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Hi again,
well I've finally done it and got hold of a Falco
its a 01 in red (that’s the faster colour right? ) completely stock apart from a milli shock and only 8000mls.
I will try to upload a picture for you all when I figure out how.

This bike has been sitting for three years and needs an oil change (amongst other things), I’ve read about how to do it on the excellent website which was linked here (http://home.comcast.net/~sl_mille/index.html) thanks for that.
but the oil tube window is blue, is this normal? Is it an easy fix (i.e. take off and clean) or is it a new part?
Cheers
Noel

i reckon it will show the oil level still?

if so leave it be

well thats the problem I can't see the oil level at the minute so I don't know if you can't see through it or if the oils very low (its not leaking), but I'm changing the oil this weekend so if I'm taking the tube off I'll do it then.

Lets just look at it the other way, if it looks dark it is quite possibly too full.
I am at work at the moment and can't remember how much of the viewing pipe is covered by the normal fairing and how much by my Skidmarx aftermarket belly pan.
First thing to remenber is that it has to be run and then stood for a while before you can actually check, even then it has always been a grey area.
Lets assume it has been run and then stood for a while -
Can you look down the side of the fairing so you can see right to the top of the pipe, it could be that it is overfilled slightly and the level is up at the top where you can't see it. If you have just got off the bike it will look dark and overfilled.
Mine is a 2001 with almost 30k on the clock and the tube may have darkened very slightly but you can still clearly see the oil level. I have never seen one so stained you cannot check the level.
If there is oil in and it is that dark, and you give it a change this weekend, you will clearly see how old it looks as you start draining it off.
If it is overfilled and the oil is this dark, you will see the level drop in the tube. (refill with semi-synthetic on this model, not fully synth!).
Suppose the tube could just be totally stained, but I have never seen this happen.
Can't comment on how easy it is to change the tube, don't know anybody who has done it. Others may know more.
Final thing to remember this is a dry sump engine, not the more normal wet sump, so you will not start to get oil starvation when banked over if the oil level is low in the sump. The site tube is on the separate oil tank, this engine is dry sumped so whilst you have any oil in the dry sump tank it will always feed the engine. Obviously if low on oil it will start to get more overheated as levels in the tank drop.

P.S. more oil will obviously drain when you remove the internal filter, plus there is another cap at the side of the filter housing, to fully drain it all.

P.S. Hope this helps and welcome to the site by the way!

mine looks blue when its full of oil , when sitting it turns clear , with more blue showing at the oil level

Welcome!

I have an 01 in Red and my tube is tinted blue too not, must be special juice that secretly makes ours the fastest....sssshhh!...we just let the black and rust/black ones argue amongst themselves!!

furygan man wrote:Welcome!

I have an 01 in Red and my tube is tinted blue too not, must be special juice that secretly makes ours the fastest....sssshhh!...we just let the black and rust/black ones argue amongst themselves!!

.... and just how fast do they go with a flat tyre .........


Noeli0 - yes if it's been sitting 3 years then change the oil and filter. Be aware Aprilia upgraded the filters - the new filters are longer and you need a new filter cap if you fit one of these - otherwise find one of the old style ones. Nobody is aware of any problems with the old style ones BTW.

Yes check the sight-tube while it's off.

As Howard says, with one of the older Falcos you are wise to stick to a semi synth oil to avoid clutch slip risks.

Fill it with the amount of oil it says in the manual.

As has been said, the oil checking method is a bit of a faff but it's important to do it right - or you will get a false reading.
It tells you how to do it in the User Manual. You should have got one with the bike, but they can be downloaded from Martin Poll's website - along with the Workshop Manual and plenty of other useful stuff.

thanks guys for the info,
I didn't know about the semi synth oil issue (I'll be taking the fully synth back) or the oil filter size, how do I find out about this one, I've already bought a "Hiflo filtro Performance Oil Filter - HF-152" most of the places I've looked say this is the one to have. is there any external reference on the filter cap?
this isn't a noobe joke is it, like a left handed screwdriver?

heres the new larger oil filter
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Brand-new-Aprilia ... 35aa33e91d

i might be wrong but with the original filter it will take 3.7 ltr to fill yor bike , and i would think slightly more with the new larger filter

Whenever I have asked for a filter at a bike shop, they have always supplied the original shorter one that is right for earlier bikes without the new cap. I am still using this unit, never had a problem.
Early Falcos, (and perhaps some later ones), have clutch problems with fully synth oil, even when using the Aprilia recommended Putoline stuff used by Aprilia dealers.
Around 5 years ago after my 10K service at a dealer the clutch slipped on the way hone and got much worse, dealer hinted at a complete new clutch, but I heard of this problem with fully synthetic oil, so I thought I'd give it a try as it was "slightly cheaper" than a new clutch.
Changed the following weekend and was fine. Still on same clutch 4 years and 20K miles later. Many other owners of early bikes have had the same problem and stick with semi synth.
Some people with later bikes think that their clutches are different and it does not apply to them, they may be correct, but some of these have still had clutches replaced between 15K and 20K, so I for one will stick with semi synth and change it every 3 or 4k, (about once a year in my case.)
So not a nooby joke at all!

HowardQ wrote:Whenever I have asked for a filter at a bike shop, they have always supplied the original shorter one that is right for earlier bikes without the new cap. I am still using this unit, never had a problem.

The original shorter one was fitted to all Falcos - not just the early ones.
The instruction from Aprilia was to "upgrade" at the next service.
That said, I believe nobody is aware of any problems with the old filter.
I upgraded mine last year as I could see no good reason for not doing so.

Here's a link to our Technical section with the information provided by Aprilia
https://www.ridersite.com/viewtopic.php?t=1419

HowardQ wrote: Early Falcos, (and perhaps some later ones), have clutch problems with fully synth oil, even when using the Aprilia recommended Putoline stuff used by Aprilia dealers.

I'm not aware of any of the later Falcos suffering from clutch slip due to the use of Fully synth oil - it is something that seems to affect some of the early bikes before Aprilia improved the clutch ... I think it's probably just the Crow Black and Fire Red ones (and not all of those bikes suffer).
That said, if you have one of those colours, then sticking to semi-synth is the safe option

BTW Aprilia's recommended oils are iP and Agip .... though I doubt many (any?) of us use them

Alarm bells going off in head!!!

Having an early one i fall into the discussion backet here, firstly what is clutch slip? As you know i'm not up to speed on technical stuff so didn't understand a lot of what was said so may just carry on using the bike as i don't seem to have any probs at the mo, but like a lot of other things mentioned on this forum a seed has been planted and maybe something to look into for the furture or is it a high priority tweak??

ok

simple solution

at oil change time, use semi synth oil - i use 15/50 and opie oils as we all get a discount :)

and slipping clutch - well, you would know it if you had it !

Opie Oils info here: https://www.ridersite.com/viewtopic.php?t=6226