Oil Weight and Engine Temperature

[RIQUE]

Hey Folks, I can't find 5W20 Synth locally so I'm going to swap to 10W40 Synth Castrol as detailed in the manual. Temps here never go below freezing so 10W40 seems OK. My question is if anybody has done this swap and noticed any changes in engine operating temperature or any other anomally.

Later.

[Dogged]

Mine works great with 10-40 synthetic blend. We had a long talk about oil at the service dept when I bought my first filter about viscosity. The techs were firm on this grade usage.

[chopt]

5th oil change with 10w-40 and no prob's. I live in Louisisna where our temp's don't dip below freezing often and never for any length of time.

[markjenn]

Originally Posted by RIQUE

Hey Folks, I can't find 5W20 Synth locally...

You mean 5W-40, right?

I would not be worried about substituting 10W-40 for 5W-40 unless you were starting the bike in very low temps (below 20-deg F or so). And BMW says it's Okay. While cold-start wear might be a tiny bit higher with the 10W, you probably would make up for it by less wear at higher temps near the end of the oil change cycle; the 40 value in the 10W-40 requires less viscosity improvers and VI's tend to degrade before the base stock.

Narrower viscosity range oils are overall better oils, so if you don't need the wider-range, you're better off without the compromises necessary to get it.

- Mark

[R35 GTR]

I just picked my up my 2011 thunder grey and want to do an oil change before the 600 mile service. My question was, what oil should I use (non-synthetic)? Does BMW put "break-in oil" in the bike or is it the synthetic they sell? What oil do they out in on the first service? Thanks for the info and help guys.

[markjenn]

Originally Posted by R35 GTR

I just picked my up my 2011 thunder grey and want to do an oil change before the 600 mile service. My question was, what oil should I use (non-synthetic)? Does BMW put "break-in oil" in the bike or is it the synthetic they sell? What oil do they out in on the first service? Thanks for the info and help guys.

I haven't seen anything definitive on what the factory fill oil is, but I doubt it is anything special - just off the shelf oil. Whether it is synthetic or not? Dunno.

I don't think a pre-600-mile oil change is needed, but if I did one, I'd put in what most dealers put in at 600 miles - the pricey BMW 5W-40 synthetic.

- Mark

[R35 GTR]

Originally Posted by markjenn

I haven't seen anything definitive on what the factory fill oil is, but I doubt it is anything special - just off the shelf oil. Whether it is synthetic or not? Dunno.

I don't think a pre-600-mile oil change is needed, but if I did one, I'd put in what most dealers put in at 600 miles - the pricey BMW 5W-40 synthetic.

- Mark

Thanks for the info and the oil change probably isn't needed but it's what i have done on all my bikes. Usually 2-3 changes by the time i hit 1k miles and i always run non synthetic cheap oil until the thousand mark and run whats recommended. I guess it all comes back to the break-in debate and some people (tuners, engine builders) have different opinions than others. From what I understand synthetic oil isn't good for break-in procedure as its too "slippery" and doesn't let things settle and break-in as they should. Like I said it comes back to the debate and opinions.

[markjenn]

Originally Posted by R35 GTR

From what I understand synthetic oil isn't good for break-in procedure as its too "slippery" and doesn't let things settle and break-in as they should. Like I said it comes back to the debate and opinions.

True. I think the synthetic "too slippery for break-in" is mostly myth, although there may be a few bikes that tend to have difficult to seat rings that might benefit (e.g., BMW R-twins). Many new engines these days come with synthetic as their factory fill, which certainly indicates that the need for non-syn for break-in isn't clear cut. And our water-cooled fours should have done 98% of their break-in by 100 miles.

To bolster my argument that the 600-mile oil change is already VERY conservative, I'll note that virtually all cars these days keep their factory fills out to 10K+ miles, some out to 15K+. I find it difficult to believe that our engines need a 100-mile change while cars appear to suffer little ill effect running their oils 150x as long. Having said this, it certainly can't hurt anything to do the early change. (But if you have an engine problem, DON'T tell the dealer about it.)

Even the definition of what a synthetic oil is is slippery, adding further noise to the discussion.

If it makes you sleep better, you could do with something like the Mobil 10W-40 non-synthetic motorcycle oil. This would seem to me to be a very safe non-synthetic choice. Mostly I don't think it matters.

- Mark

[S1000RR ROB]

ill second that iv always thought its pointless changing oil after 100 or 200 miles, any bits get caught before there pushed back through the oil pressure system unless there picked up by the crank or less likely the gearbox, the drain plug will collect sediment and the filter gets larger parts and then it wont go anywhere..

again all that said it cant hurt if its done correctly........

[1000RR]

Originally Posted by R35 GTR

Thanks for the info and the oil change probably isn't needed but it's what i have done on all my bikes. Usually 2-3 changes by the time i hit 1k miles and i always run non synthetic cheap oil until the thousand mark and run whats recommended. I guess it all comes back to the break-in debate and some people (tuners, engine builders) have different opinions than others. From what I understand synthetic oil isn't good for break-in procedure as its too "slippery" and doesn't let things settle and break-in as they should. Like I said it comes back to the debate and opinions.

Anal comes to mind... but that's what I do too... once at 200-ish, once at 600, once at 1000... I use the synthetic Castrol and filter the manual recommends for all the changes. Do what makes you feel good as far as mileage and oil changes, just not beyond the recommendation of the manual. It made me feel good to get the first oil out at 200 and similar to my CBR, there are more "sparklies" in the oil than you might think by that time... Does that cause issues? Honestly, don't know... don't care either because I got them out