Honda Monkey 600-Mile Oil Change | Service Interval Observations
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- Опубліковано 11 вер 2024
- While I didn't quite have 600 miles on the Monkey yet, I was taking it to the woods of Northern PA for a week of thrashing in the mountains, so I wanted some fresh oil to support the increased demands on the engine. I had full intention to clean the strainer and filter screen, but after making some interesting observations when reviewing the service intervals in the manual, Honda straight up talked me out of it! Find out why in this lastest episode of my Honda Monkey adventure
That basic Honda GN4 oil is liquid gold! I have used that oil since the 70’s and have had many ATV’s with 20k plus miles on them without any engine issues and have several friends with the same results. I prefer GN4 in a small engine over any synthetic oil. You should change it every year regardless of miles and that’s in your owners manual.
The maintenance on these bikes is so simple; I had noticed the same of waiting so long on the spinner and strainer and was confused by the 8k miles for the spinner. When I cleaned (and replaced) the spinner, there was definitely a fair amount of crud on it but it could have definitely gone a bit longer. I do use syntetic on it just because I'm used to it (and we have a bit of heat and altitude out here). Like you, I put few miles on this bike and mostly for goofing around.
Isn’t it funny?! Coming from racecars and some pretty hot dirt bikes, this gave me a chuckle! Doesn’t seem right to me, and I’ll probably do it once a year before a big ride anyways
Cracked my case open at 600 miles and there were a ton of metal shavings I plan on doing it once a year as a safety precaution and change the oil while I’m at it. I plan on keeping this little bugger for a long time.
Wow you could pass for 18 yrs again, Great vid your friend mike
I hear you, according to the manual, the oil screen does not need checking &cleaning until 4kmiles or 1 year, but after seeing the metal crud on the oil screen of all others that videoed their oil change, I would definitely check it out, regardless of what Honda/manual says! Manufacturers can be wrong at times, and the recalls are proof of that. Since there is no downside (except for time!), I would check the screen every time I change the oil. Have not seen any recalls for the monkey yet, but I saw a couple of people with cracked paint and rusted weld frame joints for which Honda acknowledged can be an issue and described how to fix, so hey, just saying😁
Btw, I love your insights into bike maintenance and your honest opinion or all the changes you made. The best part is when something does not work and you back out of it - a hard headed person would not share that online - so thank you!1
Some folks removed the side cover at 600 miles, the screen and oil spinner were nasty. They also removed the oil spinner and installed a kit.
Absolutely. It never hurts to take the extra step and do this, but I just didn’t have the time when I shot this video. Since I replaced the piston in the bike, I will be cleaning the screen after I feel it’s broken in and will of course film that process
just got the blue 2021 monkey today your a lot of help man thanks
that's great! I love the blue, enjoy!
Me too on D day eve 6-5-21 Happy and Safe riding from Maine.
John. Look to the column that says 'regular replace'. If the mileage is not covered then you change the oil annually irrespectively. This is common with most manufacturers.
I saw a video of someone checking the oil screen at 600m and it was not clean. So as always in any vehicle an oil and filter or screen clean can never be done often enough, it does no harm. Leaving it may do harm.
Correct, and with how I ride, more frequent than suggested certainly won’t hurt. The oil screen most likely won’t be clean no matter how many miles, that’s it’s job. I don’t feel it restricts flow however and the particles in it should be trapped there, which is the point of it. I didn’t clean it because I plan to get the Kitaco side cover with the oil filter soon anyways
You saved me from a headache ☺️ thanks!!
GREAT work.
THANK You.
10/10!!!
Thanks for watching!
I have seen fully synthetic used before on other videos for oil changes on the Honda Monkey! I am in Cyprus and after watching many of your videos I have now purchased a 2018 Honda Monkey with only 123 miles on it! They dont sell it over here so I had to import a slightly used one from the UK! Cyprus is mostly very hot weather! often reaching over 100F 40C and even in winter temperatures do not really go below 14C 57F . Is 20W 50 fully synthetic a better choice because of the hotter weather? I have also ordered many parts from MNNTHBX after watching your great videos, and recommendations! having had a lot of trouble trying to order parts from other companies in the USA, especially not shipping to Cyprus! I normally post Harley Davidson rides on my UA-cam channel, but hope to post some Monkey bike videos soon regarding mods done and riding around this beautiful Island of Cyprus! Thanks for the inspiration and informative videos you have posted regarding the Honda Monkey bike!
This is awesome! Thanks for sharing this with me and I’m honored to hear I influenced you to purchase a Monkey! As far as oil goes, I really think a lot of people tend to overthink this. A high-tech synthetic isn’t necessary on a small air cooled engine pushing 9-10HP unless you want to extend service intervals, but with how far apart they are on the Monkey anyways, I think the conventional Honda 10W30 is just fine. I wouldn’t go with a different weight of oil as Honda designed the engine to use 30WT and 50WT is a big viscosity change. It might not flow into the places as good as the 30WT and cause lubrication issues (crank and rod bearings specifically). Enjoy the bike!
well if you compare the Grom/MSX manual its every 3000km/2000miles, i think its due to the Euro 4 requirements
and im already at about 27000 km
anyway the strainer and centrifugal oil filter are 2 different elements
strainer is at the bottom and the centrifugal filter (most people call it oil spinner) actually catches a lot of crud)
No argument there, but for the sake of this video I wanted to highlight the maintenance the way the factory suggested it in the manual. I also didn’t have the time to remove the case before taking the bike on a two week long trip to the mountains. Plenty of future video options for sure though
@@John5XR it is low maintenance in stock form but it is hard to keep it stock :)
Exactly! Lol
This vid helped my dad
Great! That's why I do them!
Considering all the other work you have done to your Monkey I do find it strange that you haven’t already pulled the right engine cover off to upgrade the clutch springs for better bite or oil pump for better flow to the oil cooler.
I just found the weakness in the stock clutch when I took it aggressive trail riding in the mountains in July, so that’s on my list. The cooler was a bit of an experiment and to see if that would work on the Monkey in coordination with TB Parts, otherwise, I didn’t see the need for increased oil flow with my fairly conservative setup. If I were good enough at wheelies, those would be very beneficial mods for sure
Also, if it's working, why mess with it?
John, thank you for the tutorial! I just drained the oil from the bike and left it in the garage while I came inside for a little research😁 The research is about the 2 EMPTY (!) bolt holes under the engine, in the vicinity of the oil drain bolt. I thought maybe something fell off? One of those holes had a blue line across it! I see those blue lines on other bolts in the bike, but why would Honda put a line across an empty hole? I then thought maybe these are holes for the ABS, which I don’t have, but in the engine? I ordered the 2021 service manual but I did not receive it yet, and I am not even sure it would have a picture of the engine from underneath. Hoping you can shed some light since you are used to working on engines. Thanks!
Hi Yvonne! There are a few things under the engine that look like oil drain holes but are not, one is the cam chain tensioner pushrod that if removed will act like it is going to drain oil, but will only drain a small amount. There’s a spring in there too that’ll pop out and scare you! That’s about the only bolt under there that would mimic the oil drain, and the others would be to mount the exhaust I believe. The sure fire way to know is that the oil drain is the one pointing straight down behind the tab that points straight down. Don’t worry, you got this! You can always email me if you need pics too, my address is in the about me section 👍
Yvonne, and the lines on the bolts are typically from the factory where the person quality checking the assembly will mark the parts they check for proper torque, putting a visual stamp on them to certify it’s been checked.
@@John5XR Thank you for all the great advice! Oil change was successfully done. The monkey has clean oil again! Next change I will remove the engine cover, clean screen, etc. But sounded like an overkill for 400 miles. I just wanted to flush the break-in oil. (Although it is only really called for at 600 miles...) It was quite easy, and after watching your video, you answered another question I had, about the the torque on the drain bolt. I don’t mind going by feel on things that are not very important, but the oil drain plug, I figured I should get that one right 😁
Fantastic! I feel the same way, clear out the break-in oil and save the filter screen till the next change. The intervals on these bikes are so long that it gives me confidence in Honda building a reliable engine that isn’t so hard on its lubricant like a race engine. For instance, a motocross bike has its oil changed after every race weekend!
Hi John. I ordered the jtf 249-14 front sprocket. The sprocket would not go on shaft all the way. Contacted seller he said it would only fit grom. Not monkey. I thought both had same engine. I tried sending it back and ups said it would cost me 70 dollars. Seller said he would not pay for shipping back to uk.he said I ordered wrong. I don't get it!.every one else is out of 14.i ordered a 13.found that in ohio.should be a good experiment for getting moving off the line.hopefully it doesn't kill the top end to bad.and hope 13 fits.happy willy's from the 60 year old kid
That’s weird! The sprocket should definitely be the same as the Grom.
What kind of problem did you have with header, I have one on the way?
Hey John, in which video you explain why returning to the stock exhaust? I can’t find it! Thanks!
Hi Yvonne, I believe it’s in the ECU cutting out issues solved video(s). The main reason was because I had to reinstall the stock ecu and it was either the intake or exhaust that needed to go back to stock to keep the air fuel ratios from getting too lean. Couldn’t do the intake because the oil cooler would have been in the way, so it was the exhaust. I’ll be swapping back soon though as I have a very interesting mod coming up that’s gonna need that extra flow 😏
@@John5XR thanks!
Im thinking To Bay a Moneky Do you Recomanded But I live In North Dakota Wether Socks 😐
I bought a new monkey it's been hopped up at the dealership.186cc. I'm having trouble getting the battery to start it. I bought a brand new battery. It will start it once but often not the second time.
It might not be the battery but more the starter not being powerful enough to crank the engine. This happens when you upgrade the cam too, as the OEM cam has a decompression feature whereas the aftermarket cams do not
Now it has two batteries there is plenty of room for one more now there's two in parallel starts fine.
Hi john.changed my oil.i was at top of the line on sight glass at 28 oz.do I still put in last 4 oz?thanks mike z.
Hi Michael, probably had some leftover oil in there, I'd not overfill it as that will cause more drag on the rotating assembly (on some engines, but maybe not the Monkey).
Just watched...what is a better chain to use instead of OEM chain?
I like the DID non o-ring gold chain, it was quieter and looks great:
amzn.to/3B7MVNZ
Automotive oils should not be used. Most contain friction reducers that are bad for the clutch.
Correct, I’d be curious to see if it effected the Monkey/Grom though. They’re very robust for a little bike