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24 Aug 2008
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Quote:
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Can you not get BMW SG rated 20/50 oil, or Harley V twin oil ?? Both exceed the specification by a large amount.. Your cams and followers will last forever with it.
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Whoa there Oldbmw! Harley Oil is formulated specifically for HD engines, and don't forget they have a separate gearbox so the engine oil isn't formulated for gearbox EP(Extreme Pressure)-use. It's really good value, mind...
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25 Aug 2008
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Oil is far from being all the same in my experience. I ran my 34L on Castrol mineral oil for a while, and in common with other posts, it didn't use a drop between changes, which surprised me no end.
Then, prior to The Big Trip, I changed to some fully synthetic oil (sorry, too long ago, don't remember make, but grade would have been similar to what I used previously 10/40) ... to find the bike drank it like it was going out of fashion!
I don't understand why (but I'd love to learn), but needless to say I switched rapidly back to mineral oil and haven't had a problem in the many years since.
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26 Aug 2008
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Getgeared Is Good!
Hello Guys,
I have been putting this stuff in my 1999 XT600E -
PROCYCLE Semi-Synthetic Mineral Engine Oil 4 Stroke SAE 10W-40
It's super quality stuff (ticks all the boxes re standards etc) and only costs £16 for a large tub. Oh and it's GERMAN so should be A OKAY for all bikes.
GETGEARED deliver next day without fail.
__________________
Triumph Bonneville 800 (2004), Yamaha XT600E (1999), Honda XBR500 (1986).
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26 Aug 2008
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Well that's odd. This morning there was a reply with a nice explanation to my post (basically, air cooled thumpers have wide tolerances and are better suited to mineral oil) ... and now its disappeared. :confused1:
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26 Aug 2008
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Just for the sake of correctness:
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Synthetic oils are mineral oils - they are just more highly refined petro oils.
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Strictly speaking this is not true, see;
Synthetic oil - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Synthetic oils were originally developed specifically for jet aero engines because the single bearing at the centre of these engines gets very hot and traditional mineral oils used to carbonise (burn) causing the period between engine rebuilds (and failures) to be very short.
There is a hell of a lot of good information about oils both on this forum and many other locations on the web, a quick google will pull up a cornucopia of information.
I think that pretty much any oil of the correct specification is fine tbh and changing it regularly is the best love a man can give his engine 
Just for the record, I use a 10/40 semi (and I'm probably wasting my money)
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26 Aug 2008
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In view of the posts above and the fact it's almost a 50-50 either way (for and against), I'd recommend you use SEMI-SINTHETIC oil which meets both lines of thought halfway.
__________________
Triumph Bonneville 800 (2004), Yamaha XT600E (1999), Honda XBR500 (1986).
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26 Aug 2008
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xt frog the dissapeared post was by me late last night and a bit tipsy when I re read it it did not come across right the way I had tried to explain the dynamics of oil science - looked great after a bottle of red wine though ! so anyway i deleted it so that some clever fart did not come along and rip me to bits. But seems you got the jist Synthetics flow under very fine surfaces where mineral oils cant get namely under seals and piston rings on older engines with tolerences far larger than modern engines are built to. Synthetic oil used in bikes like bmw airheads can weep through the rear crank seal and get onto the dry clutch so I suppose if it can do that it can get into other areas that should be dry of oil having done so you record a loss in the sump. Mineral oils rule for older bikes. Add a seal improver additive evry 20,000 miles and this helps swell the seals - something the old oils used to do but cant any more as the additives are not regarded as nice for the world outside of your engine so they dont put them in anymore. jake.
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26 Aug 2008
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pottsy
Whoa there Oldbmw! Harley Oil is formulated specifically for HD engines, and don't forget they have a separate gearbox so the engine oil isn't formulated for gearbox EP(Extreme Pressure)-use. It's really good value, mind...
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WHOOPS... Forgot myself there... I have to say I had old Triumphs and BMW bikes in mind 
If you have a high tech "white goods" bike with the gearbox gears chewing up your engine oil, you will have to run with synthetic oil unless you want to chang every 1500/2000 miles.
and if you have EFI, and or catalytic converter do not use 20/50 SG rated oil. The anti wear phosphorus/zinc/calcium will knacker the sensors. Also with these engines, they generally need higher flow of oil to lubricate and cool so generally run with thinner oils.
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27 Aug 2008
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just a footnote bmw have stopped selling the very high quality sg oil so i am using castrol act>evo gt t4 20/50 this is actually rated as a SG rating - not a higher rating oil that includes the sg qualifier. might be of interest to someone. But I have to agree with Mr Bakker that largely oil of the right type should do the job fine dont pay loads extra for something your engine does not need, almost all oils have to meet minimum spec thats noted on the container and if it meets the spec of your bike it should do the job. Jake.
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27 Aug 2008
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Quote:
Originally Posted by adventure950
just a footnote bmw have stopped selling the very high quality sg oil so i am using castrol act>evo gt t4 20/50 this is actually rated as a SG rating - not a higher rating oil that includes the sg qualifier. might be of interest to someone. But I have to agree with Mr Bakker that largely oil of the right type should do the job fine dont pay loads extra for something your engine does not need, almost all oils have to meet minimum spec thats noted on the container and if it meets the spec of your bike it should do the job. Jake.
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This is exactly wrong. Sg rating guarantees it will have less than 0.12% anti wear additives. For SF/SL grade the limit is 0.10% Ie they guarantee the oIl wil not exceed the stated grade.
This is contrary to every other form of labelling. The reason is that vehicle manufacturers need to know what they can run which will not ruin teh EFI/engine management sensors. The 50 weight oils are excempt from the restriction because they are designated for old non efi engines. The BMW oil actually had 0.36% additives. But an oil might not contain any additives at all and still be entitled to claim compliance with many grades. beware an oil that meets many grades. IF oil was petrol they could sell kerosene as 100 octane because it is less than 100 octane. This is counter to what you would expect. In other words chip oil meets all standards because it has less anti wear additives ( zinc/phosphorus/calcium) so meets teh standard. For an old technology engine you are often better served buying diesel engine oil than the stuff marketed for petrol engines.
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28 Aug 2008
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Old bmw i cannot argue with what you say cos I really dont know and I aint any kind of oil scientist - just going off the stuff they the manufacturers tell you. I will stick to me castrol 20/50 sg oil in any case, Anyway if your at the scottish weekend in september upto applecross - be good to have a chat after many  s cos I am sure it will all make sense then. Cheers Jake.
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28 Aug 2008
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Quote:
Originally Posted by adventure950
Old bmw i cannot argue with what you say cos I really dont know and I aint any kind of oil scientist - just going off the stuff they the manufacturers tell you. I will stick to me castrol 20/50 sg oil in any case, Anyway if your at the scottish weekend in september upto applecross - be good to have a chat after many s cos I am sure it will all make sense then. Cheers Jake. |
You are probably right to stick to castrol SG only 20/50. here in the eco friendly France, the best I can get these days is 20/50in SL Where do you buy it, i might try to get a can next time we vist the UK?
wont be coming to Scotland although I will be going to Germany in acouple of weeks for teh annual Diesel Bike meeting at Hamm
The one in westfallen.
Oil like petrol is getting worse and worse,,, while they figure out how to dilute it more and more with substitutes.
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29 Aug 2008
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I can order the castrol through my local car shop but BMW service shops also stock and use it in place of the old BMW sg oil. So I would think any bm dealer should supply it as its now recommended by BMW for use in there bikes. Jake. I should be back in Germany in October some time but not set a plan yet.
Best wishes Jake.
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