2014 OIL

[bmwdavid]

Hi

I only have 350 miles and haven't had the 600 mile service yet. Checked the oil window and see that it is at the bottom. Max bmw is closed for the holiday. Is there a equivalent I could use to top it off? Something I could get at autozone, walmart. gas station etc...? Manual says 5w-40. Is that synthetic, semi synthetic or regular oil?

[realshelby]

Shell Rotella T6. Available at Walmart in quarts and gallons, as well as most auto supply stores.

 

Meets every requirement of BMW for oil for our Wetheads.

 

5-40w. JASO MA2 Full Synthetic, and so on.

[narcosis]

Be sure to check oil level at operating temperature. It makes a difference. Don't ask me how I know.

[Bill_Walker]

Shell Rotella T6. Available at Walmart in quarts and gallons, as well as most auto supply stores.

 

Meets every requirement of BMW for oil for our Wetheads.

 

5-40w. JASO MA2 Full Synthetic, and so on.

 

OK, I don't have one, so maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, but I'm surprised at this. My understanding is that the Wethead, like most bikes with wet clutches, shares an oil supply with the engine, gearbox and clutch, and should therefore (like every other bike I've owned with a wet clutch) require motorcycle-specific oil that doesn't contain the friction modifiers used in car oils. Does BMW really not specify that?

[dirtrider]

Afternoon Bill

 

BMW, by specifying a JASO MA2 oil, assures that the oil meets both Cat. protection specs & the DFI (Dynamic Friction Characteristic Index) specs for BMW (durability tested) wet clutch life.

 

There are other (some actually better for reduced engine wear) JASO spec oils but with both a catalytic converter & a wet clutch involved JASO MA2 is about it for oil specs now.

 

 

[bmwdavid]

I ended up finding a quart of Castrol Power RS Racing 4T at cycle gear. Funny story though. I drove 40 minutes one way to pick it up and when I got home and hit the garage door opener I realized the bike was on its side stand. Must be losing it!!! When I put it on the center stand it was perfectly topped off and a totally wasted drive.

[WBinDE]

... a totally wasted drive.

 

NO ride is a wasted ride, IMO.

[bmwdavid]

Left that part out. It was a drive in the car because I thought my oil was that low.

[lkchris]

You only want to fill it to halfway up the sight glass, not to top. It will shift better if you do that.

[bmwdavid]

It was full from the dealer but thanks for the advice.

 

[PadG]

It was full from the dealer but thanks for the advice.

That's how I had gotten my '15 back from the dealer after they had done the first service. Kent is absolutely correct about the oil level, because I had very little problems with noisy shifts before the first service, and now all the low gears shifts are noisy! I will be doing all the maintenance work myself from this point on, and so I will make sure that the oil level stays at the mid-level.

[mneblett]

That's how I had gotten my '15 back from the dealer after they had done the first service.

Same here -- think I'll draw a bit out of the crankcase this evening.

[gordiet]

How are you going to do that?

[mneblett]

20 years ago I purchased a Mercedes C280. Like many Euro cars, it had a top-accessible oil filter. You could completely avoid going under the car by using a vacuum pump to withdraw the oil from the crankcase. A long narrow tube to insert down the engine's dipstick tube, a large can with a tire pump-like manual vacuum pump, 50 or so strokes to build sufficient vacuum, release the hose clamp, and "poof" -- all of the oil out of the engine into the can in a few minutes.

 

I still have the long tube/vacuum pump in the shed. Given what I've seen from BMW's engine cut-away drawings and the thinness and relative stiffness of the dipstick tube wand, I'm thinking I have a 50/50 chance of being able to snake the end of the wand down along the right cam chain cavity to reach at least the top of the oil pool in the sump. I'll do it on the sidestand to get the level up a bit higher on the left side of the engine.

 

Don't know yet whether it will work, but I like interesting experiments.

[mountainmann]

Refill qty. now 4.0 quarts for the R1200 WC engines. Middle of sight glass. Supposed to help the engine shift better.

[lkraus]

Mark, that sucker is cetainly worth a try. Afterward, I'd still pull the drain plug, just to see how much (if any) is missed.

[bmwdavid]

Does anyone else have a easier way to remove a little oil from the bike?

[mneblett]

Mark, that sucker is cetainly worth a try. Afterward, I'd still pull the drain plug, just to see how much (if any) is missed.

Oh, I would not try to drain the wethead's crankcase; the geometry is all wrong. The C280's dipstick was perfectly positioned to get to the bottom of the sump, and I got barely anything out of the C280 from the drain plug after checking the first time I used the vacuum pump.

 

On the RT, all I want to do is suck a little off the top to put the oil level at mid-glass.

[mneblett]

Does anyone else have a easier way to remove a little oil from the bike?

Remove the oil filter, drain it, reinstall, then start the motor to refill the filter. The filter volume is small, so depending on how much you want to remove it may take a few remove/drain/reinstall cycles. This is my fall-back if the vacuum tool doesn't work.

 

Only other option of which I'm aware is the sump drain plug.

[gordiet]

I would just unscrew the filter and let some oil drain out. Then check it and see how much you get out. GT

[mneblett]

I would just unscrew the filter and let some oil drain out.

Won't get much out that way, beyond what is already in the filter -- the oil filter is downstream of the oil pump, i.e., it is not directly connected to oil volume in the sump.

[Kannon]

Shifting is pretty rough on my '15 GS, but if the oil level goes any lower than just below the top of the red ring I get a "Check Oil" warning on my display that remains until I bring the level up to the top of the sight glass red ring. I've got over 3,000 miles on the bike now and thought the shifting would get better by now but it's still annoyingly clunky. I've owned many dry clutch BMW's and they all shifted better than this one. Can the oil warning be set to trigger at a lower level so I could run oil level at a half sight glass?

Thanks,

Bruce

[hopz]

Hard shifting?

Ask your dealer about the software update for the Shift Assist.

[Kannon]

Hopz, will the software update address the oil level warning issue? I ask because I don't have shift assist, got every option except that one.

Thanks,

Bruce

[Alfred02]

You might have a faulty oil sensor Bruce.

Should be a warranty job.

[Jim VonBaden]

Left that part out. It was a drive in the car because I thought my oil was that low.

 

If you can see oil in your sight glass it is not too low to ride.

 

Jim

[Jim VonBaden]

Shifting is pretty rough on my '15 GS, but if the oil level goes any lower than just below the top of the red ring I get a "Check Oil" warning on my display that remains until I bring the level up to the top of the sight glass red ring. I've got over 3,000 miles on the bike now and thought the shifting would get better by now but it's still annoyingly clunky. I've owned many dry clutch BMW's and they all shifted better than this one. Can the oil warning be set to trigger at a lower level so I could run oil level at a half sight glass?

Thanks,

Bruce

 

90% of the time that I hear this it is the shifter needing adjusting. People assume that wherever the factory set the level of the shifter that it will work perfectly, but that is not true. You need to set the shifter so that in your normal riding position your foot is putting the slightest bit of pressure on the shifter going from first to second. Adjust it like that and you shifting will improve. Play with what level works best for you.

 

Jim

[mountainmann]

MA rated oil is also designed for use in motorcycle wet plate clutches. Mobile One motorcycle oil is MA rated. A friend uses it in his K1600 with no issues at all. I have read that MA2 has an even tighter spec on friction modifiers. These modifiers can create problems for wet plate clutches.

[MexicoDan]

Before you check oil always have bike on sidestand for a few minutes before putting on center stand.

 

Don't ask me why this works, I haven't a clue. But it is true of the old boxers too, including my 2006. Apparently some oil stays somewhere up in the engine until the bike is put on the side stand and then it runs down.

 

If you don't do this, you will tend to put too much oil in the engine.

[realshelby]

That technique was correct for the older boxers with the oil cooler up top.

 

It does not seem to make any real difference on my wethead RT. In fact just checking it on the center stand at fill up, then checking a few minutes later when it has had time to drain down some makes very little difference on my RT.

[Alfred02]

That technique was correct for the older boxers with the oil cooler up top.

 

It does not seem to make any real difference on my wethead RT. In fact just checking it on the center stand at fill up, then checking a few minutes later when it has had time to drain down some makes very little difference on my RT.

 

Ditto

The oil dance isn't required anymore.

The new LC engine is an entirely different cattle of fish.

Just place the bike on the center stand and check in a couple of minutes.

[DMilan]

Shifting is pretty rough on my '15 GS, but if the oil level goes any lower than just below the top of the red ring I get a "Check Oil" warning on my display that remains until I bring the level up to the top of the sight glass red ring. I've got over 3,000 miles on the bike now and thought the shifting would get better by now but it's still annoyingly clunky. I've owned many dry clutch BMW's and they all shifted better than this one. Can the oil warning be set to trigger at a lower level so I could run oil level at a half sight glass?

Thanks,

Bruce

 

90% of the time that I hear this it is the shifter needing adjusting. People assume that wherever the factory set the level of the shifter that it will work perfectly, but that is not true. You need to set the shifter so that in your normal riding position your foot is putting the slightest bit of pressure on the shifter going from first to second. Adjust it like that and you shifting will improve. Play with what level works best for you.

 

Jim

 

Jim,

 

I've seen you write this many times now.

i have the same complaint as the gent above regarding the sounds from the gearbox on both my '15 GS and my '14RT. In fact, they operate and sound very similar to the transmission on my 2008 GT, which is also a wet clutch, and which I also do not care for.

 

I'm going to try "adjusting" my shifter. I'm very skeptical that this will bring any resolve to the issue.

To me, even if I have to angle my foot to a painful level, which I do not, if it gets the shifter to change gears, it's all the same in the end. Like the gent above states, my dry clutch BMWs were much better in this regard. Far more pleasant to operate.

 

As I've written, I'm not a big fan of my 2 LC. The noisy transmissions are one reason why.

I've already checked my oil levels and they are right in the middle of the window, so that's not the problem.

 

d'milan