My first oil change.

[robber57]

The drain plug is not a simple plug, it has a ridge and a oring groove so it will be not easy to find any replacement with or without magnet, in your case it will be probably even more difficult as it is metric.
I dont have the size at hand for you, sorry, i may have an old one in my partsbox, monday you will hear it,or not.

A plug and o-ring spare is a good idea as quite some users over here have managed to wreck the plug ,probably because they used a torque wrench or just because there is this unrealistic fear for a lot of DIY people that it will fall out, believe me; it wont,it has a o-ring which works as a spring retainer preventing it from rattling loose.
Mine has 40.000 km's so thats 10x oil replacement and i still have the first plug and o-ring and i never use more then 1 finger to tighten it on a wrench thats 4 inches long(and even with one finger i could probably break it)
Oh and Yes: the plug is quite fragile, when it hits home no more then a few degrees additional torque and stop and use a 6-sided socket 17mm.(its NOT 11/16", its metric 17 mm just like all the bolts and nuts are metric on a sh)

A spare mesh screen is useless,it will not wear and if debris(big enough) gets stuck in it you will have other worries then this piece of chicken wire mesh

if youre handy,and it looks like you are, you may try to drill 1/8 BSP/NPT thread in the plug and put a plain 1/8 bsp/npt plug in it (with or without magnet) so changing the oil will be less messy,there's no need to take the whole plug out to inspect the screen because of already mentioned uselessness of the screen, a smaller cap in the original cap means you dont have to take out the spring loaded original cap and you keep your hands and the floor clean.
look on page 3 this post for details.

[2013SH150i]

I'd like to mention there was no debris of concern in the screen on my first oil change. Just a smidgen of what appeared to be grease or sealant.

[DarthEmma]

The drain plug is not a simple plug, it has a ridge and a oring groove so it will be not easy to find any replacement with or without magnet, in your case it will be probably even more difficult as it is metric.
I dont have the size at hand for you, sorry, i may have an old one in my partsbox, monday you will hear it,or not.

A plug and o-ring spare is a good idea as quite some users over here have managed to wreck the plug ,probably because they used a torque wrench or just because there is this unrealistic fear for a lot of DIY people that it will fall out, believe me; it wont,it has a o-ring which works as a spring retainer preventing it from rattling loose.
Mine has 40.000 km's so thats 10x oil replacement and i still have the first plug and o-ring and i never use more then 1 finger to tighten it on a wrench thats 4 inches long(and even with one finger i could probably break it)
Oh and Yes: the plug is quite fragile, when it hits home no more then a few degrees additional torque and stop and use a 6-sided socket 17mm.(its NOT 11/16", its metric 17 mm just like all the bolts and nuts are metric on a sh)

A spare mesh screen is useless,it will not wear and if debris(big enough) gets stuck in it you will have other worries then this piece of chicken wire mesh

if youre handy,and it looks like you are, you may try to drill 1/8 BSP/NPT thread in the plug and put a plain 1/8 bsp/npt plug in it (with or without magnet) so changing the oil will be less messy,there's no need to take the whole plug out to inspect the screen because of already mentioned uselessness of the screen, a smaller cap in the original cap means you dont have to take out the spring loaded original cap and you keep your hands and the floor clean.
look on page 3 this post for details.

Thanks for the info. I didn't realize the plug was that fragile. I will look up the torque spec on that plug and be extra careful.

Your "plug in a plug" idea looks like a good one. Thanks for the tips! (BTW, I had read through the whole thread before posting. I didn't want to give the impression of being a lazy forum user. )

I think what I'll do is order an extra o-ring and plug like you suggest and see how the first oil change goes. Then. I'll decide whether or not I should go with 1/8 BSP/NPT plug. Thanks again.

Edit: This place sells a lot of drain plugs in metric:
http://www.magneticdrainplugs.com/metric.htm
I would think one of those might work if I knew the size to get. I'll wait and see if you can find your spare plug and get the size and thread pitch for me, robber57. Thanks a lot!

[robber57]

I am sorry emma, ive looked and searched but i cannot find the plug, i am afraid i tossed it away

It seem you will have to do some measurements if you have the plug out, sorry.

[DarthEmma]

I am sorry emma, ive looked and searched but i cannot find the plug, i am afraid i tossed it away

It seem you will have to do some measurements if you have the plug out, sorry.

Thanks for looking. I'll figure it out. I have a thread measuring tool.

Edit: I drained the oil yeterday. It is an M30 thread.

[SWDan]

Went ahead an changed the oil in the scoot today, it had 1100 miles on it and I didn't know how many months had past since they did the 600 mile drain. My guess the visual condition of the oil would lead me to believe they did that 600 mile change, but when? No goodies in the screen, and I tried the gallon milk jug with the top cut off. It worked okay but I still dribbled some. Other than that it was a non-event. Oh, I used Amsoil 4-cycle oil, it had all the proper ratings; and have ordered a case of their Formula 4-Stroke 10W-40 Synthetic Scooter Oil for future changes.

[2013SH150i]

Honda recommends 10/30 weight for my 2013 SH150i.
Since I am in Thailand and the weather is usually hot, I was considering 10/40 for my next service. I was told it does not need 10/40 since the engine is water cooled.

Opinions?
Should I go with 10/40 I wonder?

Would I get any benefit from synthetic?
Since there is no oil filter I like to change oil often (double the recommended interval) so is using the long life synthetic a waste?

[SWDan]

I think your change interval is probably more important than the viscosity range. I went with Amsoil and they have designed/engineered a special oil formulation for Scooters. So I'm going to give a try.

[robber57]

10W40 works well in the sh, at least it did in mine but since it can be quite cold in holland i am using the 10W30.

The water temperature of the sh after some driving should be below half scale(about 1/4 of full scale),this "optimal working temperature" is regulated by the thermostat, if you regularly see the needle on half or over it and/or hear the fan coming on(while driving over 20-30 KMh) it means the engine gets hotter then the "optimal" temperature while driving with some decent airflow through the radiator,on average this may effect the lifespan.
A thicker 10W40 may be a good idea to keep that effect on lifespan limited.

Some of the advantages of synthetic over mineral lie in the performance over time, so if you plan to change the oil twice as much some of the "synthetic-advantages" you will never use and so youre throwing away money,on the other end; some other advantages may still work so there may be a benefit to spend the extra cash.
So if you dont mind spending some extra on maintenance(hoping it will some day pay off ) i would say go for it.

THE most important factor for the oil is to have the JASO rating which tells you the oil is specifically designed for motorcycles and scooters,preferably it should be JASO MB but any other (MA,MA1,MA2) will also do.
You will find this information in small print on the bottle, if it nowhere says JASO, its not a motorcycle oil and you should not use it.
Very modern high-tech car oil may damage the camshaft,dont use these and dont use oil which has a (fuel)"energy conserving" label/text ,even despite the bottle saying its the best in the world.

Sticking to what the manufacturer recommends is always the safest choice, i have to buy my oil in Italy as there is locally no jaso mb 10W30 available, the upside is that i pay less then half compared to local prices provided i buy a minimum of 8 one liter bottles at once which i will use up in about 2 years.
Besides having the right oil for the next 2 years it saves me also a bit but its a long-term investment.

[rainbowwalker]

Hey guys, great info on here, just read through the 5 pages. Unless I missed it people talk about changing oil at 4K (kilometers), but dont mention time.

I have been changing my oil every six months for the past 18 months even though I probably do about 4K a year in total as the service manual says that the oil should be changed on a 6 months schedule or 4K whichever comes first.

So do you guys hit 4K in 6 months, or do you just change annually ? (6 months seems very frequent if you only have about 2K's per period.

I do it myself, and have a stand for the front wheel so its really easy and just costs the oil and o ring seal, but interested in what the general consensus is.

Cheers.

RBW.