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Need Oil

I think Meester Glaves explained it all pretty well in his post, #11 in this thread.
Very confusing, it even has the "BMW recommends Castrol" on the back cover of my GT's owners manual.
They recommend them but use someone else for their oil in North America, got it.
I've always been a bit of a geek when it comes to reading labels, especially stuff that comes right from the manufacturer.
The dealer clued me in to Spectro way back in the 80s, was on the bottle even back then.
Price always seems pretty good to me, less than BMW even though we don't really know for sure if the additives are different.
 
You won't do any harm by adding a small amount of different oil. What Paul said is the important part- the rating, SG or whatever is specified for your bike. The world will not change it's direction of spin and cause us to all fall down if you mix in some dino with synthetic. After all, they do make and sell a blend of both.

And I wouldn't even call your oil "low" with the line being at the bottom third of the sight glass.
 
I know it wasn't really low, but these bikes have a mind of their own. If they think they are low on oil, you can't change their mind. Only add a tad.
Aha on the Castrol connection.
dc
 
Some vehicles actually specify a limit on what "out of spec" stuff you can add though BMW bikes don't seem to be one.
My VW TDI manual specs the only oil that currently meets the spec for their newest TDI motors and its made by Castrol and calls out the VW spec number on the label. The manual also says one can add 500 ml of any other diesel rated oil to top up- but no more- and repeats it so there is no doubt they're serious. Why they don't say but I suspect its the reduced lubricity of low sulfur diesel fuel that is driving their relatively new oil spec. Their spec oil is not particularly expensive so its not selling oil that's driving it.,,
 
P.S. I personally normally use Castrol dino "4T Four Stroke Motorcycle Oil" in the white bottle which I buy at Autozone for in the range of $5 per quart. I use it not because it says I should on the side of a BMW race car. I use it because it has an API SG rating as specified for our bikes, is fairly inexpensive, and is readily availabe even in a small town in far southwest Texas.

I use that Castrol 4T based on your use of it, Paul. I figure if Voni can put a couple trillion miles on BMW's with you doing most of the maintenance, you'd know if it wasn't doing the job.

Actually, I recently tried to switch my GS over to Mobil 1 at 12K miles, and it went through almost a quart in less than 3K. That after burning almost no 4T from 8K to 12K miles. So I dumped the Mobil 1, and went back to 4T in both bikes.

I worked in the back end of car dealerships for about 10 years in my youth. I never met an engine mechanic who liked Penzoil, but I used their GT Performance 20W50 in my airhead for a couple decades with no problem.

Oil threads are a good place to just ramble. Anyway, my local O'Reilly's just had the 4T on sale for $3.99. I bought so much that's what I'll be using the next few years.
 
This time of year now that the heat of summer is mostly over I would use 5W40 rotella. I will put it in for wither this weekend.

And take out in march/April. Most winters is it only a 1000 or 1500 miles but last winter was a lot more. I almost got my moneys worth.

Rod
 
Oil threads are a good place to just ramble. Anyway, my local O'Reilly's just had the 4T on sale for $3.99. I bought so much that's what I'll be using the next few years.

Oh boy. Now you done it. Here we go... Somebody's going to tell you that you wasted your money and they'll give you a lecture on the shelf life of oil.....
 
Well the oil was forming in the ground for several hundred thousand years, so shelf life ought to be a few years.
Anyway, I added that 1/3 quart in Georgetown Colorado, and rode all around Colorado, then Utah, then thru' Arizona and Nevada and back to Los Angeles.
With no further non check on the oil indicator.
Every brief and few times the oil logo? came up the check was with it.
I did look for the line a day or two ago and it was about 1/8 of an inch below the top of the glass.
I'll have to check it now that I'm back.
dc
 
I agree, Rotella is good oil, so why not use it in a bike?

It's out of spec for several of our bikes.

However, since BMW appears to be beginning to use European and Japanese specifications for oil on some (maybe all) newer models instead of the API specification some oils may now come into spec.

5W40 is still too thin for most of our bikes (except in the winter).
 
re:"Well the oil was forming in the ground for several hundred thousand years,..."

make that 65 million years (when the last dinosaur went teats up).
:)
 
Having just rode thru' Colorado and Utah and Nevada I was able to buy that dinosaur gas. I think it is my favorite gas. It has the large size green dinosaur as their emblem. And my bike never ran better than with that gas.
However, mentioning the dinosaur gas to someone else, no authority, he said he thought they now believed that the dinosaurs were not related to the petroleum age, or wherever the gas and oil comes from.
dc
 
well, we tend to say "dino", but mostly its plants and such. This was from PBS.org

"Scientists believe that over the past 600 million years, oil has been formed deep in the earth from the decay of plant and animal remains, especially microscopic plankton, after being heated and compressed under thick layers of rock."
 
I think the real controversy was did people live at the time of the dinosaurs. And they believe, or know today that they did not.
dc
 
This was the only evidence I needed. As I see it, this proves it. Some of them say Dino on them.
dc
sinclair-logo.jpg
 
I think the real controversy was did people live at the time of the dinosaurs. And they believe, or know today that they did not.

Apparently you've never watched The Flintstones - conclusive proof that humans DID exist when dinosaurs were around.

:D
 
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