What is this bright red trans / gear fluid? Can I put standard 80 / 90 back in?

[chat_vmax]

I just did my first bit of service on the bike...

 

2004 r 1150 rt with 24k on the clock,,, i bought it used and the weather just broke so

i wanted to change oil , trans fluid , and rear diff fluid,,,

 

The oil was filthy,,, yike... did a oil change and filter,, well that's all fresh and new :-))

I put in 3.75 quarts with a filter and the view glass is full ,

I drove it about 10 miles after oil change to warm the gear box and diff for draining,

I checked the view glass and no air showing,, just oil,, is that ok ... ?

 

Also,,

The gear fluid i drained came out like water and was bright red,,,, is that synthetic??

 

I was putting in standard 80 / 90 wt gear oil like manual called for,,

is that ok now that the red stuff was in there...??

I assume some red fluid will remain even though I will let it drain all night..??

Any Advice appreciated :-))

 

 

 

 

[maxscycle]

red line gear lube has a bubble gum color to it.

max

[Stan Walker]

The gear fluid i drained came out like water and was bright red,,,, is that synthetic??

 

BMW shipped some red gear oil for awhile, maybe still does, but I switched to Mobil-1 shortly after that (not because of the oil).

 

Stan

[DavidEBSmith]

I checked the view glass and no air showing,, just oil,, is that ok ... ?

 

Conventional wisdom is that you should try to keep it no higher than the middle of the sight glass. If it's higher, it tends just to blow into the airbox, and people have overfilled their bikes because they couldn't see a line in the sight glass and thought it was low but it was really high.

 

For a while BMW gear oil was colored red. It may still be. Whether the old stuff was synthetic or not, don't worry about getting every last drop out. It's all compatible.

[g_nuse]

I just did my first bit of service on the bike...

 

2004 r 1150 rt with 24k on the clock,,, i bought it used and the weather just broke so

i wanted to change oil , trans fluid , and rear diff fluid,,,

 

The oil was filthy,,, yike... did a oil change and filter,, well that's all fresh and new :-))

I put in 3.75 quarts with a filter and the view glass is full ,

I drove it about 10 miles after oil change to warm the gear box and diff for draining,

I checked the view glass and no air showing,, just oil,, is that ok ... ?

 

Also,,

The gear fluid i drained came out like water and was bright red,,,, is that synthetic??

 

I was putting in standard 80 / 90 wt gear oil like manual called for,,

is that ok now that the red stuff was in there...??

I assume some red fluid will remain even though I will let it drain all night..??

Any Advice appreciated :-))

 

 

 

Why did you put that amount of oil in?

 

My '04 R1150RT manual calls for that amount of liters or 4 quarts.

 

My bike has "regular", smelly oil from the factory in the rear gear.......not red.

[moshe_levy]

The BMW 75W/140 synthetic gear oil is bright red as well. The previous owner of your bike, like the previous owner of mine, may have taken to changing ALL fluids at some interval, not spaced out per the manual. Meaning what you just drained may or may not be factory original. When I got my bike, it was full of the BMW 75W/140, which came out red as well.

 

Drain the old stuff out and refill with the lube of your choice, so long as it meets the minimum specs called out for in the manual. You are not bound to keep using anything because of what the previous owner did. That should do it.

 

-MKL

[chat_vmax]

used the regular stuff for gear oil ,, and drained a pinch out of oil and there is about 1/8 inch air showing in sight glass now,,, ran it all day,, all is good,,

 

Thanks Much !!!