How-To: Oil Change For Honda PCX

[you you]

Hello EddieC and thank you for sharing your "how to" with us I had my laptop nearby while doing the job.
May I just suggest that in your opening of 1, 2, 3, etc. steps, that you preface it with something like this:
protect floor if need be (i.e. corrugated cardboard or ?) Place bike on level surface, put bike on centerstand, warm up engine for several minutes, turn off bike "Before starting" the following draining process (then maybe explain why we warm her up first?)
I know a lot of us know all ^ already, but others do not, and some don't look at their manuals at all
I sure do like this section of the forum. It's nice folk like You that use their time and effort in helping the rest of us "get into it" and thus love our bikes even more! Soooo..... Cheers to You All!!

why does the engine have to warm up first? How long should the engine warm up?

Two schools of thought - the warm changers and the cold.

I don't think it really matters tbh. Do it cold and you can't get an oil scald.

I generally leave a good 10 mins for the oil to drain.

Ive just bought a magnetic sump plug for the bike - Ill post pictures when it arrives

[gn2]

Two schools of thought on magnetic sump plugs as well, it's not unknown for the magnet to become detached so some people are of the opinion they can cause more damage than an ordinary plug.

[maddiedog]

qed - it definitely matters.

Oil is thicker when it is cold, so you will get less of the old oil out, and your change will be less effective, if you change the oil without warming the engine up first.

When you change the oil, you have to warm up the engine first, otherwise a relatively thick film of old oil will stay over all the surfaces, leaving old oil, and increasing your risk for the engine getting gunked up with old oil. Hot oil from a warmed-up engine flows much easier and leaves a much thinner film of oil, therefore sticking less in the engine, and clearing out more from the drain pan.

That make any sense?

[you you]

Two schools of thought on magnetic sump plugs as well, it's not unknown for the magnet to become detached so some people are of the opinion they can cause more damage than an ordinary plug.

No shit? We can only speak from experience I guess. For me it's magnets detached 0 and lots of metal bits picked up

And you?

[gn2]

Wouldn't use one, so its zero detached magnets for me too.
The fact that neither of us has experienced this problem doesn't mean that it won't happen to one of us in future.

[you you]

Wouldn't use one, so its zero detached magnets for me too.
The fact that neither of us has experienced this problem doesn't mean that it won't happen to one of us in future.

£20 says you read the Daily Mail

[gn2]

Nope, haven't bought a newspaper in years.

[you you]

Nope, haven't bought a newspaper in years.

Auditor/accountant?

[gn2]

Nope, just someone who gets their news and information from other sources.

[you you]

Nope, just someone who gets their news and information from other sources.

Yourself?

[gn2]

You've lost me I'm afraid.
Try again.

[depthman]

The scooter does not have a wet clutch like motorcycles do, so you can use any motor oil. That is, you can use the same stuff that you'd use for a car. Honda recommends 10W30 or 10W40. AFAIK, it is never a problem to use a 5W30 or a 0W30 instead of a 10W30. I use Castrol 5W30 (Castrol Edge I think?) because that was the cheapest 30 weight 'synthetic' that I could get my hands on. I say 'synthetic' because few if any oils sold today are truly synthetic. Your Honda shop would probably use 10W40 for motorcycles (specifically, with the JASO MA certification), because that's what they use for every motorcycle. It doesn't really matter, although using a thinner oil (within specification!) will probably result in slightly less fuel consumption. I could tell though after the shop used 10W40 (instead of the 5W30 I used) just before winter, the PCX was a bit more grumpy in the morning after that. Fuel consumption was up too, but you can't really know whether one caused the other.

The manual says 10W-30, and specifically that "ENERGY CONSERVING" oil is NOT recommended. ALL the 10W-30 I saw at K-Mart is ENERGY CONSERVING, except for the "high mileage" oil. I guess that's fine to use?? I'm about to do my first oil change (2500 miles, dealer did the 500 mile with valve check).

[you you]

The scooter does not have a wet clutch like motorcycles do, so you can use any motor oil. That is, you can use the same stuff that you'd use for a car. Honda recommends 10W30 or 10W40. AFAIK, it is never a problem to use a 5W30 or a 0W30 instead of a 10W30. I use Castrol 5W30 (Castrol Edge I think?) because that was the cheapest 30 weight 'synthetic' that I could get my hands on. I say 'synthetic' because few if any oils sold today are truly synthetic. Your Honda shop would probably use 10W40 for motorcycles (specifically, with the JASO MA certification), because that's what they use for every motorcycle. It doesn't really matter, although using a thinner oil (within specification!) will probably result in slightly less fuel consumption. I could tell though after the shop used 10W40 (instead of the 5W30 I used) just before winter, the PCX was a bit more grumpy in the morning after that. Fuel consumption was up too, but you can't really know whether one caused the other.

The manual says 10W-30, and specifically that "ENERGY CONSERVING" oil is NOT recommended. ALL the 10W-30 I saw at K-Mart is ENERGY CONSERVING, except for the "high mileage" oil. I guess that's fine to use?? I'm about to do my first oil change (2500 miles, dealer did the 500 mile with valve check).

I think it'll be fine

[maddiedog]

depthman -- it's important to use a synthetic too, Honda only recommends synthetic.

I use the synthetic high-mileage stuff in my Silverwing and my PCX, no issues thus far. I think the stuff I'm using now is Castrol.

[depthman]

depthman -- it's important to use a synthetic too, Honda only recommends synthetic.

I use the synthetic high-mileage stuff in my Silverwing and my PCX, no issues thus far. I think the stuff I'm using now is Castrol.

Somehow I missed "synthetic" in the manual!? I already changed the oil with non synthetic... guess I do that next round (or right away?). Easy, except that somehow I dropped the oil plug washer in the drain pan without realizing it (until I emptied the pan). By that point I'd already filled the oil! (I was wondering where the "crush" washer was... duh!). So I had to unplug and quickly add washer then replug. Lost very little, still had some left in the quart. The oil strainer was not gummed up, I just wiped it with a paper towel and replaced.

[maddiedog]

Hmm, I'm unsure if using dino oil will make a huge difference in terms of short-term wear... It certainly won't hold up for 5000 miles though, so I'd shorten the maintenance frame with conventional oil to only 3000 miles or so. Usually 5000 miles is pushing it with conventional oil, whereas synthetic is only half worn (if that) at 5000 miles.

[depthman]

Hmm, I'm unsure if using dino oil will make a huge difference in terms of short-term wear... It certainly won't hold up for 5000 miles though, so I'd shorten the maintenance frame with conventional oil to only 3000 miles or so. Usually 5000 miles is pushing it with conventional oil, whereas synthetic is only half worn (if that) at 5000 miles.

That makes sense... just wondering where you saw that Honda recommends synthetic? (thanks)

[maddiedog]

I can't find where I read that (it's not in the service or owner's manual).

Common sense dictates that conventional oil will start to gunk up and be at or past the end of its effective life at the end of the 5000-mile maintenance interval. Synthetic is still fully functional to twice that, with some synthetics lasting even longer.

[maddiedog]

The above said, I doubt you will encounter any major problems from using conventional, I just advise you change the oil before 5000 miles.

[depthman]

OK, understood... but you did say "Honda only recommends synthetic"... where is that? I don't see it in the manual.