarize.

Long ago, someone was making them and selling them here (drain-plug types) but that discontinued. The usual magnetic drain-plug sources just don't make them for the XTs.

I found a source (All Electronics in California) that sells extremely high powered Neodymium magnets in various sizes and shapes. The picture I took shows two of these. For usage, I put one INTO the oil filter where it latches on securely to the internal metal plate. When changing filters (or cleaning the existing filter) it can be removed with a long-nosed pliers.

Magnetic materials lose all magnetic properties when heated to what's called the Curie temperature. And they lose SOME magnetism below that; however oil temperatures do not cause any problems with these...and I've used them for years.

Alexd

What an interesting idea — putting a magnet inside the oil filter. Is there ever anything on the magnet when you clean the filter?

Very little if anything...which is just the way I want to see it! Perhaps a slight film.

By the way the magnet has to NOT be centered inside the oil filter. Instead, off to one side...to not interfere with part of the engine's oil pick-up metal structure. This is no problem whatsoever.

Alexd

I'm not seeing a photo. Pictures of the magnet by itself (maybe with a ruler for scale) and inside the filter (which could be difficult to photograph) would be helpful.

Seven or eight posts back on this same thread...photo

Alexd

I was one of the guys unfortunate enough to have been handed an XT250 oil filter for my 2007 XT225. She only had 600 miles on her at the time, and it didn't end well.
Engine was ruined in about 8 miles.

The dealer rebuilt it for free, and all was good for many miles until I had a base gasket leak.
I struck a deal with the dealer that he go through it again for the price of a gasket set. He supplied the labor.

Just for experimental purposes, Before I dropped the bike off, I put fresh oil in it and only ran it a few miles.
(regular dyno oil.... Lubriguard Heavy Duty Diesel Engine Oil)

They went through the engine to replace the gaskets, and as a courtesy, threw on new piston rings for me.

This time I used a fairly agressive engine break in technique where I was on and off the throttle in every RPM range and in every gear. I used massive amounts of engine braking in an attempt to blow the rings out into the cylinder walls to seat them well.

I changed the oil and filter after 50 miles and checked the oil and filter for particulate.
There was a good amount.
The engine runs great now and hardly ever shows any particles
at my regular 600ish mile oil changes.
(I don't let it get dirty, because it's so darn cheap & easy to replace)

Moral of my story......
In any new bike or after any engine work,
I will get that oil out of there ASAP.
50 miles is plenty.

I ran the next oil a few hundred, but then dumped that right out to check for particles. (there weren't any)
It's only just over a quart.
I change my oil very frequently in the XT, maybe every 600 miles. The filter gets it after every 3 or 4 oil changes because there's never anything in it anyway.

My standard oil change time is 10 minutes and my cost is $5.

Always crack the bleed bolt to ensure the oil is circulating.

Where is the bleed bolt?

It's between the spark plug and the intake valve cover on the 225. Shown mostly removed here:

P.S. On my 2003 there is no bleed bolt. Muniac confirmed this (see his video).

I took a look at our bikes (both 2003) and there is a bolt there as shown in peejman's photo. I've never once fiddled with this. I took a look at the cylinder head exploded view and saw a screw (annotated as 5) there P/N 90153-06029-00 indicated as "SCREW, TAPPING". Not sure this is that screw?? You learn something new everyday.

With the bike running, LOOSEN IT gently and see if oil begins to seep out (don't remove it).

Alexd

Nonsense, take it completely out and start the bike.

Yes, and wear your best clothes, especially white.

Alexd

I modified the screw by drilling down the centre then in from the side a couple of mm in from the head with a 2mm drill. Unscrew a couple of turns & easy to check if oil is coming through.

yeah, where/what is a bleed bolt????

And can someone tell me IF the 2008 model needs a unique oil filter???? George

I don't think the 250 has a bleed bolt, and it should use the same oil filter as all the other 250's... which are different from and not compatible with a 225's oil filter.

Hmm, I would be wary of putting a magnet in the DOWNSTREAM side of the oil filter, and having it hang on with just magnetic force. What happens if it comes loose for some reason? Could it plug up an oil passage? On the other hand, putting it UPSTREAM of the filter might not be as risky, because if it came loose, the filter would catch it, but I wouldn't do that either! It's just too risky to put anything not designed to be, into the engine oil circuit, the lifeblood of an engine, in my opinion. However, if you've used them for years without problems, that's a good sign.