Looking in the service manual there isn't a torque spec specifically for the bolts on the cover plate for the oil filter. If you look in the manual there is a torque spec for an 8 mm bolt of 14 -19 nm. For those do it yourselfers do you go by this or do you just tighten until snug on these two bolts? I set my wrench for 15 nm and never got there before it felt like I was going to strip the bolts out.

 

I went through the same thing recently. Lots of specs in the manual but nothing for that cover. It's got the o-ring in there, so I went with just snug which should be fine. I haven't run the bike yet since changing the oil & filter. It's still in the basement and the fuel tank is in the lawnmower shed. No gasoline in the house; natural gas furnace and hot water tank.

The bolts are 4 or 5 mm, the head is 8 mm.

 

I just changed my oil and filter today. I just snug down with medium force. Don't over torque or you can strip the threads. BTW I layed the bike on it's side when changing the oil filter, that way the spring for the filter won't fall out of place.

 

Another way the manual says to do is to put greese on the filter and put the spring in the greese. This is the method I use to hold the spring on the filter. Works pretty well.

 

best trick to keep the spring in, is to bend the bottom of it open a little more. put the larger end of the spring in the bike, and never worry about it again.
Dan

 

That's a good idea. Was also thinking about geting a bigger round spring all together. My question would be is why didn't Kawasaki just make the tabs closer together to hold the current spring?

 

Snug is all you need since the O ring is in there. There is a thread somewhere on here where somebody broke the head of the bolt off b/c they over torqued it. If the cover leaks, you can always tighten it up a smidge if needed. I've tightened mine snugly last year and haven't had any issues.

As already mentioned a little grease or widening the spring will make your oil filter changes heck of a lot easier. Here's mine: