My odometer rolled over to the 66K mark last week, marking the time for yet another 6,000 mile service. I waited until the weekend to work on it though. This weekend.
I got up this morning, after sleeping in until almost 8 o’clock, put on my riding duds and headed outside to begin the task.
The first thing I had to do was get the bike out of the garage and ride it down to Wal-Mart to buy some oil. This accomplished a second, very critical task at the same time: It also heated the engine oil for proper dumping upon my return. I opened the garage door…
Got my gear ready…
And prepared to ride the 4 miles to the store.
The 4 mile ride lasted only about 7 minutes but I kept it in 1st and 2nd gear the whole way to get the oil good and hot by the time I got back. This kept me at around 4500 to 5000 rpms for at least a mile of the ride. The rest of the way I neared 4K rpms except when starting at intersections and pausing/stopping at the three traffic lights I encountered.
It wasn’t very busy at 8:30 this morning so I was in and out with the oil in less than 10 minutes. I only had to buy 2 quarts since I still had some left over from the last change.
Upon my return I quickly took off the gear and located the oil drain pan under the very hot bike, just behind the header crossover pipe.
The oil drain plug is situated right here…
And it takes an 8mm hex key wrench, if my memory serves me right. Make sure you take out the oil filler cap before you begin, so the oil will flow more freely.
I like to loosen the plug very slowly, keeping a grip on the wrench so that when it does come out, I don’t lose the plug in the rushing oil that pours out into the pan. The plug stays attached to the end of the wrench and I pull it away as the oil drains out.
That way I don’t have to retrieve it from the puddle of oil in the pan, and can immediately examine it for any metal shards on the magnetic tip.
While the oil was draining out, I moved over to the where the filter is located.
And attached the filter wrench…Wait a minute! Where did I put that filter wrench?
Is it here?
Nope! How ‘bout down here?
Not there either. I’m sure I put it somewhere around here. I think I see it right here.
Yes! There it is. Right there on top of the wax, where I put it when I got finished last time. Why can I never remember that? Some of you are probably appalled at my lack of garage organization and neatness. I clean it all up about once every 6 months then for six months I can’t find anything. Oh well. Let’s move on.
The filter is a breeze to remove with the proper tool. Your hand won’t work. You can barely grab it with 3 fingers and that just doesn’t give you enough torque or grip to get it off. So get a wrench. BMW makes a fine one that costs about $20 and has a ratchet hole, but you may find an adequate one at an auto parts store for much less.
Now I have a little trick for dropping that oily filter down without making a mess. Place a thin (1/4 inch or so) piece of wood underneath it as you slowly loosen it. Once it’s loose you can spin it with your fingers holding a rag, so you don’t get burned.
When it comes out and begins to fall, have that thin piece of wood ready to catch it and hold it up for a little bit until all the oil drains away from it.
Then let it go down to the pan slowly. It’s very hot, so you don’t want to try and hold it with your hand to keep it from falling down and splattering oil all over your face and garage floor.
While all that old engine oil was draining out, I went back to the right rear of the bike and located the Final Drive filler cap and drain plug. The filler cap takes a 6mm hex key and the drain plug requires a 19mm socket wrench. They both have crush washers but I just reuse the old ones several times. I’ve never noticed any leaks.
I pulled out the filler cap…
...and after positioning a drain pan underneath the drain I removed the drain plug with the 19mm socket and let it run out.…and carefully checked the end of the magnetic tip for metallic sludge. There was only a tiny bit so I wiped it off.
When it got down to the final drips I went ahead and put the plug back in with my 19mm socket and torqued it to 23nm.
Then, using a tiny funnel, I replaced the gear lube with new Redline Shockproof.
It only takes about ¼ of a quart but you fill it until it gets to the bottom of the filler neck. I check it with a small length of plastic tie wrap since my finger won’t fit down in there.
I cleaned off the area around the hole and replaced the cap with 23nm of torque as well.
Once it was all buttoned up, I started playing in the old grease!
At this point some of you may be saying, “What da hell?†But I assure you this is important.
If there are any metal shavings or pieces coming off those bearings in there, you will find them by playing in the grease with your fingers. If you DO find any, take the bike in for a rear FD bearing replacement…Immediately!
Heading back to the front of the bike I took my new Bosch oil filter from BeemerBoneyard…
…and (notice the crush washer attached to the top of the box. They include that washer with every filter) I began filling it with new oil.
It takes exactly 8 ozs. Of oil to fill it to the brim.
Now I’ve often wondered about filling it completely like that. Does the threaded stub coming down out of the engine displace enough oil to overflow the filter? Does the excessive oil just get pushed up into the engine? I don’t recall ever seeing any dripping out as I screwed the filter back on, so I guess all is well.
Now carefully I screwed that filter back up in there with my fingers, feeling as I went to make sure I didn’t crossthread it going in. It’s pretty easy to get it started. You screw it in hand tight! Then I took the filter wrench again, which has a 3/8†ratchet drive hole, and attached my torque wrench. The torque on it is 11nm. I more often than not just ratchet it down about a half turn after hand tight, not worrying about the torque too much.
I then moved back over and after careful inspection of the oil drain plug for debris…
..OOPS! Wow what is that?
I never saw that before on my oil drain plug. I’m thinking I need some advice from Cyclerob or Boxermania at this point.
Once the drain plug has been cleaned off and the new crush washer fitted, I screwed it back in to 30nm torque.
Now it was time to put the new oil in.
First I poured in what was left in that bottle after filling the filter with the 8 ozs. Then I poured in the other new bottle from Wal-Mart. Then I measured out 1 quart from the big jug I had.
Then I measured out ¾ of a quart again and poured that in, making the total amount of refill 3 and ¾ quarts total! No more no less…Well, actually a little less, because I want to check it after the first ride and see if it needs more. Being a constant worrier, I worry about not having drained all the old oil out and then adding more in making it overfilled. So until I ride a couple of times and recheck it, I won’t add any more just now. The life of a worrier!
With the engine oil changed and the FD grease change out, it was time to clean up the mess and go wash the hands.
Oh! One last thing. I started up the bike for a second and shut it down, then started it up again to circulate the new oil and listen to the engine purr with fresh lubricant. I don’t know why I do that start-up for a second then restart again routine. I think it must go back to when I learned how to change the oil in a car many years ago. I was told to do that.
I was done and cleaned up by 10:00, making it a hour and a half job with riding to the store and taking photos included. My camera will never be the same.
....Just one thing though...I prefer not to remove the oil filler plug until after I've removed the drain plug.
