gearbox final drive oil change

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finsally
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gearbox final drive oil change

Post by finsally »

Hi Guys,my bike is a 03 R1150R,only covered 5,500 miles when I bought in May this year I have put 2000 miles on it so far,I had it serviced soon after i bought it.....but the gearbox and final drive oil was not changed according to the Haynes Manual they should be changed every 12,000 miles,my bike is now 6 years old and I was wondering wether i should change the oil even though it has not reached 12,000 miles.

Any advice would be welcome.

Cheers Bob
Remow2112
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Re: gearbox final drive oil change

Post by Remow2112 »

Most people on here would suggest every oil change or every other. I intend on the FD every oil change and the tranny every other. I am using mobile 1 synthetic gear lube.


Dan...
taosports
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Re: gearbox final drive oil change

Post by taosports »

I change all of my fluids (except brake and clutch) every 6,000 miles. Gives me a chance to hopefully not see any tiny bits of metal in the oil.

BMW recommends you replace the gearbox and final drive oil every 12,000 miles and no later than every 2 years.

Click link for a pdf file of the BMW service intervals :

http://www.michaelmaloneyphotography.co ... enance.pdf
challey
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Re: gearbox final drive oil change

Post by challey »

Despite the low miles, given the age of the bike, I'd change both the trans and FD fluid.

My suggestion (and I stress it's just a suggestion) is synthetic for the trans and regular gear lube for the FD. There is a substantial amount of heat generated in and near the transmission and it can probably benefit from the better thermal characteristics of synthetic. This is not the case for the FD, so the extra cost for synthetic is (IMHO) not justified. A well-respected BMW mechanic that I know highly recommends the use of Castrol Hypoy C gear lube. He swears he's never seen a FD failure where that lube has been used. Maybe that's hype but it certainly can't hurt.

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R1150Rclean
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Re: gearbox final drive oil change

Post by R1150Rclean »

When I bought my '03 R1150R it had 5,800 miles on it after 6 years, so I changed the FD oil and the last drips looked thick (it was a red colored oil, guessing the OEM oil), so I filled it up with Valvoline 80-90 w semisyn and ran it for 15 minutes and then drained it again to get out all the old oil. The transmission oil was not sludged.
kantuckid
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Re: gearbox final drive oil change

Post by kantuckid »

On the BMWMOA Forum it is widely accepted/recommended by people with much experience that the synthetic is best kept out of the FD due to it causing/resulting in leaks. This has been discussed there in great detail in relationship with the FD failure issue. Do what you want but I quit using it in the FD some time back.The act of changing it with every engine oil change(or so) contributes to keeping a close watch on the FD lubes appearance,i.e., METAL IN THE OIL! [-o<
R1150Rclean
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Re: gearbox final drive oil change

Post by R1150Rclean »

kantuckid wrote:On the BMWMOA Forum it is widely accepted/recommended by people with much experience that the synthetic is best kept out of the FD due to it causing/resulting in leaks. This has been discussed there in great detail in relationship with the FD failure issue. Do what you want but I quit using it in the FD some time back.The act of changing it with every engine oil change(or so) contributes to keeping a close watch on the FD lubes appearance,i.e., METAL IN THE OIL! [-o<
Well the Valvoline is synthetic blend oil (a mineral oil base with synthetic additives), a guy here has used it for 20k miles with no leaks. All the same, what is the most used non-synthetic FD oil?
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bmwdave52
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Re: gearbox final drive oil change

Post by bmwdave52 »

I've been using Amsoil since 2002 in the engine, tranny and final drive. No problems.
75-90 in the final and 75-140 in the tranny. 'Severe Gear' oil is what it's called.
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towerworker
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Re: gearbox final drive oil change

Post by towerworker »

I've been running Lucas 80/90 in my 04 (tranny and FD) Bike has 34K. Ran the same in my 03, it had 42K when I totaled it. Bought new and had no FD or tranny issues. The Lucas seems to be popular in big truck applications.

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kantuckid
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Re: gearbox final drive oil change

Post by kantuckid »

Run what you want, but the people that suspect that syn in FD results in more likelyhood of leaks are more experienced than most out there. Paul Glaves , that writes the wrench column for the BMWMOA magazine ON is one source of that info and has seen and repaired many of these-also a 1150r rider himself.If an expert says its so, maybe it is and I will lean that way instead of the other in this case, as the downside is worse than the upside.
R1150Rclean
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Re: gearbox final drive oil change

Post by R1150Rclean »

kantuckid wrote:Run what you want, but the people that suspect that syn in FD results in more likelyhood of leaks are more experienced than most out there. Paul Glaves , that writes the wrench column for the BMWMOA magazine ON is one source of that info and has seen and repaired many of these-also a 1150r rider himself.If an expert says its so, maybe it is and I will lean that way instead of the other in this case, as the downside is worse than the upside.

But is in regards to a fully synthetic oil, or a synthetic blend with a mineral oil base?
kantuckid
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Re: gearbox final drive oil change

Post by kantuckid »

Given what I have read, I will not put anything that is all or part synthetic in my FD. It is a big enough worry without that problem added into the mix.
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