Modern Vespa

The Time Had Come: In recent weeks, I'd been taking furtive glances at the sight-glass ensconced in Thelonica's oil pan, and noticing the level being low. Quite low. Not terribly surprising, given that (1) I only recently crested the 1k-mile mark with her meaning that the engine, however "officially" broken-in it might be, is still a tad green behind the gills, and (2) I've been running all over the place on the bike since about the 700-mile mark. But the thing is still crazy-young, and that means needing to keep a closer eye on the oil level for the time being. Which also means running out to buy some oil, along with the (hopefully) efficient and not-too-messy means of filling the crankcase. (I wanted to get hold of the Buschenfuchs oil filler extender, but time wasn't on my side for this.)

Checked the usual suspects online, and the only place that had a decent option was AutoZone. In fact, they had at least three usable options, of which this, to me, was the best, providing a clear means of measurement, a flexible line to better reach Thelonica's admittedly tortuous path to the oil-filler opening, and a means of opening and closing the oil-feed.

So: rode off to my dealer for a quart of the proper motor oil (after ogling a mint-condition Moto-Guzzi California Police Special parked outside, details in photo posting), then to AutoZone for the means of feeding said oil into the bike, then home to get it all done. (I'm off to Brooklyn again tomorrow for RevZilla Brooklyn's Grand Opening, so I wanted to get all the important stuff under-the wire.) The Measu-Funnel is pretty straightforward in operation, and nicely-done: you use the blue collar at the base of the container to open or close the flow of oil, keeping it closed to fill up with the desired quantity of oil; there are molded-in marks in increments of 100ml as a guide. The attached flexible hose has a removable cap (with a retainer so you can't lose it), and a spout which is easy to insert, even into the GTS HPE's crankcase opening. I started with approximately 150ml of Castrol Power 1, and after screwing the dipstick-cap back on and firing up the engine for half a minute, discovered the level was still on the low side, after waiting some 2-3 minutes for the oil to re-settle after shutting the engine off. I then added another 50ml and repeated the procedure: this time, after two minutes post-shutoff, the oil level was spot-on…but after some ten minutes, the sight-glass was a bit over two-thirds full. I decided to leave things as-is, since the sight-glass wasn't completely full (an absolute no-no), and therefore felt I was still in safe territory, albeit not by terribly much.

The bottom line here? It works, and is likely a better means than many another of filling a GTS HPE with oil without recreating your very own Exxon Valdez in your garage or driveway. Recommended.

Great post, I like this funnel a lot and will be heading out to get one soon.

So the new scooter burned near a quarter of a quart in a thousand miles. It's easy to see how a less than observant owner might fry an engine during its early days.

My thoughts too. Pretty big range of conscientiousness about checking things it seems. This incarnation of GTS is a lot less forgiving of negligence...

I still prefer this

The on/off feature is terrific, much better than having a set amount in the funnel flowing uncontrolled into the sump. Thanks for the heads up.
Sold here on Amazon for $40.

Hold it…$40, on Amazon?

(Not that I haven't seen such nonsense before from third parties in the House That Jeff Built, but this one's a bit much.)

Y'all really do have some cool stuff in Oz (among other things, I'm addicted to John Cadogan's YT car videos, off-the-cuff humor and all). Don't think I'd easily find one of those Stateside, though.

Just another funnel. You still have to empty and clean it.

Indeed. But minus some of the guesswork and hassle of getting the oil where it needs to go.

.... or you could just buy a cheap oil can with flexible spout.

In fact, I almost went that route; not bad, but (1) still pricier, at least in these parts, and (2) still no approximate means of measurement.