Change a Ski-Doo 1200 4-TEC's oil and filter yourself, and save $

By Jason Houle

Published: November 29, 2011

Believe it or not, many snowmobile enthusiasts dread having to deal with maintenance every year, but we all know it’s a necessary activity of owning a sled.

In today’s economy many of us struggle with the decision of doing it ourselves or having a professional service shop maintain your toy. Whether you choose to do the work yourself or have someone else do it, there will still be some time and certainly some expense associated with keeping your sled in tip top shape. If you are a DIY type person, we will try to save you some dough right here.

Typical 2-strokes required a pre-season tune-up including things like a carb cleaning. The new fuel-injected 4-strokes have requirements as well, probably the most important is changing the oil. Since we have shown how to change the oil on Yamaha’s and other 4-stroke sleds in the past, we chose a 2009 Ski-Doo MXZ 1200 4-TEC this time. (See Nov. 2009, p. 42 for Yamaha Nytro oil change.)

If you had a shop do the 10-hour inspection and oil/filter change it would cost you around $200. This is a simple service item you can do yourself though. Here’s how!