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. For example, Lucas' oil stabilizer is designed with properties to help it "stick" to the engine parts so that the oil provides lubrication when the engine is just started. Worth a look . . . and a test!

MoS2 additive does the same thing. I have been using it for years. concern is build-up, however.
 
These desired variables could potentially make oil testing go on for a decade!

What I got out of the testing, was that oils that were tested years ago and considered good for our airhead engines have since been reformulated (Golden Spectro is no longer an API SG oil) and this test was just to really see how much, if any, they changed, and maybe point out some new good oils that maybe weren't that popular with the BMW community.

At the time of the testing I was using Liqui Moly Racing 20w50 as I buy my oil filters in bulk from Beemer Boneyard and they sell Liqui Moly (I also have been using LM stuff in my cars for years). After I read the test results I'm no longer using it, but instead went back to BMW oil for my winter 10w50 oil and Spectro 4 for my most of the year 20w50 oil - though probably not BMW anymore since Castrol is now making their MC oil. Alot of airhead gurus rave about Golden Spectro and now that its API rating is SL, the testing actually did indicate that it's maybe not as good as it once was, while the synthetics really proved just how well they really are (particularly Redline).

As for the Lucas additives, run a search in the Bobistheoilguy forum and you'll find quite a bit of mixed reviews, some claiming it does more harm than good and others the exact opposite. :dunno

MoS2 additive does the same thing. I have been using it for years. concern is build-up, however.

I use MoS2 additive in my gear oil, but not in the engine. One I think the zddp does a good enough job already protecting for last resort wear and two I'm concerned about the build-up like yourself. Last time I looked inside the case (3 years ago or so) the bottom end looked very clean and didn't show any signs of wear, even on the cam followers which people have observed pitting in recent years, so I just left well enough alone. Have you noticed any adverse effects yet?
 
MoS2

MikeS, how much moly have you put in the crankcase? And how many miles have rolled by? More than a few discussions about this topic with stern advice from gurus to"never", (heavy emphasis,) put moly in a BMW motorcycle. Wish a Liqui-Moly expert, the German guy, would explain it.

How big are those little ball bearings of moly? would they be a better slide up the cam ramp than zddp?
 
MikeS, how much moly have you put in the crankcase? And how many miles have rolled by? More than a few discussions about this topic with stern advice from gurus to"never", (heavy emphasis,) put moly in a BMW motorcycle. Wish a Liqui-Moly expert, the German guy, would explain it.

How big are those little ball bearings of moly? would they be a better slide up the cam ramp than zddp?

898, I've heard the same things you have about NOT adding moly to the crankcase, but not the rest of an airhead - especially FD and transmission input splines. I use a mixture of W?rth Sig3000 and Honda Moly 60 (50/50) for that, others on here just use straight Honda Moly or Guarddog moly

via Snobum

"****Do NOT use moly greases in wheel bearings or in the steering head or swing arm bearings. Do NOT use moly greases in the throwout bearing for the clutch. A good rule of thumb is that moly greases do NOT work well in ball bearings, tapered roller bearings, and needle bearings. Moly tends to change to stiff flaky bits in those situations. As a general rule, do not use moly-containing greases, oils, etc., at any place there are rotational speed differences. Moly is GREAT for most SLIDING surfaces. Use moly grease on sliding splines. One exception to using moly is in rear drives and transmissions, where a very specific liquid additive product from Dow Corning can sometimes be helpful, but do NOT use the concentration as printed on the container; more on this in other areas of this website."

going on to say: "A transmission and rear drive oil additive ...do not use with synthetic oils is Dow Corning M Gear Oil Additive. Comes in quart containers. Shake well and use ONLY the concentration I recommend ...and absolutely not the 5-10% Dow suggests on the container. So, I say, use 18 to 20 cc for your transmission that contains 800 cc total oil. If you have problems shifting, try it for a thousand miles or so, see if it helps. If not, you have other problems. It may increase the lifetime for the bearings, etc. ABSOLUTELY do NOT use this product with synthetics, and DO NOT increase the dose! For the rear drive, you can use about 2% or so."

Personally, like I said earlier, I use the LM Moly additive (specific for gear oil - NOT the one made for engines) not Dow Corning. Also, when I use the additive in my trans and fd I don't add what they specify on the tube, I just squirt in a little for added protection. What I have noticed is that the ultra fine sediment (normal) that used to show up on the magnetic drain plug in the trans has gone away once I started using it so it is doing something protective, and I've been using it for years now and I haven't noticed any adverse affects, yet... There's plenty of discussion about this additive on oil forums

Cars are so much easier when it comes to these things, with my VWs I just have to find an oil that meets the VW 502.00/505.00 standard and I'm good to go, unfortunately this doesn't apply to motorcycles, especially the vintage stuff.
 
MikeS, how much moly have you put in the crankcase? And how many miles have rolled by? More than a few discussions about this topic with stern advice from gurus to"never", (heavy emphasis,) put moly in a BMW motorcycle. Wish a Liqui-Moly expert, the German guy, would explain it.

How big are those little ball bearings of moly? would they be a better slide up the cam ramp than zddp?

When I said I have used it for years, I didn't mean I use it all the time. I put one half ounce of Liqui Moly in the oil when I change it before the winter storage. Only in engine oil.
I have used MoS2 paste when assembling engines. No adverse efefcts whatsoever. And I wonder why the "gurus" say to never put it in a BMW motorcycle. What is so different in a BMW engine?
 
Mike, those are my thoughts too, for some time. guess the only way we'll ever know about this additive is if someone dumps some moly in a /6 or /7 and runs it for a couple hundred thousand miles, then takes a look.

Guess the manufacturer already did the testing? Guess we need a chemical lubrication engineer? Or, we could just use 20/50 and forget it. My assembly lube too says it contains moly. Guess I got some moly in my /6 too. Still runs real good and am not sweating it.
 
A bit of new information regarding BMW's supplier of engine oil. I saw this letter posted on the Airheads list. Looks like Spectro is no longer the supplier of BMW's engine oil....it appears to be Shell now.

########################

INTERCONTINENTAL LUBRICANTS CORPORATION
February 15, 2013

Dear BMW Dealer:

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is David Miller, President of Intercontinental Lubricants of Brookfield, CT, manufacturer of Spectro Oils and, until recently, blenders and
packagers of BMWMotorcycle lubricants. In 1985, BMW contacted I.L.C. to solve smoking issues with the two cylinder boxer engines in BMW motorcycles. I.L.C engineered an oil to resolve those issues, and began producing a line of lubricants exclusively for BMW using the highest quality base stocks and additives.

That same approach towards product excellence continued throughout our relationship. We are proud that BMW dealers and shops have been satisfied with our products and partnership
for many years. Unfortunately, for "corporate" reasons, BMW made the decision to consolidate all of its lubricant business with one supplier, for cars and motorcycles all around the world.
BMW products you purchase in the future will not be the superior lubricants we have been supplying, but will be sourced from another supplier.

We can't comment on or vouch for the BMW lubricants of the future, as we do not know their formulations or feed stocks, but we do know that the performance of Spectro lubricants will remain consistent to the products you have used in the past.

We will be happy to provide you with our engineered line of Spectro products, which are indistinguishable from the BMW lubricants you have been using and selling.

Please consider what we offer. For further information on how to obtain our products, please contact I.L.C. at (800) 243-8645.

Sincerely,
David Miller, President
993 Federal Road, Brookfield, CT 06804 ? Phone: 203-775-1291, Fax: 203-775-8720


This may be coming from my skeptical mind, but I would bet a paycheck on the fact that the relationship between any auto/motorcycle company and virtually any oil/tire/battery/etc. company is 90% business and financial, and about 10% product suitability. Let's face it, there are probably more than a dozen brands out there (each with various suitable products) that would work well with BMW motorcycles.

All one has to do is to follow the money trail. Whatever makes the most profit gets the nod!
 
I looked at a new bottle this weekend...no indication of who is blending their oil. While I'm sure it meets spec, it didn't leave me with a good feeling not really knowing what's in the bottle. More than likely, I will be voting with my money and going to Spectro in the future.
 
I looked at a new bottle this weekend...no indication of who is blending their oil. While I'm sure it meets spec, it didn't leave me with a good feeling not really knowing what's in the bottle. More than likely, I will be voting with my money and going to Spectro in the future.

I think that is is good move. I am sure, because of its more-than-trusted history that it is very worthy of your trust. Spectro has been supplying high-end, quality products for many years!

Personally, I still would like to be able to go to my neighborhood store to purchase a brand name that still works more than adequately. Do 't remember seeing Spectro there!

I don't have any particular brand loyalty, except for my auto, in which, I have used Mobil 1 with Lucas additive from day 1. I also use Lucas' gasoline additive for lube for my injectors. I just tend to like to not be switching brands on any particular vehicle. However, I haven't settled on what to use for my R100.

I also do like Marvel Mystery for some lube applications and Lubriplate for some greases (we tested it where I worked for its lube abilities in ultra cold and ultra hot applications. It stood the test better than anything else that we tested. The Mobil 1 - synthetic grease (red) was the chosen one for production purposes (Lubriplate was probable too expensive to use for everyday production).

Each of us has our favorites!
 
I looked at a new bottle this weekend...no indication of who is blending their oil. While I'm sure it meets spec, it didn't leave me with a good feeling not really knowing what's in the bottle. More than likely, I will be voting with my money and going to Spectro in the future.

Look on the bottom of the bottle, there's a BP logo (Castrol). I just wound up buying a bottle as the Spectro 4 I used to get at cycle gear is now an API SL oil... not sure when that happened...
 
Look on the bottom of the bottle, there's a BP logo (Castrol). I just wound up buying a bottle as the Spectro 4 I used to get at cycle gear is now an API SL oil... not sure when that happened...

I did a search using ask.com, and the BP web site has a "history" of Castrol which, indeed, became part of the BP group in 2000.

Hmmmm?
 
I did a search using ask.com, and the BP web site has a "history" of Castrol which, indeed, became part of the BP group in 2000.

Hmmmm?

I meant the conventional Spectro becoming SL rated. The Golden Spectro blend has been SL rated for awhile, although it appears the sample tested was SG rated, but still didn't match the numbers found in previous testing. Spectro 4 remained SG rated for awhile, and It appears that Spectro 4 may have also been reformulated
 
I meant the conventional Spectro becoming SL rated. The Golden Spectro blend has been SL rated for awhile, although it appears the sample tested was SG rated, but still didn't match the numbers found in previous testing. Spectro 4 remained SG rated for awhile, and It appears that Spectro 4 may have also been reformulated

No problem. I was just commenting on the fact that Castrol is indeed owned by BP.

But this does raise an interesting situation in that many companies market their stuff under a different label.

I wonder just how many real oil refineries there really are in the world - I mean those that can produce high-quality lubricating oil?
 
I wonder just how many real oil refineries there really are in the world - I mean those that can produce high-quality lubricating oil?

I wouldn't think oil refineries are in the business of producing lubricating oil as a final product. Isn't that what oil companies, ie blending companies like Spectro, do? They take all the various stocks and stir in their favorite additives.
 
I wouldn't think oil refineries are in the business of producing lubricating oil as a final product. Isn't that what oil companies, ie blending companies like Spectro, do? They take all the various stocks and stir in their favorite additives.

That's my point exactly. They pretty much all start with only a few variations, and then by their own standards add what they want to make their "brand." Also, each one varies on particular applications. My bet is that the only major source variation is non-synthetic vs synthetic. I think only an extremely large companies can afford their own refineries. The rest purchase from them and produce their own formulas.
 
So, I'm doing an oil change on the recently rebuilt RS and referred back to this oil analysis as a guide for my oil selection options. This was a very informative effort, Kurt. I've referred to these results a couple of times when servicing my bikes over the past year. Speaking as a scientist, there's no substitute for quantitative data. Thank you for your effort and making this available to us!
:beer
 
Back in post #66:

http://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthread.php?63581-Oil-Analysis-Update&p=834622&viewfull=1#post834622

I indicated I bought the book titled "Which Oil?" by Richard Michell. I finally got a chance to go through it. I found it interesting to understand oil development since the early beginnings of cars. He also used vehicles that he owns (old vehicles) to go through a process of determining which oil he would select in those vehicles, based upon recommendations in the owners manuals for those cars (for oil which doesn't exist today) and translate that to an oil that is on the shelf today. Pretty nerdy stuff.

But I read some interesting tidbits that led to "ah ha" moments for me, or provided a point of view that I hadn't considered. These were some of them:

- multi-viscosity oils increased in popularity as a result of the 1973 oil crisis...better oils meant better gas mileage
- lubrication is all about moving two surfaces relative to each other and having the oil keep them apart; this cannot be maintained at two spots during engine rotation, at the top and bottom of the stroke. For a relatively short period of time, there is no movement.
- engine components such tappets and cam followers really require an oil viscosity that is too high for the rest of the oiling system, so compromises have to be made
- these situations are what's called "imperfect lubrication" and this is what ZDDP does, to provide the necessary protection during these periods
- oils contain dispersants which keeps particles in suspension. They also keep soot during combustion from forming large particles, otherwise the particles will get too large and create havoc in the oiling system. Seeing oil turn black is the soot being dispersed.
- for this reason, he recommended that detergent/dispersant oils be used in engines without filter systems, such as the pre 1970 bikes. This way they don't create problems with the bearings by getting too large. The downside is that the particles are too small and won't settle to the bottom of the pan, leading to the need for slinger cleaning.
- use of "active" sulphur in gear oils should be limited when copper is involved in the drivetrain. "Active" means that it is soluble in the oil.
- synthetic oils can be produced all chemically or they can be blended with mineral oil. Chemical synthetics are very shear stable (ie, it retains its viscosity over time) because there are no added viscosity improvers...it comes naturally with the make up of the oil.
- in the 1960s and 1970s, oils had poor shear stability, starting out with good viscosity but it degraded over time. The polymer chains added as viscosity improvers either became aligned in one direction or they were cut into smaller chains from the engine components.
- the idea of using diesel oils in engines seems like a good idea because they contain a goodly amount of ZDDP. However, the formulation of that oil is for a working environment that is much hotter than a gas engine situation. Thus if a diesel oil is used, the effects of the ZDDP might not get released because the temperature is not right.
 
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