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2011 Final Drive and Transmission Gear Oil

dirtmerchant

dirtmerchant

New member
Looking for a second opinion.....

My local BMW Parts department recommended using the BMW Full Synthetic 75-140 for both Transmission and Final Drive.

Should I be concerned about using the 75/140 instead of 75-90 in the Final Drive?
 
A large topic!

Boy, this one gets attention every time! Seems to me, a life long BMW owner, it does not matter much. The 75-140 clearly covers a larger heat range, but the 75-90 should suffice in almost any case. I use the 75-140 in tranny, 75-90 in FD and have done the 75-140 in both in my past with no issues. It also seems NO two BMW dealers will have the same answer on this:), as its been talked about many many times here. No fault to your question, however. FDs are and have been a giant issue in recent years. Best to ya, Randy:thumb
 
+1: Exact same answer as PB. I'm 75/140 tranny, 75/90 FD (as is in our forum How TO), but many variations exist, and dealer answers vary.
 
Your BMW dealer is always going to recommend you use the BMW-branded product :) Not that there's anything wrong with that!

There's lots of choices - I would recommend doing some searching & let google guide you to the vast (and often heated) discussions related to this topic.

--chiba
 
My comment was specific to the weight, but yeah, there's no reason to use the more expensive BMW brand. I know a lot of people like 'shock proof'.
 
DirtMerchant said:
Should I be concerned about using the 75/140 instead of 75-90 in the Final Drive?
Click to expand...

I'd ask the dealer exactly why they are recommending something other than that stated in the the written documentation. Several years ago the answer might have been something like "that's the only gear oil BMW has" until you gave them the BMW part number of the 75W-90 gear oil and even then a few would say they couldn't get it. Don't know what they'd say today. Maybe they've got a good reason. :dunno

Until I know that reason I'll stick with the 75W-90. But then I've still got enough in the bottle for at least two more changes. :D
 
Thanks for the replies, I did a lot of searching and found plenty of confounding opinions.

I change all the fluids on every service if for no other reason then to just keep an eye out for issues. I trust my dealer but wanted to verify what the Parts Guy told/sold me.

I am fortunate to have a good dealer within 25-miles and I buy parts from them. Yes, I know I get them for a few dollars less at a local auto supply house but if everyone does that the dealer won't be around when I really need them.
 
The answer -- if you want to use what BMW specifies for the hexhead final drive -- is quite simple: 75W90 synthetic GL-5 gear oil. I will always choose to follow what the manufacturer specifies, not what some parts guy (however well meaning) thinks will do the trick. Whether another weight oil would make any significant difference over the long term, who really knows, but why wouldn't you follow BMW's recommendations? I always laugh when I see people post anecdotal "evidence" like, "I've been using xxWxxx in my bike since I bought it and I've had no problems...". That and $4 will get you a coffee at Starbucks.
 
marcopolo said:
The answer -- if you want to use what BMW specifies for the hexhead final drive -- is quite simple: 75W90 synthetic GL-5 gear oil. I will always choose to follow what the manufacturer specifies, not what some parts guy (however well meaning) thinks will do the trick. Whether another weight oil would make any significant difference over the long term, who really knows, but why wouldn't you follow BMW's recommendations? I always laugh when I see people post anecdotal "evidence" like, "I've been using xxWxxx in my bike since I bought it and I've had no problems...". That and $4 will get you a coffee at Starbucks.
Click to expand...

Why wouldn't I want to follow BMW's recomendation? Because I have the "lifetime maintenance free final drive"... I'm sure a few "fanatics" were changing the fluid early on... and rightly so we now know...
 
MeanGene said:
Why wouldn't I want to follow BMW's recomendation? Because I have the "lifetime maintenance free final drive"... I'm sure a few "fanatics" were changing the fluid early on... and rightly so we now know...
Click to expand...

How many FD issues are to oil quality? :ear
 
marchyman said:
How many FD issues are to oil quality? :ear
Click to expand...

We dunno - but it is interesting that the failure rate dropped off a cliff once BMW specified a change interval for the drives. It might not be "quality" - except as oil becomes non-quality with use.

FWIW - I'm also following BMW's spec's on the rear drive oil..
 
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