My first Oil change

Today was my first oil change since getting the bike back from the mechanic.  He did put 2.5 liters of fresh oil in when replacing the oil pan gasket, but used Castrol GTX 20W-50, and I want to switch it to Spectro Golden 4.  I will also be inspecting the oil filter, o-ring situation.

After draining all the oil, I re-installed the oil plug and decided to focus on the filter.  I will not be removing the oil pan, screen, etc since the oil pan gasket is brand new, and I do not have that ordered yet.  After the air filter nightmare, I will be doing a full oil strip down this winter.

My 77 R100 uses the recessed oil cover, 

can accept the hinged oil filter, and I will be using the advice on Anton measuring the depth of the canister, and deciding whether to use Shim and paper cover gasket.  GREAT ARTICLE HERE, http://largiader.com/tech/filters/canister.html

Removal of Old Filter

When removing the oil cover, there was a paper gasket installed.  When I removed the oil filter, the previous owner used a BMW purolator long filter, non-hinged.  The metal shim was installed against the face of the cover, and the o-ring which was red, was snug up against the canister edge.  My version has the older sharper edge canister, and the o-ring was marred with marks of the canister edge.  He basically installed it backwards.

New Installation

I installed the hinged filter, 

metal shim, white $2000 o-ring, and then cover, leaving off the paper gasket.  I do not own a caliper, and could not measure the canister depth, but after reading Snowbum's article,which sows it is rarely used, and most likely would always be better off without it, I left it off for now.  I will keep my eye on leaks, etc.

There's a mouse in my house

WOW, today while continuing my basic maintenance routine, I decided to inspect the air filter to see if what the buyer sold me was cruddy and old.  I removed the left side cover, choke cable cable and all, and was shocked to see no air filter.  I immediately thought of ruined carbs, and stories of overhauls.  I did this at night in my garage and the shadows of the garage lights initially hide the fact that something else was in there beside an air filter.

I discovered to my amazement, remnants of a Little critter that had once bunked down and made himself/herself at home in the cozy voice space between the left and right carbs intakes.

I quickly removed the carb tubes, tapped up my Bings and went to work on cleaning out the nut shells, small bits of twine, and other appealing droppings left behind.  Since most of the debris was below the intake holes, I'm hoping not too much ever made it into the carbs.

Guess what rebuild I will be doring this winter, Bing.com

Flasher Relay

Today, a small buzzing was coming out of my headlight bucket.  After removing the housing, a the small black box on the left was buzzing while the key was in the run position.  This was the flasher relay device.  After removing the box, the buzzing does stop and does not translate its problem downstream anywhere I could tell, but then I loose the flasher function.  The flashers do work while the buzzing is happening, but it is something I want to fix.

After reading the airheads archive list and posting an email, I get different opinions on what the problem is and how to fix.

Some suggest it is a bad relay, some suggest it is bad grounding, and some suggest it was a bad fuse.  Currently I have removed the flasher, and will proceed with buying a alternate car flasher, which will suffice minus the indicator light on the odometer.  For you headz who have the same problem I will post my fix.  I have been told to check out a VW replacement, or pick up one at autozone.  Here is a diagram of the flasher for wiring reference.

The airheads club does have a good article on this topic under this link, http://www.airheads.org/content/view/159/49/.

Here is the VW part I'm thinking of trying, recommended by a few headz.

http://www.airheadparts.com/viewDetail.asp?strMasterCat=&idproduct=2939