How important is new oil

H-2 CHARLIE · 11-04-2010, 03:32 AM

This bike chews oil up after 2,000 miles for sure .Think at 1.000 then 2,000 miles should keep things new and powerfull felling .. This bike rockets up to 127 mph so easy / love it . I dont daily commute on this king kong bike . CASTROL RS/R4 FULL SYN. 5-40 WT.

Mack · 11-04-2010, 10:51 AM

I just changed mine at 3,500 miles to the same Castrol 5-40 as above (Cycle Gear has it for about $12/qt.). First was at 500 by the dealer.

I also sent old "dealer oil" off to Blackstone Labs for analysis. Not much metal on the magnet other than one longer shard out of some small amount of fuzzy stuff so that's good. Need to fab up a better drain pan for the pipe area than the aluminum foil which still made a mess under the oil filter. BMW came up with a new fluted design on the end of the recent oil filter so the auto oil filter removal cap wrenches didn't seem to fit either

(strap wrench to the rescue!). It was muddy dark though at 3,500 miles.

The Blackstone Lab analysis usually comes back with a breakdown as to how long I could push the oil that was in there. Another bike was good for maybe 7,000 miles on the Amsoil, but I couldn't get any of it locally as the local Harley independent shop that carries it here has very flaky hours so I had to use the Castrol instead. The dealer used some BMW 5-40 stuff (made by Castrol or Spectrol I think?) at the first service.

We'll see how the report ends up. No high metal numbers like bearing lead (crank) or something else off the cam - I hope!

Mack

markjenn · 11-04-2010, 01:27 PM

This tends to be a religious debate, but my strategy is to halve the recommended 6K mile intervals to 3K; I'd bet this is extremely conservative, especially considering the use of synthetic oil. I'd be flabbergasted if doing it more often than this would have any significant impact on engine wear.

- Mark

gixerconvert · 11-04-2010, 02:03 PM

IMO modern,quality oils will easily exceed their service limits,but I would still change the filter in between and if you've gone to the trouble of doing that,you may as well change the oil!

dogbreath · 11-04-2010, 04:23 PM

I'm with Mark. I change bike oil every 3 - 3.5k. Never had an engine problem. Changing more often won't hurt anything other than your wallet. Changing less often probably won't hurt anything either as long as the interval is not reduculous.

**chopt** · 11-05-2010, 11:33 AM

I'm currently debating oil change intervals on my trackbike and plan to have it analyzed after 2 more trackdays. That brought me to wanting to send the SKRR's oil in for inspection. I hope to be able to set the trackbike intervals at 6 trackday's and 5000mile intervals on the SKRR. My wanting longer intervals doesn't stem from a shortage of cash, I'm wanting to get the oil's full life potential. I grew up under the instruction to change your oil way soon. The new Synthetic Oils available are "leaps and bounds" more advanced than the old oils of the day. Knowing this makes me want to see just how long they will last.

Am I "pushing the envelope" with this, BMW suggest 6000 mile intervals. Has anyone other than Mack tested their oil?

redninja · 12-28-2010, 07:21 AM

I think that the oil filter change in more important that the actual oil itself.

**Sal_R1** · 12-28-2010, 03:46 PM

^^^
Why in your opinion?

markjenn · 12-28-2010, 05:57 PM

Up to the point where the filter loads to the point of clogging, and the bypass opens and starts letting unfiltered oil past the filter, I doubt there is much to be gained by more-frequent-than-spec'ed filter changes. The ability of any paper membrane filter to catch the finer particulate actually increases as the filter loads. And unless you're driving in unusual dusty conditions, I doubt you could come close to reaching the capacity of the filter with the recommended schedule. (And the capacity would depend on whether you're using the long-can or short-can filter.)

Many bikes recommend an every-other-oil-change filter replacement schedule.

But if you're doing an oil change, it seems a shame to leave the filter on there, especially as it leaves 1/2 qt or so of dirty oil in the system.

There's plenty of justification for any regimen, but personally I like halving BMW's 6K change interval to 3K or once/year, whichever comes first, and put a new filter on regardless. This is more in line with most of the Japanese bikes which commonly spec 4K. YMMV.

- Mark

redninja · 12-28-2010, 07:09 PM

above post sums it up.