Wow. This sort of thing is why I'm always skeptical of any motorcycle engine until I've had a chance to go through it and see what the last guy messed up.

Oil changes are one of those things where you need to do it right, or pay someone who will. Especially on any sort of powersports.

Your system is a semi-dry sump, and yes, you do need to pull both drain plugs and the screen bolt to drain the oil correctly. Don't cheap out on replacing a quart at a time, that's some kind of BS. Make sure you get that screen reinstalled correctly too so the engine doesn't get messed up. FYI screens like that are usually there to help you catch engine or transmission issues before they go too far bad, like my KTM that has one screen for the crank case and one for the transmission, along with a separate filter for each - it's important to understand what you're seeing there vs what you should expect to see.

I did too go cheap! LOL The BMW was lower priced then the next reasonably availible sctooer the Suzuki in it's class and was on sale. I already have a plan to remedy and as I said, you might want to ignore it but there are three drain holes, the maker does not alert you to nor does any video I watched nor does that very helpful web sight. I was in contact with a guy who has changed oil on the same bike dozens of times and he was at a loss as to why also. I've done my due dilligence.

I beg to differ. Doing the due diligence would mean taking the time to disassemble it, again, and draining it completely.

An hour of time now, or mucho dinero later?

On my BMW motorcycle, there’s a tube that has to be routed to finish the oil draining portion of the job. Perhaps you have something similar.


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DUDE! Plastic panels break doing this job. I ain't screwing with it any further. In fact I bought an oil hand pump. That sucker goes deep into the engine oil case. I sucked out a QT and addd a new QT then took it for a drive. Gonna repete till oil all looks new. Call it a day. Next time I am draining this SOB with the hand pump from the top. I saw evidence that the dealer took short cuts when putting it back together when they did the last service.

This is not a drain plug. This would be the fill plug/ over flow, just like the differential on your truck/car. If it allows overflow to spill out it is not a drain plug as that would be a damn ineffective drain. The lower one and the 17mm one mentioned in the video/forum page are the drain plugs (this is why they don't mention a third).

Edit: Let me re say that. There are two drain plugs that I knew about. The top part I mentioned very late in this, from what I see you got confused. I did not call that a drain plug its the oil input. The DEALER'S Mech told me there is a third drain hole on the other side of the bike opposite the one I knew about and used on the bike's right side. I know that sounds off but that is what he told me. And all the guys doing oil changes on their bikes don't seem to know about that. And yet they seem to get all the oil out of their bikes. Nothing adds up here but I am most confident I am relating it all as it has been related to me.

You could have taken it to the dealer and been done with it. Instead, you have spent countless hours and Money on more Oil than it even holds and it would have cost less than taking it to the dealer.
Yeah, i guess you did it yourself to save a few bucks but was it worth it? You don't even know if it's full or not. (For those wondering, read the whole thread)

Sometimes I forget I am mechanical in mind, I saw the #1 plug and assumed it was mentioned, I didn't read the article.

Well what you are saying is not true. I paid 150.00 just for the oil and filter. Most people including me don't have the dealer do such a routine maintenence. I think you need to read the thread again. I stated the dealer told me it wa full if the dip stick is reading so, so it is full. It's going to cost me about 40 dollars more then it shold have but last I checked the oil change by the dealer ran me about 350.00 total. My Math says I have no regrets. I leanred a thing or two for next time. Try not to be so negative.

That is some really expensive oil and filter if it costs $150. The wife's Q7 TDI costs just over $100 for the filter and 9 quarts of low ash oil. Dealer wants 300+tax now to do the job. I don't think Audi coffee is worth $200. But if I couldn't do it right, I would try to enjoy the Audi coffee.

That being said, everyone here is giving you good advice. It could also be that they expect you to vacuum extract it, that's how it's done on a lot of modern cars and a lot easier to do. Heck it even gets more oil out of the Q7 doing it this way than removing the drain pan plug.

Hey look, one more thing to add to my list of reasons to never buy a BMW or Mercedes. I'll have to flip this page over soon.

or a Subaru on spark plugs or pay $$$ to dealer

I'm sorry, you most definitely did call it a drain, it's right there in the quote... "There are two DRAIN holes one on the very bottom of the engine and one on the side..."
You are correct that it is the oil INPUT though, and it is not to drain it if you put too much in, you simply fill it via that port until it is filled to the edge and just starts to spill over. It's a similar idea to a differential fill on any car.

You can always buy an oil extractor pump for future jobs so you only need to remove one plug.

I changed the Oil in my 150cc Scooter yesterday, cost me 8 bucks for a quart of quality Dino Oil (uses .75 od a quart) and took 10 minutes.
It also won't go much faster than 55mph, and honestly? It's a Scooter and that's fast enough for me to run simple errands within a couple miles saving me a bunch of gas vs my Truck.
Your BMW is a "Big Boy" Scooter though, so it's better for a real commuter than mine.