3-series oil filter fits R1150R?

[Grey Thumper]

Met another R1150R rider at a gas station, we casually talked about working on our bikes, and he had this tip that I've never heard before.

If true, it'd be somewhat useful, considering my nearest BMW car dealership is only 4km (2.5 miles) away, while the nearest bike dealership is over 30km (19 miles) away. Not to mention that, according to him, the car filter is 1/3 the price of the bike filter.

Anyone heard anything like this before? If so, it would be great to know the filter's part number, or the make/model of the car (E36 316, etc.). Thanks in advance.

[boxermania]

The Mahle OC 91 is for the BMW bikes, while the Mahle OC 25 and OC 49 are for the automoviles. My recollection is poor, but I think the diference is in the length of the filter, while the threads and gasket location is the same. Go to an auto parts store that sells Mahle filters and compare such, nothing wrong with saving a couple of bucks here and there.

[jcridge]

I run Toyota truck oil filters on our Bikes. Don't recall the exact number, but they are the V-6 filter, or the 4 cylinder Tacoma filters. 2011 is the last 4 digits of the filter, which is what the dealers use to ID the filter. Toyota makes some of the best filters on the market today. I used to work for Toyota, and have slowly been depleting my stash of filters. But you can use the same Toyota application number on other filters. The BMW filter is nothing special, the Toyota filter has an anti-drain back valve and quality components.

John

[challey]

The BMW filter is nothing special

Not sure that everyone will agree with you on that.

I believe it was Cyclerob who some time back dissected the Mahle filter and posted the results on this forum. His analysis showed that the quality of the filter media, gaskets, bypass valving and overall construction was very high. I know that other folks have done fine with alternative filters and I'm not saying that the others are junk but of all of the overpriced BMW stuff, the OEM filter seems to be a high quality item that is relatively inexpensive. The savings in using an aftermarket oil filter is probably going to be something in the area of 10 bucks. Assuming 10 years of riding and 2 oil changes each year, that's a total of $200 saved which while not insignificant pales in comparison to the
other costs of ownership. Put another way, it seems like a false economy.

If you want to save money, you can get the OEM filter (11 42 1 460 845) for $10.50 each on-line from Turner Motosport. That would reduce the 10 year, $200 savings to something like $50, a really insignficant sum. I personally haven't ordered from that compamy but others I know have with good results.

Charlie

[Hottech]

I discovered that my 1991 Honda Accord takes the same filter as my 1150R. That way it is easy to remember what filter to buy at the auto store when they run a sale. Puraltor PL10241 and K&N HP-1004 have been on sale so I usually buy one or two to keep in stock.

[jcridge]

Nothing special, meaning compared to a high quality filters and the simple fact that you do not need to use a BMW oil filter because you have a BMW bike.

So yeah... nothing special about a BMW oil filter, that you can't substitute another quality filter for.

[CycleRob]

Looking into the BMW oil filter's big threaded hole you see a black plastic partition. I got curious what that was, so I cut my used filter apart. It turned out to be something I've never seen before. A second, microfine plastic mesh filter, whose only purpose is to filter the bypassed oil.

What's that? Well, when you start a cold engine and ride away, all the cold thick oil that lubes the engine has to pass thru the oil filter first. The higher engine RPM's create faster flowing oil which is too thick to pass quickly thru the filter paper filtering media. The oil filter's internal bypass valve opens up to relieve the potentially damaging excess pressure trying to push that cold thick oil thru the paper filter media. On everybody elses oil filter, that bypassed oil goes into the engine unfiltered. On the stock BMW filter, it goes thru the ultrafine plastic mesh filter you see in these pics below:
Pic 1
Pic 2
Pic 3
Pic 4
Pic 5
Pic 6

As you can see from the above pics, there really is more protection engineered into the BMW filter. Truth is, I am normally among the group that would use the car parts like EFI hose clamps or sparkplugs on the OilHead, but after examining the 2 stage design and high quality internals of the stock BMW oil filter, that's all I ever used for almost 64,000 miles.

[Buckster]

Thanks for posting, Rob. The first time I saw this post, I made up my mind to stick with the BMW filter. It's more expensive, but so was my bike. I will pay a little more for the better quality.

[TOIVOK]

I just took my bike to Heid's to repair the thread in the head that accepts the valve cover bolt. The PO had a butcher mechanic replace the valve covers with chrome and in the process he buggered the threads including one that broke the casting and was fixed with something like JB weld. While at the shop, I figured they might as well change the oil and I was informed that they are using Hi Flo filters as the new price for BMW filters is now about $25!!!!! I elected Hi Flo as these folks have been in the business for over 40 years and I trust their judgement.

Toivo (t.j.)

[jcridge]

The BMW filter in Rob's photos is a superior design to any spin-on design I have seen. The cut-away's I have done on various filters have not had a secondary micro mesh filter with a by-pass. Very nice design, especial since it has a secondary by-pass to protect it. I wonder how much is by-passed during cold start ups, if the room temperature oil doesn't leak through the mesh on its own? You usually have to to use a performance filter or a screen type filter to get that type of filtration and flow. BMW filters appear to be worth the extra money, just to get the added protection. Thanks for the post.

John