Cart Oil Change
 

DIY - Oil Change on your Golf Cart?

Suggestions?:welcome:

Yes, my yamaha holds exactly 1 quart, no filter, remember its glorified air cooled lawn mower engine. I Change it atleast twice year minimum. It's best to know you're engine and known oil consumption rate if any? by monthly checking. Majority just get in and go. Running cart low on oil causes overheating, wears seals quicker, and wears the engine connection rod and cylinder wall out quicker. If let go the engine will start knocking and soon fail. Another area of concern is transaxle grease. Unless it's leaking level will be good. I change mine every 4 years. If you see oil spots on garage floor best to find out what's leaking. So, IMO yes you want to change the oil regularly or have it done.

About every 4 months I drain my oil and put in a quart of Mobil 1 10w30 full synthetic oil. Simple and fast job.

Shimpy - that’s the way to go! Just a bit of work like that lets you KNOW that the cart is working as designed and will last a “lifetime”. If you ever sell your cart, let me know!

I changed the oil in my cart and a neighbors cart today; took all of about 20 minutes.

I take the used oil to O'Reillys Auto Parts in Leesburg to recycle when I buy the oil and filter to change it in our Traverse.

I've always changed my on oil since my 1st car ('66 Chevelle SS396) 48 years ago and probably always will.

If you have a Yamaha, every 1200 miles or about 75 hours. It takes one quart and about 15 minutes.

If you have a newer Yamaha with an internal brake, it requires a friction modified gear oil in the transaxle. What gear oil do you use?

If you change your own oil, just be very careful not to over tighten the oil drain plug. The plug is made out of steel, but the engine block is made out of aluminum. The steel plug is much stronger than aluminum and can easily strip the threads out of the engine block. Trust me on this, I did it! After having to put a heli-coil into the engine block to accept a newer and larger oil drain plug, I wished I didn't try to save a couple dollars and had the oil changed by a professional. I did not do this on our golf cart, but on my Yamaha Grizzly 550 ATV at our home up north. In the Villages, we have Todd Casey come to our house and service the carts for us with no worries and at a very reasonable price. I still change the oil myself on my Nissan Truck, my wife's Honda CRV, and our daughters Subaru, but always use a new washer on the drain plug and am very careful not to over tighten. Wrench on!

Tophcfa is right, I did the same thing. You have to change the aluminum o-ring every time as well. I didn’t, over tightened the steel bolt and stripped the aluminum block. Learn by our mistakes!

Also, there has been a lot of controversy on this. I texted a Yamaha technician about the use of Synthetic oil. He stated NO! It is a splash oil system and synthetic oil is to thin. Use 10 w 30 oil for our climate here in Florida. I change mine every six months.

Yamaha recommends Yamalube which is a semi-synthetic.

You can use 10w-30 synthetic just fine. 10w-30, what Yamaha specifies, has the same cold (the "10" number) and same hot (the "30" number) viscosity (+/- within the API standards) whether it is synthetic or conventional oil. Considering that synthetic is better at maintaining it's viscosity than conventional oil, I am not sure why anyone would choose not to use synthetic.

Yamalube Friction Modified Shaft Drive Gear Oil. You will need 2 quarts. The Villages Golf Cart Store has a good price. It is easy to change - just take off the plastic cover on the back of the cart where the golf bags sit.

Yamaha friction modified oil. Yes, mine has internal rear brakes. Changed it about 4 years and 8k miles. In my case it wasn't that bad, but didn't want to let it go after 4 years. Sumter landing golf cart store reasonably priced. Just pull the back cover off remove the drain and fill plug and refill. If I remember correctly it 3/8" racket/breaker bar slot.

Sorry for you're problem. Some of us been mechanics for long time know what tight is based on size and materials. For those less knowledgeable it best to invest in torque wrench and use it on critical parts.