Oil

[otis]

Greetings,

I'm new to this board and to BMW ownership - great board.

 

I just bought a 04 R1150RT and need to change the fluids. I always use synthetic, but have heard BMW recommends to wait until after 20,000 miles. Is this right? What oil are you guys using in the motor, tranny, and final drive?

 

Thanks....Pat

[Bob Palin]

Welcome to the board, oil is frequently discussed here and most people seem to be pretty tired of the subject. Take a look at this thread which is the most recent discussion: http://bmwsporttouring.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/562089/an/0/page/3#562089

[otis]

O.K. let me re-phrase. After how many miles can you change to synthetic in the engine?

[Bob Palin]

O.K. let me re-phrase. After how many miles can you change to synthetic in the engine?

There is no definitive answer but the most common answer to this question seems to be 12K. Since the BMWs take so long to really break in people often wait until 18 or 24K. Some people try to wait until the bike almost stops using dino oil then change. If you ride the bike hard with lots of higher revs you can change sooner, if you are just puttering about then change later (or ride it properly )

[Les is more]

Hi Otis!

 

Here's a link

to another dicussion of "when" for synthetic.

 

You'll see just how many opinions and reasons for those opinions there can be. For instance, I change oil every 6000 miles, more or less (no religious fervor here). I use dino oil. The oil change is a simple process that I do myself. I pile on enough miles that services come around pretty fast. Adding an oil change to a service I'm already doing is no biggie. For me, synthetic oil would be a waste of money. My bike has 102,000 miles on it and the engine just seems better than ever. If you're intent on stretching that interval way out, maybe synth oil is for you.

[BFish]

i didn't notice how many miles the rt had on it. mine just turned 12k and oil usage is steadily decreasing. change every 6k miles now and will switch to synthetic when my usage diminishes more. probably the next one or after that.

as leslie said changing the oil is easy and also, you could spend a day reading old "oil" related posts on the forum.

[otis]

Thanks everyone....Since I just bought it and don't know the present consumption rate, I'm going with the dino to find out.....Pat

[BMW-K]

Errr, I use $12 per case (12 quarts) CostCo Chevron oil. Say what you will, my bike runs smoother on the cheap crap than on the best Mobil 1 full synth.

 

To be honest, I won't be bothering with Synth. Just not worth the added costs imo.