Hello, John Talley here with Partzilla.com. Today I'm going to walk
you through the process of doing a simple oil change on our 2012 Honda TRX
420 Rancher. Pretty simple to do. Let's step over and look at the parts and the
tools we're gonna need to pull this off. There's only one decision that you need
to make here. Do I go back with a standard GN4 oil, or do I spend a
little bit more an upgrade to the semi-synthetic? Well that depends on how
you're gonna use the machine. If you're really working it hard,
I would advise going ahead and getting the better oil. Beyond that, you just want
to pick up an oil filter, and if you will check the link in the description below
we actually have a shopping cart already put together with everything you're
gonna need to pull this off. Now if yours is a little bit different,
if you would visit our website at partzilla.com. It's really easy to use.
Start off by picking the manufacturer and then drill down to whatever part or
list of parts that you need for your machine. If you're still having trouble,
then give us a call-- that's what we're here for, and we can guide you to the
correct parts for your application. Now as far as the special tools go, well
there's only really one I recommend: using a good torque wrench because the
last thing you want to do strip out that oil drain bolt on the bottom of the
engine. Then you will be in a mess. Now the first thing we need to do to get
this process started is go ahead and start it, let it warm up for about two to
three minutes. It doesn't have to be up to full operating temperature because
you don't want to scald yourself, but we do want to get the oil circulating in
there that way we can extract the most out of it. So I'm going to crank it up,
let it idle for two or three minutes, and then we can get started.
Let's start off now that she's warmed up by getting off the panels. No special
tools, they just pull away. We're gonna go in and take off both sides. While we're
here, we're gonna take out the filler slash dipstick so it'll drain faster.
Now to drain it, we don't need this side off but we will need it when it comes
time to change out the filter which is right back there. So we're set up and
ready to drain. All you're gonna need here is just a 17 millimeter and it goes
right here. When we drop this out I want to make sure you don't lose that little
crush washer that is on it. Now how often do you need to be doing this? Well,
according to the maintenance schedule, at least every 12 months, 400 hours, or 600
miles-- whichever one comes first. You keep on that schedule, your engine's gonna last
a long time. While that is draining, let's go ahead
and swap out our oil filter, and all you need here it's just an 8 millimeter.
Now it is gonna make a bit of a mess, just inevitable. So let's go ahead and
put a rag there so oil doesn't go all over our frame and that lower belly pan.
All these bolts are the same length, so there's no getting them mixed up. Where's
our filter? Told you it was gonna make a mess. So you had a filter, and then you also
notice that there's a spring up inside. Now this is critical: you want to make
sure when you're installing the filter that it has this marking outside towards
the outside of the machine. Otherwise, if you put it in backwards you're gonna
destroy your engine and we don't want that. There's two things you need to
check at this point on this cover: you've got an o-ring that goes to the outside,
make sure there's no cuts or anything on it-- and then there's also one recessed
into the the block itself. Let's make sure they're in place. Then
all we have to do is put the cover back on.
Get those tightened back down, and I caution you here to use a small ratchet
or either at least grab it all the way up at the head like this because these
aren't large threads and you don't want to strip them. So just a little bit is
all it's going to take. A little bit of housekeeping here, get this cleaned back up. With
that in place, we're finished on this side so let's go ahead and put our cover
back in. It just has a slot down at the bottom and then these four points where
it plugs into these little rubber grommets. So I hit that bottom first,
slide it up under the seat. There she goes. Easy. Let's get our drain
plug back in place, and Honda recommends that you replace the crush washer every
single time. I think that's a little overkill. As long as i don't see any
issues, any cracks, any grooves, I'm good with reusing it at least once
or twice. Now we're gonna set the torque to eighteen foot pounds. All it takes. Now
with that torques down, let's get it filled back up. Now this should hold right at
three quarts after doing a complete oil change with the old filter. I find
sometimes that's a little bit too much but we can safely go ahead and dump in
two and a half, start it up for a few seconds, check it, and then bring it up to
the level. I've decided a course to go with the semi-synthetic. Up to you which
way you want to go. So we've got roughly 2 and 3/4 quarts in there. Because this
is a dry sump system and we're talking about a large volume of oil, you want to
let it idle for two to three minutes, and not touching the throttle. Just let it
idle. If you blip the throttle, that will affect the level when it comes time to
check it. Once it's done idling for two or three minutes and we let it sit for
another three or four, at that point we can go in and check
level and add if necessary. So let's see where we ended up. When you're doing this,
you do not screw it back in. Just plunge it and then take the reading. Alright, she
is right at the bottom, so it was pretty much dead on about it needing three
quarts. So this should bring it up to the appropriate level. Now let's take another
reading. Shouldn't be required to restart it now because we're actually just
bringing the level up. So let's take a peek and see where we ended up. There you go,
right at the bottom of the top of the mark, so that is as much as we need to
have in there. Get that tightened back up and get our cover back on. Same scenario
as the other side. You've got this little slot goes in the floorboard. Once it's in
place, put this up under the seat and then hit your four points to hold it in
place. Alright guys, that wraps this one up. Told you it was going to be easy.
Listen, if you need any parts for your machine, why don't you come see us at
partzilla.com we can get you taken care of. Now if you want the exact listing of
what we used on this one, check that link in the description below and that will
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