10w50 Oil in Engine?

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JohnM
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10w50 Oil in Engine?

Post by JohnM »

Sorry for starting another oil thread.

At my dealer's 6K service in August, BMW 10w50 oil put in the crankcase. (Dino, I presume?)

Since the manual calls for 10w40, I'm wondering whether there's a service bulletin out there permitting the higher viscosity.

I'm close to 12K, and will do my own oil change this time. Still under a good bit of warranty coverage, so wondering which oil to use & not raise any eyebrows should warranty service later be required.

TY
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hjsbmw
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Re: 10w50 Oil in Engine?

Post by hjsbmw »

The manual does list 10w-50 as a possibility, actually, as I read it you can use pretty much use what you like as long as it covers the ambient temps you ride in and you're comfortable with it.
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Re: 10w50 Oil in Engine?

Post by deilenberger »

John,

What oil did they use? The BMW Synthetic is 15W-50, and I've been using it since the 6,000 mile service (which makes it about 38,000 miles so far..)
Don Eilenberger - NJ Shore
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Re: 10w50 Oil in Engine?

Post by JohnM »

Capn Don:

Not sure whether it was dino or synthetic, although I presume the former.

My invoice just says 4 qts of BMW 10w50 at $7.99/qt. Cross Country's part number was 10W50B.

Oh, and I stand corrected. The R12R Manual does indicate 20w50, not 10w40.
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Re: 10w50 Oil in Engine?

Post by mogu83 »

John,
Unless Cross Country was having a sale on oil ( which we know will never happen) your running dino oil.
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Re: 10w50 Oil in Engine?

Post by deilenberger »

JohnM wrote:Capn Don:

Not sure whether it was dino or synthetic, although I presume the former.

My invoice just says 4 qts of BMW 10w50 at $7.99/qt. Cross Country's part number was 10W50B.

Oh, and I stand corrected. The R12R Manual does indicate 20w50, not 10w40.
Interesting - no BMW PN.. (and BMW's synthetic does have an official long BMW PN..) I've thought about using TWS (10W-60) German Castrol (my M car engines use it.. it's cheaper then BMW moto oil..)

BMW's synthetic oil: http://www.ascycles.com/detail.aspx?ID=39062

BMW's dino oil: http://www.ascycles.com/detail.aspx?ID=38993
Don Eilenberger - NJ Shore
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Re: 10w50 Oil in Engine?

Post by tinytrains »

My guess is they put in 20W-50 dino and wrote it wrong on the receipt. 10W-50 may exist, but I have never seen it.

If you can always call and ask.

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Re: 10w50 Oil in Engine?

Post by creamora »

I'm not an expert on this subject, and as a new owner I payed close attention to the service review and checklist before leaving Cliff's. The Mistress rolled off the showroom with BMW Dino 20w50 engine oil and I have an extra Qt to top her off during these early miles (2550) of consumption. I really like the sightglass and filler placement.
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10w50 Oil in Engine topic redux?

Post by JohnM »

Stopped by my local dealer (Cross Country BMW in Metuchen NJ) to pick up some oil for the next oil change. Brought along my previous service invoice, indicated that they had performed the oil change using "10w50" oil.

Mystery clarified. Its is dino oil. P/N 07510412041. I'll stay with it until my R12R starts using less; then I'll switch over to synth.

Thanks to everyone who commented earlier.
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Re: 10w50 Oil in Engine?

Post by Kieran R1200R »

creamora wrote:I'm not an expert on this subject, and as a new owner I payed close attention to the service review and checklist before leaving Cliff's. The Mistress rolled off the showroom with BMW Dino 20w50 engine oil and I have an extra Qt to top her off during these early miles (2550) of consumption. I really like the sightglass and filler placement.

None of us are experts. And even the Experts have there own oppinions.
Synthetic oil suits different motors.
My Range Rover Sport TDV8 came standard with 5W30 syn Castrol for the new motor.
Land Rover recommend 5w30 Castrol for this motor from new.
BMW R1200R does not recommend synthetic oil. The question is why?
I can't answer that! But I may guess that it is because it doesn't aid the run in period.
Now why would that be. That part I can answer!
Synthetic oil is smooooooooooth. It has no sharp molecules, there for runs around the motor and parts with ease. It finds all the areas that it can escape from and does. There for it gets passed your rings and burns off. It may even glaze your bore! That's why our bikes comes with Dino oil in the motor.
Now the question can be when is it safe to go over to synthetic oil.
That varies with every bike.
I put my money on our Police Force that run R1200ST bikes and follow there maintanance squedule.
They run what BMW put in the crankcase as standard.
They go to BMW in Adelaide for there first service where the oil is dropped and 15w 50 Activ T4 Castrol Dino is put in.
That's the only oil they use. There bikes do some 140,000km then they get rid of them.
I have spoken to plenty of Officers about there bikes and they all conferm that there bikes use oil up until about the 30,000 to 40,000km mark and from there the oil burn off stops.
Now that says to me that the motor takes a very long time to run in.
If you want to run a synthetic oil in your bike that's up to the indervidual.
Personly I wouldn't, simply because these motor are not like Jap stuff.
There oil cooled and have greater tolerances for expantion.
The slicker the oil the better the BURN. Make your own choice. I have!

Cheers

Kieran :-({|=
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hoflix
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Re: 10w50 Oil in Engine?

Post by hoflix »

Go synthetic.

:-"
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Re: 10w50 Oil in Engine?

Post by rglassma »

I am new here and live in Colorado, USA. For the last 10 years, I have owned a BMW R1200RT '05. I have consistently used Castrol 4T or Valvoline Dino oil. That has been either in 10w/40 in colder months, and 10w/50 in warmer months. Currently my bike has 97K miles on it (127,000 Kilometers) on it with no issues. It is still running great . I am currently in the process of buying a K1200 R Sport ('07) so that I slow down using the RT and give it a longer lifetime without failure.
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