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Maintenance after the warranty expires

wbrownell9

New member
Who keeps to the 6,000 mile maintenance intervals after the warranty is gone? After 20 months I am just shy of 79,000 miles and am thinking of going to 10,000 mile intervals. I use synthetic oil and the valves have yet to need adjusting. Obviously most of my riding is long days but there have been a number of days when I only rode 15-20 miles, still plenty of time to get it properly warmed up. I've never sent my oil in for analysis. I'm thinking that each time would be change engine and bevel gear oil, and check air filter and valves. Basically a 12K service (without the new plugs) every 10K, and skip the engine oil change in the middle. Replace the plugs every 20K (BMW says every 12 but cars seem to last forever these days).

Thoughts?
 
I plan to follow the factory-recommened maintenance schedule on my GSA when the warranty is up, just like I did with my RT, that I had for 9 ½ years. I just assume the folk who made it know better than I.
 
I plan to follow the factory-recommened maintenance schedule on my GSA when the warranty is up, just like I did with my RT, that I had for 9 ½ years. I just assume the folk who made it know better than I.


Rare is it to meet a high mileage BMW owner who has followed the factory maintenance schedule, to the letter, and subsequently had significant mechanical issues.
 
I actually change oil & filter more frequently since it is so cheap to do myself. But I stick to the manufacturer schedule for everything else. For me it is just cheap insurance. But then I am a bit OCD .... OK a LOT OCD.
 
When I bought my K75 in 1986 the maintenance schedule was a minor service at 5,000 miles, and a major service at 10,000 miles. But note: at the same time in metric countries it was a minor service at 10,000 kilometers and a major seervice at 20,000 kilometers. These metric specifications work out to about 6,200 and 12,400 miles. So some litigious/argumentative American patriot took BMW to task about cheating him with too frequent service. Thus we arrive at 6,000 and 12,000 service intervals in the U.S.

On our fleet I tend to stick to the 5,000 and 10,000 intervals purely for my own convenience: a glance at an odometer and it is obvious when the 5K and 10K intervals are arriving.

If I am on a trip I don't sweat anything routine except balding tires and a possible oil change if it will be anything substantially over the current 6K specification.
 
Who keeps to the 6,000 mile maintenance intervals after the warranty is gone? After 20 months I am just shy of 79,000 miles and am thinking of going to 10,000 mile intervals. I use synthetic oil and the valves have yet to need adjusting. Obviously most of my riding is long days but there have been a number of days when I only rode 15-20 miles, still plenty of time to get it properly warmed up. I've never sent my oil in for analysis. I'm thinking that each time would be change engine and bevel gear oil, and check air filter and valves. Basically a 12K service (without the new plugs) every 10K, and skip the engine oil change in the middle. Replace the plugs every 20K (BMW says every 12 but cars seem to last forever these days).

Thoughts?

I have 87,300 on my 14RT which I bought in November 2014 and have always had my dealer do the 12,000 mile maintenance I change the oil and filter myself at the 6,000 mile mark instead of wasting a day at the dealer unless I happen to be traveling ,then I'll take it to a local BMW shop . I had my 04RT for five years and always had my dealer service it per BMW recommendations that's probably why I received $4,500 trade in with 108,000 on the odometer. I'm a firm believer in supporting my dealer , if he didn't exist I wouldn't have a Beemer.
 
Personally I will continue on the laid out and prescribed maintenance schedule and procedure.

Why would you deviate?

First if you are changing oil before 6000 miles you are wasting resources, money, and time.

I use Liqui Moly and it is 56.00 to the door for 4 Liters. I use a K&N oil filter for about 8 bucks, so 64.00 bucks every 6K is ok with me. So even on a fixed income I live with it and have no worries I am not taking care of my bike.

My last UOA showed to extend my drain interval if I wished to 7000 miles.

Unless you do a UOA you have no clue how you motor or oil is performing.

Do what ever you like but in this day and age of true Synthetic Oils both POA and Ester based you can extend the changes but you should spend the 25 bucks to see how your oil is wearing before blindly changing oil at your own random chosen mileage. You get two UOA on the oil of your choice it will give you the guideline to change your oil.

Again changing early is truly a waste of money and resources but as I always say, your bike do as you like, I am not paying the bills.

Oil change and filter (Castrol Full Synthetic and BMW Filter) costs me about $40 for the RTW and even less for my 2012 GSA where I use non-synthetic. I change about every 3000 miles. With 2 bikes in my garage that has historically been about 1-2 oil changes per year. But now that I am retired that should increase. Like I said for me that is cheap insurance and I enjoy doing it.
 
Not going to debate oils with you but your Castrol Full Synthetic is not a full synthetic as adhered to the standard of PAO or Ester based oils.

Castrol is Group III, PAO is Group IV and Ester is Group V.

Your cost should be your first clue.

You are not buying a true Synthetic PAO or Ester for 6 or 7 dollars a quart.

Again not an oil debate in this thread but you need to be informed and do some research into oil groups to better understand oil.

Winning a lawsuit to use a name or slogan on your oil does not make it synthetic. Castrol is still dino juice. Group IV or V have no dino juice in them at all.

You are correct I am not going to debate you on the science behind Castrol or any other oil. (although the courts did rule in Castrol's favor when Mobil sued them) I do know that cost does not equate to a better or lesser oil. What I do know is that Castrol 4T Full Synthetic meets all the BMW manufacturer requirements and is less expensive than the BMW Advantec Oil by about 50% and is sold at BMW Dealers alongside the Adventic Oil. I do know that I have used Castrol oil in all my vehicles for years with excellent results.

In addition since I have had excellent success using "dino juice" my recent move to the Castrol "labeled" synthetic should only be a step up while still saving about 50% over the BMW Adventec.

I also found this interesting .... Castrol 4T Syntetic picked #2

https://bestsyntheticoilguide.com/synthetic/motorcycle-oil-review/
 
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On our fleet I tend to stick to the 5,000 and 10,000 intervals purely for my own convenience: a glance at an odometer and it is obvious when the 5K and 10K intervals are arriving.

^This^ I used to keep a PMS blackboard in the shop with ODO for next service on each bike, but this is substantially easier on the aging brain and errs on the conservative side. With my camhead and brick, the valve checks are done at the 10K and with the airhead they are done at the 5K. Otherwise, same-o.
 
Like squirrels gathering nuts, the re-emergence of oil threads reliably signals the coming of winter. I wonder if an early start means a longer or more severe winter?

Still-packing-for-winter.jpg
 
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Like squirrels gathering nuts, the re-emergence of oil threads reliably signals the coming of winter? I wonder if an early start means a longer or more severe winter?

View attachment 64529

Thanks for the laugh! I suspect it depends on the type and quality of the nut that squirrel has in his mouth which will directly impact the quality of the nut and its individual longevity. If he is storing a nut known to have a longer shelf life then the research probably assumes a longer winter. But in any case a nut is a nut and as long as he is storing them he will be fine over the long haul!
 
Thanks for the laugh! I suspect it depends on the type and quality of the nut that squirrel has in his mouth which will directly impact the quality of the nut and its individual longevity. If he is storing a nut known to have a longer shelf life then the research probably assumes a longer winter. But in any case a nut is a nut and as long as he is storing them he will be fine over the long haul!

I think in the case of an oil thread, the thread is the squirrel which is collecting the nuts.
 
New oil is better than old oil.
Specified oil is better than other oil.
Some oil is better than no oil.
 
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