Hiromi_X

I changed the oil on my bike! By myself! I'm so proud!

...

Well, it wasn't as simple and triumphant as that. I actually didn't intend to change my oil today. All I wanted to do was top it off. But after pouring some in, I discovered it was the wrong sort. Thankfully, it's not the sort of mistake that will cause damage -- "all" I had to do was drain and replace it. I put "all" in quotes 'cause I haven't done one single vaguely mechanical thing in my life, so the idea of an unexpected oil change kinda scared me. But when I screw up, I MUST fix it RIGHT AWAY. I can't not do that.

I have a Clymer*** manual and my bike's manual, and I thought they would be enough, but those things seem to assume you already know what tools to use -- both just say "loosen the drain plug..." (with really shitty diagrams as to where said drain plug is) and neither tells you exactly what tool to use, so I had to do research online. At first, I laughed at my colossol absentmindedness. Sometimes, I'm ultracompetent, and at other times, I do really moronic shit. But things snowballed:

1) The resources at hand weren't enough, which caused delay. Normally that wouldn't be a problem, but
2) I was foiled in my online research thanks to my shitty malfunctioning computer, and
3) Its goddamn replacement won't ship until Oct 12 (never mind, long story).
4) This frustration made me focus on the total avoidability of the whole stupid situation, and that
5) I had to cancel things I wanted to do today to fix the problem,
6) Which was taking longer to fix because of my computer...
7) etc.

Just one or two of the above things wouldn't faze me normally, but somehow the combination made me want to break things and kill people. Any hope of a quick fix was foiled. I seriously wanted to blow up the world. Had there been a shiny red candylike button on my desk, I woulda pressed that fucker. Today, though, I held it together; There've been other times I have not -- there's a dent in my fridge from when I punched it some months ago, and my front door has dents from where I lobbed missiles at it. But never mind -- the whole anger thing merits its own post.

I found out what tools I needed to buy, made a list, and then went out to get them. I had to go buy a socket wrench, something that filled me with huge anxiety. My experience has revealed that any sort of car-fixing milieu is decidedly hostile to newbies and the ignorant, particularly female ones, but the guys I talked to today were nice, helpful, and non-condescending. I now own my first set of sockets, a 3/8" drive, and some extension bars. And an oil pan. I feel so manly.

Designated unfashionable pair of jeans as my mechanic jeans. Cut up old tshirts to use as rags. Got some newspaper to lay tools and drain plug and funnel on. Went outside (don't have garage), lay flat on back and looked under bike (got flattering smiles from people walking by). Saw only one thing that could possibly be the drain plug (photo in Clymer manual too dark to discern plug, diagram in bike manual didn't resemble reality too well, no clear pictures online). Tentatively loosened with socket wrench. Lightly loosened some more. Oil dribbled out. Score!

The whole thing was surprisingly simple, once I actually did the work.

Next job: clean and lube chain.

Update: Y'all head over to Tina's place and give her some love. She thankfully emerged in one piece from a motorcycle accident, but with a broken wrist and some scrapes.

***shop manual