23 ktm 350 sxf oil change, drain bolt question.

Remove  1&2 not 3&4…

I always use the bottom one (with magnet) for regular oil change. The horizontal one with the oil strainer I take out every other or third change together with the oil filter. The bottom one drains more because it's lower.

However, if for instance you have a skidplate and it's a bit of a hassle to access the bottom one, it's fine to take out the oil strainer and just pitch to bike to the side to get the oil out that way too.

I do all 3 of them every 5 hours.   One of the main reasons to change oil is to give you a chance to catch any damage as early as possible.  #1 has the strainer that will catch aluminum pieces and #2 has the magnet that will catch steel pieces.    #3 is the lowest and gets out about an extra 100cc for a more thorough change.

This is from the 18 manual. Strange that they updated it 

They didn't.  At least it's not different in the manual on my '23 350.  

Ok so this is odd.  Looks like they did change it sometime '23/24.  Here's the manual for the '24 350 and it says to remove all 3 drain bolts.

I guess I should have put this all in one post, but I checked the latest manual for the '23 and it shows to remove bolt 3 like OP.  That manual is revision date 27.09.23 the '23 manual I have is dated 18.11.2022 and says to not remove that bolt.  Well that explains why when I do an oil change and fill it to capacity listed in the manual it ends up over full. 

I have been saying this for years. I've had multiple 350's and never understood why they didn't want you to remove one of the bottom bolts. On the 450's, you remove one and it has a screen. This always led to having the engine over-full with oil when adding the recommended 1 Liter on the previous generation 350.   

Question for those in the know. In the picture that shows drain hole #4 what is that for?

It has the oil pressure check valve in it.  Basically a spring with a steel ball.  

That's what I thought. But in the parts break down it doesn't really name the parts. Thank you.

I’ve got my 23 350 xcf cases open right now after I sucked water and sand into the engine. (Cranked stalled engine in water with engine breather hose submerged). FYI don’t do that. 

Anyway
Bolt 3 is connected to the crank oil  passageway

Bolt 4 goes to the oil pump gears

Maybe keeping oil in the oil pump by not draining bolt 4 is better to keep the oil system primed. 

Definitely confusing. I have the service manual AND owners manual for my 23 350 SXF. They both say different things.  Good grief. 

your service manual is older then the owners. New service manuals match the owners. If you bought a paper copy through a dealer they will swap it out for a updated free of charge. If you have a digital you get a emailed revision. 

I remove all 3 per my service manual. Guess I was lucky to get a newer manual. 

I was just starting to dig into oil quality. After reading about automotive oil, it is definitely not all the same. I wonder if there is any meaningful difference with Motorex Cross Power, Motul 300v2, Maxima, etc.?