So the break in period for the Honda 135 is over. And I figure its time do do the motor oil, filter, and lower unit. First time Honda 4 stroke guy, I grab the owners manual and prep for the first battle. Right off, Honda in the manual says "lower unit oil??? go see a dealer". Dealer......B!@#@ ME! I'll figure it out. Download the shop manual on line for $6. Find the lower unit section. My old Merc had 3 total lower unit screw plugs, 2 vents and one drain. Honda goes with just a drain and one vent whole. Manual says pump it in from the bottom and when it comes out the top whole, then pull the pump out of the bottom and replace the plug. Right....not! So "ish" drains first, then replaces the drain whole, pumps the stuff in the top hole till a quart is dry, then removes the pump, allow the whole 1 ounce excess to drain out the top, and when its down weeping, plug it up and done. Honda, get a life!
Next, set up to drain the engine oil. Open that little access slide door, that then remounts to be a guide for the draining oil. Open the drain plug, and the oil clears Honda's dumb little door till its half way empty, then with less flow, hits the little door, divides the stream in 2, and half goes to my ECO freindly recycle jug, and the other half hits the lawn. Great! Good news, less to mow. Bad news, Honda engineers ought be drug tested.
So its time to swap the filter. Honda wrench fits well, filter off, and most of what was in the filter now drains and ends up in the engine case, which nicely drains out the bottom onto the plate above the prop, then on to the lawn. Again, less to mow balance of the year. Honda, are you guys really to dumb to come up with a filter removal tool that has a cup attached to catch that excess crap? Answer.......don't know, there drug tests have not come back yet.
So next, time to put oil back in. Read, set, go. Honda on line manual says with filter change 8 quarts, so 8 goes in. Check the dip stick, but its to shiny from the factory to show me where the clean oil line is. So I sand down the bottom of the dipstick with 200 grit, and its now hatched and roughed enough to really show you where the oil is. Honda.....those drug tests come back for your engineers yet? Having done the sanding mod, now dip... and the stick says "Whoops....way to much in there". So I get out my new $8 Penzoil drain pump from Walmart, and try to pump a little out. Surprise, Penzoils has the same engineers who work for Honda, and while the pump will not S@@@ oil, but it does to my rating still S@@@.
So I take the tube off the pump, into the oil dip stick hole, and I carefully try to S@@@ thru the tube and hope to get a flow going. Great! Penzoil 10W30 [B][I][U]does taste [/U][/I][/B]worse than KY Firied Chicken.....but only by a little. One Bud Light Lime and 3 shots of Cuervo, clears the oil out of my mouth and I decide to just drain a little out of the drain plug instead. I need about 1/2 quart out to be right, and 1/4 goes in the funnel, the rest down into the engine cover and out the lower unit drains. The lawn is not considering me to be an eco-terrorist. Who cares, the lawn can't vote.
Finally done. I guess the first time is the worst. My bad and my stupids for some of it. But, if I ever bump into someone who works as an engineer for Honda outboards...........I'm going to invite them for supper, and serve KY Chicken sauteed in 10W30, and mix their highballs with anitfreeze. I doubt they will notice.......
I am so glad this motor has a good reliability record.......because "Me thinks" it ain't going to see that much maintenance anymore. I'd rather have the beer and shots without the oily after taste....thank-you Honda!
Good news......felt great all day, after beibng tired all week. Thought I was dehydrated, but know now I must have just been "low on oil".
