ATV Oil Service Q&A

Oil changes may be the simplest of maintenance tasks for ATVs, but it doesn't mean there aren't questions to be asked. And by oil we don't just mean engine oil. 

ATVs use other types of oils for their transmissions and differentials as well. Powersports mechanic John Talley goes live on our YouTube channel every Friday at 3pm Eastern, and in this session, oil maintenance and repair was a much discussed topic. From old Honda ATV oil possibly causing overheating to changing Polaris ATV transmission oils and a Yamaha ATV oil filter inquiry, here are John's answers to some of our viewers' oil service questions.

Honda ATV Oil Service

My TRX300 is overheating. Could the 7-year-old oil be the problem? 

John Talley: Well, yes, it could be. Even if you didn’t run the machine, oil will break down, believe it or not, inside of the engine. It has a certain amount of corrosiveness to it, especially after it mixes a little bit with the combustion process that goes on in an engine, even though it’s not directly or shouldn’t be directly inside the combustion chamber itself. So yes, you definitely need to dump that out and probably run it for an hour or two, and then change the oil again to try to get back up to snuff. 

Watch the video above to see how to change the oil in a Honda ATV.

Polaris ATV Oil Service

How do you change the front and rear oil on a Polaris 570 mid-size? 

John Talley: All the Polaris’s are pretty much the same. They have a certain type of fluid that goes up front, and then a different type of fluid that goes quote-unquote “transmission differential” in the rear. One is a demand drive and the other one is AGL. … We’ve done oil changes on several Polaris’s, but the one closest to yours would be an 850. It’s going to be the same fluid. The amounts and the torques and whatnot are going to be different, but that video will walk you through the process.

Watch the video above to see how to change the transmission oils in a Polaris ATV.

Yamaha ATV Oil Service

When doing a filter change on a YFZ450R, and I fill the oil to what the manual says, will it look full before I start it for the first time? 

John Talley: Yes, because that’s actually a dry sump system. … let’s say it holds 2 quarts, but there’s no way to put 2 quarts into the reservoir, and it only holds 1 or 1½, you put in that amount, you run the machine for just a few seconds, that pulls it into the engine itself, and then you top it off. That’s probably what you’re running into, so yes, it will maybe take more than one filling to get it to the appropriate level. 

Watch the video above to see how to change the oil in a Yamaha ATV.

Want to see more live repair questions answered? See all of John’s Live Q&A sessions here.