Thank You fellow FJers!

[FJTillDeath]

So! Last night I finally did it

As simple as it seems, I replaced the oil and the filter

I was going to use Arnies trick and drain from the left cooler line, but I wanted real peace of mind so I took off the exhuast(its the only way I could access the drain plug).

The oil filter was good and I made sure I didnt lose anything. The parts were mostly in good condition, very good actually so only the oil filter and new oil was needed.

To report, the ticking noise from my engine is gone along with a whole lot of other noises, although their is one noise still there probably from the timing chain. The old oil: black as soet! I also checked the oil to see if I could find anything in it. I did. SOME(not too much) metal shavings inside the oil..the manual describes this as something being seriously wrong internally with the engine..Im hoping its just normal wear. It wasnt really silver but the shaving also had some lumpiness in them.

Anyway to report on the oil: Seems to work great! The engine is so smooth and stays so much cooler! As for a slipping clutch, well I am not entirely sure if I have it but when I took her for a quick run shifting in slightly higher revs it was like the clutch was too quick for me(this was under WOT).

So far all good apart from the nasty surprises I found(Oil Leaks will follow up>>). The hardest part of the whole procedure was trying to find what bloody wrench fits the oil drain plug. I initially used a 19(which was correct)  but it was so tight that whenever I tried to turn it I almost wore down the sides, not even a skrewdriver helped. Eventually I got a socket and that sorted it out. The exhuast gaskets looked okay, but I think I'll get some new ones again anyway.

As the title says, thanks to the forum, you guys helped a lot with tips and advice and helped me muster up the courage to not procrastinate and just do it and the FJ loves me for it

[Dan Filetti]

I also checked the oil to see if I could find anything in it. I did. SOME(not too much) metal shavings inside the oil..the manual describes this as something being seriously wrong internally with the engine..Im hoping its just normal wear.

Metal shaving in the oil is NOT "normal wear".

Dan

[Mark Olson]

thats just pieces of your clutch, don't worry just keep riding till the engine seizes in a few years or so. 

[flips]

Metal shavings could be from the over tightened sump plug....

Cheers

Jeff .P

[Travis398]

If you are worried about it you should take your oil pan off, there's probably more pieces in there that didn't come out.   

[andyb]

If it's from the clutch, the metal isn't the worry as much as the much lighter fibers which get stuck in the pickup.

Now that you've pulled the exhaust and replaced it, you know how involved it is to get to the oil pan.  Pulling it off is easy, something like a dozen screws and unplugging the oil level sender.  If you do so, you will undoubtedly tear the gasket in the process.  Order a new gasket for the pan, or a sheet of gasket material at the local store.  Trace the pan on it and make a new gasket, which is pretty easy with a knife and a marker/pencil.  If you pull it, you can easily see the oil pickup and inspect the fairly fine screen in it to see how much crap's in it.  It's easy to remove and clean (hint, just take the whole pickup off, it's not retained by all that much).

And when you put things back together, use antisieze compound on the exhaust studs/nuts, as I'll bet you didn't, and it makes them a zillion times easier to take off the second time.

The bad news is that if there's metal in the oil, I'll bet you it's not clutch material, unless the clutch is really and truly fried, which you'd have noticed by now.  If the metal in the oil is coppery/bronze looking stuff, it's bearings.  If it's a sliver of two of aluminum, it's from the drain plug.  You can drain the oil through a coffee filter and leave it on a stack of paper towels for a few days to dry it and see the color more clearly (everything looks coppery when it's covered in oil to my eyes, I worry too much sometimes).

And you'd have to lose the new oil in the process.  So I'd say ride it a thousand miles or so before draining it and inspecting things.  If it's gone this far, it should go a little farther, and that'll help tell you what the rate of particle buildup is.

[FJTillDeath]

Thanks Andy and co

From what Harvy told me, it may be clutch wear, may not, will only truly be able to check on the next drain of oil. It looked sort of silverish even in the oil, so it may be the  drain plug, I know for a fact that it was incredibly tight when I tried to untighten it(nearly ruined the bolt in the process). The reason I suspect it may very well be the clucth is that at idle, when the bike is running and just standing still on the spot, when I pull the clutch in, the engine sounds a little smoother, but when I release the clutch in nuetral it has a distinct clatter/rattle. My dealer said he thinks its clutch wear, maybe hes right, maybe not. When I get a chance to order the valve cover gasket and grommets from Randy I am going to check again. Im hoping damage is minimal as it will be costly to pay somebody else for repairs.

Will keep everyone informed to the progress on the next oil drain

[RichBaker]

That clutch rattle is normal, mine was doing it with 2300 miles on the odo, hasn't changed with almost 80k, now.....