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Oops... Oil Mistake!


Nitrox

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OK, I know what I have to do... But I wonder what the affects are... So here is what happened:

 

BMW Genius Marketing Team decided not to use a distinctive quart bottle for gear oil (vs engine oil). Yeah, the wording is different, but the picture of the rider is even the same!!

 

Any way, after the oil change, my buddy was opening and handing me quart bottles off the shelf as I dumped them in. I had one bottle of gear oil, and sure enough, it went in.

 

So, I have 3 quarts of 20w50 and 1 quart of 80w90 Hypoid Gear oil.

 

I know the correct answer is drain it all and refill, but what are the affects of running it in this configuration? Also, when I dump this oil, should I also change the filter? Or just dump it best I can and reuse it?

 

After you're done chuckling, I would like to hear your opinions dopeslap.gif

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Gear oil viscosity numbers are not the same as motor oil, and since a 90-weight gear oil is about the same actual viscosity as a 40 to 50-weight motor oil I doubt any damage would be done if the engine was accidentally run for a short period of time. But it's not the right oil of course (there are components in gear oil that wouldn't be good for soft engine bearings and such over the long term) so drain and refill with the right stuff. And if the engine wasn't run then no need to replace the filter.

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Thanks... I will dump it. I test rode it (around the block). Was just curious if I did any type of damage or I should be worried about anything...

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If you ran it then you might want to do a flush (drain and refill with some cheap oil, run it for a few minutes, then drain and refill with your normal oil) just to make sure that all of the gear oil sulfur compounds are out of there. I have absolutely no idea whether a flush is really necessary or not but considering that a few quarts of cheap oil costs next to nothing it seems worth doing to me.

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No worries. Like David said, drain it and start over. If you are really paranoid, let it drain for a day or two. Change it early if it makes you feel better.

 

Personally, it wouldn't bother me a bit. Having a couple drops of residual gear oil as a contaminent is far better than any other I can think of. But hey that's just me. I'm sure someone out there will tell you to have the motor torn down for inspection or something.

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As previous posters said, dump the oil. Since you already ran the engine you should flush it also. Gear oils contain sulfur and will attack plain bearings.

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If you ran it then you might want to do a flush (drain and refill with some cheap oil, run it for a few minutes, then drain and refill with your normal oil) just to make sure that all of the gear oil sulfur compounds are out of there. I have absolutely no idea whether a flush is really necessary or not but considering that a few quarts of cheap oil costs next to nothing it seems worth doing to me.

There shouldn't be enough of the gear oil left to make a defference that a flush would be needed. There's probably more contaminants from old oil that didn't drain out than there would be from the remaining sulphur compounds.

 

If I were concerned enough about it I'd probably put a 15/40 HD (heavy duty) oil in it and ride it for about 20 minutes and then drain.

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Bike is ruined.

Please PM me with directions so I can come get it and tow it away, for free.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Change oil, as suggested run cheap oil through, use correct dino, change again when needed.

You should be fine. cool.gif

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