Hey.... another , and new , oil thread

[gezerbike]

Here's my question....considering we all are using the finest quality oils available in the proper weights, who here drains oil out and installs a new filter and oil for the winter storage season, if you have one. The kicker here is you only have about 1,000 miles since your last oil change. Do you just park it and add a little Stable or do you do the whole routine? The reason I ask it is that now that 3 BMW's reside in my garages, only the RT will be used in the winter months, weather permitting. The RS and GS will probably sit but both only have about a 1,000 miles since last complete change. I've always drained the oil and re-newed with fresh but with 3 scoots now, that's getting costly and time consuming...and if we have a mild winter, it possible all the bikes could be ridden. What say ye ?

[Whip]

Ask Ed

[Couchrocket]

Ask Ed

Ask him? Hell no, let's WIND-HIM-UP!!!!!

 

You MUST put in fresh oil, and only premium expensive oil, and an OEM BMW filter! Then you have to drain it back out in the spring and throw it away, along with the filter.

 

Not only that but you must pull the spark plugs out and wrap them very carefully in gold-lame' cloth and store in your safe deposit box at the bank. Then fog the cylnder walls with fogging oil, and plug the spark plug holes with only the finest Egyptian long fiber cotton.

 

Now, as to the gas.... long before you do the above, you must have ridden the bike to the service station with the gas tank precisely 1/3 full (that's 2/3rds empty for those of you who are left-handed) then you must add precisely the right amount of Stabil for the total volume that your bike's tank holds. Then you put in the second third of gas, close the gas cap, and get three people to help you rock the bike side to side (on the boxers you must get the heads an inch from touching the ground. Be careful not to drop the bike. Exactly 20 cycles of left - right - left leaning will get the Stabil adequately mixed. Then add the last 1/3 of the tank so that the fuel level is exactly 3/32nds of and inch below the filler neck ring.

 

20 more rock-cycles will get the Stabil to the proper distribution in the fuel so that it isn't "too thick" at the fuel pick-up in the tank.

 

Now, ride exactly .79 of a mile. That will get the Stabil-ized fuel into all the plumbing.

 

Now you can safely winterize the rest of the bike as described above.

 

Ed, did I forget anything?

[big-t]

Ed, did I forget anything?

 

 

 

I'm not ED,but you forgot to replace the Summer air in

the tires,with winter air...

[Richard G]

I put some gas stabilizer in the tank and take my bike for the last ride I will make on it for the season, put it up on the centerstand and drain it. Put in fresh oil and its ready for spring. I do this every year. Oil is cheap.

 

There may be different views on this, but a long time ago I was told that oil that has been run in the engine has impurities, water, and acids that might pit bearings etc. when left just sitting on the metal parts for the winter.

Any truth to this? Or would this not really be an issue if the bike only sits for about 5 months?

 

Rich

[sshallen]

I can't believe you aren't telling him to change the CRUSH WASHERS!!!

 

New crush washers before winter storage, replace them in the spring. Don't cheap out on an expensive bike.

[RTCHIEF]

Probably more important to pull the valve covers and rotate the engine until you have clearance on all the valves to prevent weak valve springs.

[Voyager]

Ask him? Hell no, let's WIND-HIM-UP!!!!!

 

LOL!

[gezerbike]

I've got just about 100,000 miles on my various beemers over the last 10 ten years and have never experienced any motor failure or have I been left by the side of the road. But I have never been in this type of a situation before...3 bikes going into winter with only a 1,000 miles since the last change. I will ride in the winter provided there is no salt on the roads, including powder. But more likely it will be the RT for the better protection it offers. I've done the Stabil thing in the past but if you run it after putting in the stabil, then drain oil and install new filter, if you don't start the bike and circulate clean oil, many parts are still coated with the older, acidic oil. If you start it to circulate the clean oil, you've now somewhat comtaminated the clean oil. I guess my question should have been is how contaminated do modern, quality oils become in, for the most part , a highway driven motorcycle. Most posts here on the oil issue say to run your modern oils up to 6,000 before changing, which for the average BMW rider is about 6 months. So if most folks are willing to leave their acidic oil in that long, why would I change realtively new oil after only 2 months? Not looking for arguements here, just some reasoning. The comment above about oil being cheap, well, I don't use cheap oil or aftermarket filters...as it is, I always change the trany fluid and rear end fluids every winter with Synthetic Gear lube so add this to equation and this process isn't inexpensive. Maybe to answer my own question, I should just try to ride each bike up to operating temps several times a month........

[ShovelStrokeEd]

What is this winter of which you speak?

81/72 today and very sunny.

We only have 3 seasons here. Summer, late summer and Canadians.

 

Your biggest enemy in long term storage, in so far as the oil is concerened is acids as a result of combustion byproducts. Its a good idea to change the oil prior, making sure to run the engine and get it well up to operating temperature to circulate the oil throughout. No sense having a nice clean sump and old oil busy acid etching your crank and bearings.

 

In point of fact, I have never done any of this, even when I lived in colder climes. Rode till it got too cold, started riding again when it got warm enough and never gave it a thought. I did have to replace some batteries but, never had a motor failure that I could attribute to bad oil or damage caused by that. Even in the bad old days with iron cylinder liners and steel rings. All we ever did is pull plugs, squirt a little 3-in-1 oil in there, kick it over a few times, tickle the carbs(remember those?) and fire it up. Oh yeah, breaking clutch plates free after a long winter was sometimes interesting.

 

Battery maintenance has been covered in other threads.

[rfc1992]

...you forgot to replace the Summer air in

the tires,with winter air...

 

LOL

[Mr. Frank]

One approach would be to put cheap auto oil like Castrol 20w50 from Wal-Mart in for the winter storage and then dump it in the spring.

[Tank]

Instead of storage of bike, winterize home and move next door to Ed in Flooda, where the only accesorry you need for your bike are pontoon floots. Of course, I know all about pontoon floots as I'm riding 350 miles in the rain today, a real soaker

[ShovelStrokeEd]

No, no, a thousand times no. Don't come down here. There are hurricanes, gators that eat old folks, way too many vultures and way too many people already. People have been sending their parents and grandparents down here for 70 years or so and we are getting full.

 

New Mexico is lovely.

[Steve_Witmer]

I was told that oil that has been run in the engine has impurities, water, and acids that might pit bearings etc. when left just sitting on the metal parts for the winter. Any truth to this?

 

Oil only 1,000 miles old should not be of great concern for your BMWs. Although all oil absorbs some combustion by-products to some degree, letting old oil sit is more of a potential problem on motorcycles where the engine and transmission are sharing the oil and the same oil bathes a wet clutch.

[No_Twilight]

One approach would be to put cheap auto oil like Castrol 20w50 from Wal-Mart in for the winter storage and then dump it in the spring.

Cheap my a$$. That's what I use year round unless something else is on sale...what are you using? Some very similar oil that BMW stuck their label on? Wonder whose oil they brand???

[gezerbike]

No, no, a thousand times no. Don't come down here. There are hurricanes, gators that eat old folks, way too many vultures and way too many people already. People have been sending their parents and grandparents down here for 70 years or so and we are getting full.

 

New Mexico is lovely.

 

" gators that eat old folks "......that hurt ......................all right... I'm over it. And you'd have a bunch of sick buzzards if they started pickin' on my bones the way I've been feelin' lately. But alas, Florida is not for me......too many old farts runnin round on 1100XX's for my blood.

[gezerbike]

One approach would be to put cheap auto oil like Castrol 20w50 from Wal-Mart in for the winter storage and then dump it in the spring.

 

I think I read a poll the other day where this was the most used oil in Airheads...and Castrol is the offical recommended oil for BMW cars if BMW oil isn't available I beleive

[Clive Liddell]

One approach would be to put cheap auto oil like Castrol 20w50 from Wal-Mart in for the winter storage and then dump it in the spring.

 

Ha Ha ! - I resemble that remark! Castrol 20W50 is all I use all the time