Right engine oil!

[Fabio]

Hi 

I have a Bmw R1200C, 1999, 8800 miles and I live in the Uk.

i just try to find out which is the correct engine oil grade and spec for my bike! 
I got a bit confused as my service booklet tell me all depends on outside temperature which

Sae 15w50 or 20w50 could be ok, but doesn’t say about being Mineral, semi or fully synthetic and on other forums, people suggestions is a mix of grade and spec.

The last service a 20w50 mineral was used.

Should I use a Bmw oil?

Please advice !

Many thanks

Fabio

[wbw6cos]

Allo Fabio,

 

I have used synthetic 20W50 in the summer time and when I use the thinner oil for winter (I ride year round) I go with mineral base oil.  There has been some speculation on HEY CHROMEHEAD! that the synthetic based oil tends to leak.  Click on the link and check out Chromeheads for a wealth of questions you have yet to ask.  Plus, the UK & Ireland subforum is pretty active.

 

Also worthy of clicking THIS

 

Welcome to the BMWST forum, by the way.

 

Cheers,

 

[Paul De]

It depends on the temperatures at which you ride and if you want to run mineral or synthetic.  In my Oilhead I have always run mineral oil and since I no longer ride it at temps below 45F I run 20W-50.  

[dirtrider]

10 hours ago, Fabio said:

Hi 

I have a Bmw R1200C, 1999, 8800 miles and I live in the Uk.

i just try to find out which is the correct engine oil grade and spec for my bike! 
I got a bit confused as my service booklet tell me all depends on outside temperature which

Sae 15w50 or 20w50 could be ok, but doesn’t say about being Mineral, semi or fully synthetic and on other forums, people suggestions is a mix of grade and spec.

The last service a 20w50 mineral was used.

Should I use a Bmw oil?

Please advice !

Many thanks

Fabio

 

 

Morning Fabio

 

Your BMW riders manual was written back when BMW was still somewhat opposed to using synthetic oil in non police boxer motorcycles. There were a number of BMW service bulletins published on motor oil for the BMW boxer motorcycle. Some agreeing & some conflicting.

 

Once they (BMW)  started blessing synthetic oil use in the police motorcycles they backed off on not using it in civilian boxer bikes (this was never added to, or included in, the earlier riders manuals)

 

Oil recommendation for the older 1995-2005 boxer bikes was difficult to pin down from BMW as their basic suggestion was to just use BMW branded (spectro), or later Castrol branded, motor oil. 

 

The easy thing is to just use motor oil for your motorcycle that is sold & blessed by your local BMW dealer. 

 

The more complicated way is to do the research to find an over-the-counter motor oil that will meet the basic requirements of your engine. 

 

You can use either Mineral, or Synthetic, or Semi-Synthetic as long as it meets the requirements for your engine. Semi-Synthetic in your country has more meaning than in the USA as in the USA just about any oil can be marketed as Semi-Synthetic. 

 

You will have a difficult time finding a good 15-50 "mineral" oil that meets specs as the viscosity spread between 15 & 50 is great enough that it takes a LOT of polymers to get that viscosity spread, all that added polymer makes it difficult to meet the boxer engine protection requirements.

 

In the 20-50 oil, that is mainly a mineral oil but there are motorcycle specific Synthetic or Semi-Synthetic  oils that will meet the 20-50 requirement.

 

The difficult part is in trying to find out how much ZDDP (anti-wear/anti-scuff additives) are in the motor oil that you intend to use.  

 

Most modern automotive  motor oils have significantly lower ZDDP anti-wear additive content  to meet modern engine emission requirements. The good part is that neither 15-50 or 20-50 is a viscosity used in modern automotive motor oil. But a number of  15-50 or 20-50 oil's are built to meet the lower ZDDP specifications to get a modern API rating.

 

The most pertinent service bulletin of the 1995-2005 boxer era was the one that specifies using an SF or SG motor oil   (those were high ZDDP content motor  oil). It went on to say (SJ & higher not approved), at that time the SJ & higher was starting to have reduced ZDDP content (not all, especially in the 15-50 & 20-50 rating, but a number of SJ & up have lower ZDDP anti-wear content).

 

I'm not sure what motorcycle (or automotive) motor oils are available in your country but you can use either 15-50 (this will probably be synthetic or semi-synthetic) or 20-50 (this can be either mineral, synthetic, or semi-synthetic). 

 

What you would like to have & use is a high ZDDP containing oil but THIS is a very difficult thing to determine. If you can find a motor oil that has a true SG rating  (not just meets SG specs) then that is a good choice. Problem is, the SG oil rating is obsolete so any newly tested & rated motor oil can't be tested or rated SG. 

 

Due to the differences in motor oil branding & suppliers between your country & my country (USA) it is difficult to recommend a high ZDDP content 15-50 or 20-50 motor oil for your motorcycle. 

 

If Castrol 20w50 4T (SG rating) is available in your country that is usually a safe choice as that oil is inexpensive, meets BMW specs, & tests good on the used oil Blackstone testing.  

 

You might PM (AndyS)  as he is from your country & is probably well versed on the available BMW specification meeting oils in your country. Click on link below then  click on "message"

 

https://www.bmwsporttouring.com/profile/30849-andys/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Paul De]

should have been a little more specific.  In my Oilhead I have run BMW's 20W50 mineral oil.  Although I would say having a separate engine oil from the drive train and a dry clutch might make it easier to find a suitable oil that works well in the Oilhead motor.

[Michaelr11]

Castrol Go! 4T mineral oil, 20w50, SG/SH rated.

[dirtrider]

3 minutes ago, Michaelr11 said:

Castrol Go! 4T mineral oil, 20w50, SG/SH rated.

 

Morning Michaelr11

 

That is a good conventional  oil in the US here but is it available in the UK? 

[Miguel!]

I use Spectro 4 20W50 mineral oil which is the oil originally spec'ed for the oilheads by BMW. It's available on Amazon for $32/gallon including shipping. I checked Amazon UK but the engine oil is not available tho there are some other Spectro 4 lubricants available. 

 

Best

Miguel

[Warren Dean]

On 4/16/2020 at 10:03 AM, Miguel! said:

I use Spectro 4 20W50 mineral oil which is the oil originally spec'ed for the oilheads by BMW. It's available on Amazon for $32/gallon including shipping. I checked Amazon UK but the engine oil is not available tho there are some other Spectro 4 lubricants available. 

 

Best

Miguel

 

I have some on order. Thanks for the tip. 

[lkchris]

Because BMW wants your motorcycle inspected by a professional as often as possible, it specifies extremely short oil change intervals.

 

Because the intervals are so short, BMW permits conventional motor oil (non synthetic).  AFAIK this is the only vehicle in the German automotive world still permitted non synthetic motor oil.

 

If you use synthetic motor oil, ambient temperatures are irrelevant.  Synthetic flows at any cold temperature you'll ever encounter and synthetic provides the best high temperature performance.  The temperature guidelines are provided for those using conventional motor oil.

 

BMW sells a version of the Shell German-made, natural gas derived semi-synthetic motor oil in 15W-50 that's applicable (year around) for your Oilhead.  For BMW with wet clutches, it provides 5W-40 full synthetic.  There is an Airhead specific oil as well.

[AviP]

I just use Mobil 1 5W30 synthetic as I ride in colder conditions. I've never had a problem with it.

[Brucifer1150]

As long as there is an oil thread going......

 

I have 2002 1150RT with about 80k on the clock. I don't have a lot of maintenance history on it and plan on replacing everything that budget will allow.

 

How do people feel about using a high-detergent oil such as Delo 400 to 'clean' the insides? I don't want to scrape all the residue off since I'm sure that's part of the internal sealing aspects, just get any excess crud that might be built up. I was thinking of about 1000 miles or so before switching back to a semi-synth 20-50 due to the heat here.

[Michaelr11]

51 minutes ago, Brucifer1150 said:

As long as there is an oil thread going......

.......  I don't have a lot of maintenance history on it and plan on replacing everything that budget will allow.

 

How do people feel about using a high-detergent oil such as Delo 400 to 'clean' the insides? I don't want to scrape all the residue off since I'm sure that's part of the internal sealing aspects, just get any excess crud that might be built up. I was thinking of about 1000 miles or so before switching back to a semi-synth 20-50 due to the heat here.

I have a high mileage R1100RT, mostly my miles. Most of my oil changes have been Castrol Go 4T mineral 20 w 50.. At the last oil change, 205K miles, I added several ounces of Marvel Mystery Oil to the oil and rode the last 100 miles before dropping the oil.  I am 1,400 miles into the new oil and there’s still a golden color in the sight glass oil. Not brand new looking, but not dark brown like it would be previously. I will do that again at the next oil change. I really like the SG/SH rating of the 4T oil, which is the specified rated oil for this motor.

[dirtrider]

10 hours ago, Brucifer1150 said:

As long as there is an oil thread going......

 

I have 2002 1150RT with about 80k on the clock. I don't have a lot of maintenance history on it and plan on replacing everything that budget will allow.

 

How do people feel about using a high-detergent oil such as Delo 400 to 'clean' the insides? I don't want to scrape all the residue off since I'm sure that's part of the internal sealing aspects, just get any excess crud that might be built up. I was thinking of about 1000 miles or so before switching back to a semi-synth 20-50 due to the heat here.

 

Morning  Brucifer1150

 

High detergent really doesn't mean much as it is more of a marketing ploy than anything helpful as long as it has enough detergent for long enough.  

 

The detergent isn't like most think, it isn't like the detergent that you put in your washing machine meant to clean the dirt out of your clothes, it's main purpose is to keep anything that is floating free in the crankcase  suspended (in) the oil until it can be circulate through the filter  then get filtered out by the oil filter. 

 

Some diesel oil's do have more, or a higher concentration of,  detergent additives as those oil's are designed for longer oil change intervals so the higher detergent additive lasts through the entire oil change period. 

 

When it comes to cleaning the inside of your engine  you are probably better off leaving sleeping dogs lie as anything that you break loose will circulate in the oil until it is filtered out. 

 

There are specific aftermarket additives made to somewhat clean the inside of an engine but in a lot of cases those cause more internal damage than help. 

 

Your BMW boxer has 2 separate oiling systems one for lubrication & one for cooling, the cooling system side doesn't even have an oil filter.

 

One thing to keep in mind on the BMW boxer, those engines typically  use higher viscosity engine oil's & the engine can revv fairly high with  thicker cold oil so there are times when a fair amount of oil is flowing through the filter by-pass valve (this by-pass oil flows to the bearings unfiltered). 

 

 

[Miguel!]

8 hours ago, dirtrider said:

Your BMW boxer has 2 separate oiling systems one for lubrication & one for cooling, the cooling system side doesn't even have an oil filter.

 

DR. Understanding the oil flow through the engine and oil cooler is one of the topics on my list of things to dig into and understand. now that you brought it up, how that work.

 

So isn't it a single sump, so is it maybe better characterized as one system with two path though it, one with a filter (engine path) the other (oil cooler) not?

 

Miguel

[dirtrider]

1 hour ago, Miguel! said:

DR. Understanding the oil flow through the engine and oil cooler is one of the topics on my list of things to dig into and understand. now that you brought it up, how that work.

 

So isn't it a single sump, so is it maybe better characterized as one system with two path though it, one with a filter (engine path) the other (oil cooler) not?

 

Miguel

 

Afternoon  Miguel!

 

One oil sump but 2 separate oil pumps with  2 separate oil flow systems.

 

Engine lubrication oil flow goes through the oil filter, then on to the engine bearings,.

The cooling oil flow goes through cylinder heads to pick up heat, then through the oil thermostat, then on through the oil cooler, then back into the oil sump.

 

 

[Miguel!]

Thx as always for the excellent explanation and graphic DR. 
 

miguel