Best Oil

[scotty]

I've just bought an S and would like to know the best engine oil to run it on. I've heard that fully synthetic oils are not right in this model as the bores tend to glaze up and the engine will tend to use more oil. Should I use a semi-synthetic or basic mineral oil like Duckhams ?

[boxerpan]

Mineral oil for the first 10k, then think about switching to semi/full synthetic if the consumption has settled down

[bmwonder]

Ditto...
Use mineral for 10k. Castrol GP 10w-40 is the BMW recommended. Anything more exotic is a waste.

For gods sake keep an eye on the level. If you've not had a boxer before then you will find she has a bit of a drink problem. No problem as long as you keep her topped up. Don't take it back to the dealer saying "it seems to use a lot of oil". As long as your fuel comsumption is more than your oil then its normal.

[Gromit]

What they ^ said.

Don't even bother putting anything fancy in it until at least 10k, and then only in the very unlikely event that it's stopped using oil. Even after that I'd just fill it with GPS Castrol or Rock Oil Guardian semi-synth and change it twice as often. A motor which only revs to 8000 or so rpm ain't going to give oil that hard a time.

Like has been said, keep an eye on the level - 1l useage per 1000 miles isn't unusual (which is actually what my Streetrod was doing up until about 2000 miles ago so it's not confined to air-cooled motors).

I've had it said by more than a couple of people that, in some cases, fully synth can leak past oil seals.

[boxerpan]

A motor which only revs to 8000 or so rpm ain't going to give oil that hard a time.

Not unless you leave it ticking over for a long time or your useage is in heavy summer traffic.

[theseadog]

Don't take it back to the dealer saying "it seems to use a lot of oil".

[Lightrunner]

Think BMW recently changed their recommended oil to 20w50, at least Vines did a few months ago.

[Gromit]

Think BMW recently changed their recommended oil to 20w50, at least Vines did a few months ago.

Interesting point.

If you can bear to use it, and want a really high quality mineral oil, I can certainly recommend Harley 20w50 stuff. It's also designed with hot-running air-cooled motors in mind. Around 4 quid a litre so cheap too (about one of the only things which is for HD's)

[scotty]

Thanks guy's. What a brilliant response. The bike has done 34,000 miles so should have well settled in by now. I've heard that these models use oil which can be a real pain if one is going on a long distance trip. Unfortunately I'm waiting on my license back from Swansea so I can't use the bike at the moment so I don't really know what it's oil consumption rate is. I'll be watching the oil level glass like a hawk though. Another bit of a pain with this model....no centre stand so how can one check the oil properly ? I'm not sure if I should buy a centre stand now or a paddock stand to service the thing and check oil etc. Mine has a Remus exhaust fitted so a special clamp-on has to be fitted to prevent the stand whacking the drive shaft. Actually like the look of the thing without the centre stand though.

[Ade B]

.no centre stand so how can one check the oil properly

it involves balancing the bike off the stand and stooping down to look whilst holding the near side bar.... avoiding hot headers and panic wobbles.

takes a bit of practice but its easy after a bit

failing that get someone else to hold/look at the bike.

Would suggest that a paddock stand would be a good idea (i'm after a cheap one at the mo). as its difficult even to clean the LHS of the engine on the side stand.

HTH

Ade.

[madman]

I would agree with the satement that a **/50 oil is better in hot weather and prolonged ticking over, but a synthetic is much better able to cope with high heat. A mineral will always turn to treakle around about 130C wheras a synthetic will be OK to around 180C.
I use 5/50 in mine, the 5 means that it will circulate much quicker on startup, especially in the cold mornings that you get in the UK.

[cc mac]

The easy way to top up the oil is to lean a cheapo bathroom mirror against your garage wall opposite where you park the bike. Angle the mirror up slightly so that you can see the oil level window while you are sitting on the bike. Keep the bike upright and you can top up the oil from where you are sitting.

[Blackal]

It's even worse with a BoxerCup

Due to the belly-pan, you don't even get a straight line of sight to the glass.

I once tried balancing the bike with me astride it, while leaning to the left and taking a digital photo of the little tinker! (who wants a blurred photo of my left leg?)

Have now bought an ABBA stand (mama-mia, here I go again.........................) and have finally ascertained that the oil level is okay.

What a malarkey!

Al

[Gromit]

What a malarkey!

Al

Aye...but (in the words of the ad) she's worth it

[scotty]

I can think of another point with all these methods of checking oil etc. The oil level is bound to read differently if you check it whilst the bike is upright on its tyres or whether it's on a paddock stand. I have never used one of these things but looking at pictures some of them look like they lift the back wheel quite a bit higher than say a centre stand. This could encourage the oil to move torwards the sight glass resulting in a ok reading when the bike is infact borderline for oil if it was checked on its tyres.