Ok, recently I purchased my first bike, a 96 600cc F3. It has 15,000 miles on it. So i'm going to attempt to tackle my first oil change and coolant flush ever. I have a service manual and have been reading up on this forum quite a bit so I don't think it'll be anything I can't handle. So basically I want to know what kind of oil and oil filter I should use. I think im going to go with synthetic due to the fact that I don't know what the owner used before me.
Next I want to drain the old coolant out and put fresh coolant in there. Now for this, I want to know what the best coolant to use is.. My bike runs a little hotter currently than I'd like, so I'm hoping that this flush will fix that issue. The manual says to use a 50/50 mix of coolant and distilled water. Do they sell a coolant my bike needs pre-mixed or anything like that? The manual also says to replace the drain plug washer after draining the coolant. Is this a "must do" thing? If so can I get a suitable washer anywhere? Sorry if these questions are dumb, Just looking to expand my knowledge a bit and get "hands on familiar" with my bike. Thanks.

 

i believe now a days any of the standards premixed coolants at auto shops are good to go.
Lets wait for a confirmation. for oil i use shell rotella do a search on here and you will see what im talking about.

 

Use the viscosity recommended by the manual which is probably 10W-40. If you live in a hot region, you can use a thicker oil like say a 15W-50. Typically there will be a chart which demonstrates which oil viscosity can be used within an average temperature range.

As far as the brand/type of oil, I would suggest using motorcycle specific oil for the first time. These will be labeled "4-stroke" and can be found in most auto stores, and some Walmarts.
Here's some interesting information about oils: Motorcycle Motor Oil, Oil Filters Revealed, Motorcycle Oil & Filters, and Oil Forum.

Drain plug washer is .62 cents at NAPA so there's no reason not to replace it. Also, make sure you torque the drain plug properly as they are easily stripped. Beam type torque wrench at Autozone or Harbor Freight $14.

With the cooling system, you basically want to use a coolant/anti-freeze with no silicates and that it's safe with aluminum blocks. I've found that the Prestone Extended Life ($13 Gal.) meets these specifications so it's safe to use, imho. It's in my bike now. Dilute with only distilled water 50/50 mix. You can use the hose to flush the system out real good, but rinse it a couple of times with the distilled water prior to the final fill.

Here's what the back label looks like:


My bike currently has Shell Rotella 5W-40 Synthetic with a NAPA 1358 filter.

 

Thanks for all your help. I plan on doing this tomorrow, hopefully everything goes good. We'll see.

 

The biggest hassle with changing the coolant is that the fairing needs to be taken off to get to the radiator cap, but since your doing an oil change at the same time, it makes it easier to get to everything. Also found the easiest way to get rid of the old coolant in the reservoir bottle, is just to siphon it off. Replacing the drain plug washer is up to, but for very little money your getting peace of mind. I always use premium everything on my bike & that includes the 50/50 coolant mix. Since your going to remove the fairing, why not use this time to also check out your spark plugs.

 

Yeah, I really should probably replace the spark plugs, but I don't really have the tools. Also I don't know if I wanna deal with taking the gas tank off. Isn't that necessary to change the plugs? Also can I get the drain plug washer anywhere? Like If I go to an auto parts store and say I need a drain plug washer for my motorcycle will they know what size and kind to give me? Or would I need to bring in the bolt or what?

Pacemaker, what kind of oil and coolant do you use?

Also any helpful hints with changing plugs would be great too. I know it should prolly be done with everything else. Kinda scared to tackle that one. Is it difficult?

 

I wish taking the tank off would make getting the plugs out easier, but it won't. You don't have to take the tank off at all. Getting the plugs out is a pain the ****, especially using the spark plug socket in the tool kit, which is wot I use. Honda Engineer: "Ok, so we have just designed the best 600, what else can we do? How about fitting it with the worst regulator in history & make it almost humanly impossible to get the spark plugs out".
With all my bikes I have used Pennzoil, but since I got the CBR, have started using Shell Advance.
With regards to washer, not sure about that, I just go to my local Honda dealer.

 

It's called a "crush washer". Find out the size of the drain plug (I think the F4i is 12mm) and they'll hook you up. They're made either out of copper or aluminum.

 

When changing out the coolant, make sure the radiator cap is off or at least open. For the system to drain, air needs to be able to get into the system. You can buy premixed 50/50 coolant from Honda. It's a little pricier but again... you're paying for a piece of mind. With the coolant, bike shops like to claim that there are additional additives that help prevent corrosion to the cooling system of a bike. It's pretty similar stuff to what Incognito was saying with the oil.
I also like to slip off the hose going from the water pump to the radiator... there always seems to be a little bit that the drain plug doesn't drain.
The oil crush washer is aluminum and the water pump crush washer is copper... but yeah, pick those up from the Honda dealer. The oil plug is only like $.50 and I can't imagine the water pump crush washer being much more.

 

Make sure you don't use oil with molybdenum additives! It may make your clutch slip. For the record, I use HP4 Pro Honda synthetic, if you buy this brand, its the red bottle, not the silver, (silver has moly)