Because it's a BMW...

[Twisties]

...and the specs have to be confusing, seemingly referring to species unobtanium and vaporware...

 

You may have seen I resurrected last year's oil thread, re the motor oil...  that's bad enough.

 

Then there is the final drive...  SAE 70W-80 / hypoid axle G3  .... say what?  A tour of every local oil emporium, aka auto parts stores and Walmart turned up none of this breed.  

 

Oh, and then it gets better, yes it does.  IIRC BMW started making water boxers in 2013 or thereabouts.  They have been making water cooled F and S and K bikes for decades... but I think they still think the 1250 is an air-cooled machine because it's a boxer, right.  Is the coolant lifetime fill now?  Wouldn't you need a spec in case of repair, at least?  :-)

 

[dirtrider]

10 minutes ago, Twisties said:

...and the specs have to be confusing, seemingly referring to species unobtanium and vaporware...

 

You may have seen I resurrected last year's oil thread, re the motor oil...  that's bad enough.

 

Then there is the final drive...  SAE 70W-80 / hypoid axle G3  .... say what?  A tour of every local oil emporium, aka auto parts stores and Walmart turned up none of this breed.  

 

Oh, and then it gets better, yes it does.  IIRC BMW started making water boxers in 2013 or thereabouts.  They have been making water cooled F and S and K bikes for decades... but I think they still think the 1250 is an air-cooled machine because it's a boxer, right.  Is the coolant lifetime fill now?  Wouldn't you need a spec in case of repair, at least?  :-)

 

Evening Jan

 

That Then there is the final drive...  SAE 70W-80 / hypoid axle G3  .... say what?  A tour of every local oil emporium, aka auto parts stores and Walmart turned up none of this breed.  

 

That SAE 70W-80 / hypoid axle (G3) is actually the name not the oil spec. It is actually a GL-5 gear oil. All that gear oil is is a 70w80 GL-5 gear oil, still not easy to find. 

[wbw6cos]

10 minutes ago, Twisties said:

 

Then there is the final drive...  SAE 70W-80 / hypoid axle G3  .... say what?  A tour of every local oil emporium, aka auto parts stores and Walmart turned up none of this breed.  

 

 

An online search for that exact oil yielded a result of a company that has it in stock.  Shocker!    Looking through the email at the invoice I see the item listed as BMW differential oil (I am aware that the final drive on the bike is not a differential, by the way.) it was just funny that it was called "BMW" oil, but not a BMW dealer.   Like dirtrider says, still not easy to find around (me) either, so online searching and ordering it is.  

 

As luck would have it, I aslo ordered some SAE 90 GL-5 oil from that same company for my R 1200 C.   Yeah, I also could not find the exact stuff nearby me.

 

[Twisties]

Thanks DR and William,

 

I appreciate the translation to English, or SAE, whatever. 

 

Looks like Walmart has a Mopar 70W-80 GL-5 for $30 ish.  Can't figure out what size the bottle is...  information I clearly don't need to know.  :-)  

[wbw6cos]

Oh, yeah, that Mopar oil wasn't at any local auto parts stores for me, but I did learn about that while I was searching.   Guess I coud have ridden over to Wally World (ugh) to see if they have it, or not.  I ended up getting a  brand named Ravenol, which has a handy, extendable pour spout, which I used to fill the hair dye bottle (thanks Brad for the tip!).  The liter bottle was about $15 each, plus shipping from CT.

[Scott9999]

That's why I have the last year of the Wethead line.  You good folks can do all that worrying about BMW's latest spec, and by the time you're done with your bikes, all that stuff will be old news and/or available.  

 

I learned quite a while back, and in particular, with Beemers, stay AWAY from the bleeding edge.  DO NOT go there, unless ya have unlimited financial resources and a terrific dealer in your backyard.

 

The cost/requirements for the specialized tools alone tick me off big time.  Having to buy my gear oil and motor oil from Germany at 3x the retail price (exaggerating slightly), is just added insult to injury.

/end rant (I promise, really!)

[9Mary7]

Not 3x anymore! We are catching up

[92Merc]

Liquid Moly is GL5.

https://www.beemerboneyard.com/lqmsgo1500ml.html

[Twisties]

5 hours ago, 92Merc said:

Liquid Moly is GL5.

https://www.beemerboneyard.com/lqmsgo1500ml.html

But it's 75W-90.  No practical difference, but during warranty I'd be careful of that.

[Twisties]

So, about the coolant, how often are people changing it and what do you use?

[Dave_in_TX]

On 6/10/2022 at 1:21 PM, Twisties said:

So, about the coolant, how often are people changing it and what do you use?

Most long life coolant is specified for 100k miles or 5 years. That is about when I changed coolant on my 2014 R1200GS. I used B.MW coolant. 

[Rougarou]

On 6/9/2022 at 6:31 PM, Twisties said:

Thanks DR and William,

 

I appreciate the translation to English, or SAE, whatever. 

 

Looks like Walmart has a Mopar 70W-80 GL-5 for $30 ish.  Can't figure out what size the bottle is...  information I clearly don't need to know.  :-)  

 

Picked up a quart from the local Dodge place about six months ago........aint' got around to injecting it into the final drive yet, but on next tire change, will get it done.  Paid right 'round the $30 price tag if I remember right.

[taylor1]

On 6/9/2022 at 6:50 PM, wbw6cos said:

which I used to fill the hair dye bottle

Not to change the subject, but I hope you go with the flaming orange for the UN William     

[Bernie]

I found some oil for your ShiftCam. 

[Dann]

On 6/10/2022 at 2:21 PM, Twisties said:

But it's 75W-90.  No practical difference, but during warranty I'd be careful of that.

It should not matter for the warranty (I asked my dealer)

My dealer doesn't even put that BMW G3 oil in the FD (they don't even carry it)

They use 75W-90 like in all the previous FD