1996 R1100R Transmission oil change

[grumpygnome]

So after a 25 min. ride, I have drained the gear oil from both the transmission and the final drive. (new to me old bike, 66 800 on it, so I am slowly getting everything done, motor oil was last week).
My question is, how much of the dirt/ground metal is ok on the plug? You know, it is lightly magnetic, and formed as a shallow bowl with a center sticking out, so it accumulates what comes of the gears?
Mine looked quite bad, pretty much full.

 

[apbehnen]

No idea

I just changed the engine oil, final drive oil and gearbox oil on my 2004 1150 GS. I did not see anything like what you are describing. It may be a good question to ask you local BMW dealership service department.

 

[dieselyoda]

Not knowing the last service on the tranny and rear end, the usual procedure is to note the amount of accumulation. Clean the magnets, refill, check again at the appropriate interval.

In other words, don't worry about it unless you actually have chunks of gear on the magnet.

 

[52184]

So after a 25 min. ride, I have drained the gear oil from both the transmission and the final drive. (new to me old bike, 66 800 on it, so I am slowly getting everything done, motor oil was last week).
My question is, how much of the dirt/ground metal is ok on the plug? You know, it is lightly magnetic, and formed as a shallow bowl with a center sticking out, so it accumulates what comes of the gears?
Mine looked quite bad, pretty much full.

Some collection of “spooge” on the plug is normal. What you really want to watch for is slivers or chips of metal accumulating on the plug. When you drain the old gearlube you want to inspect it, looking for any signs of a bronze-colored sheen on the oil, or bronze-colored particles in the oil. So if you are not finding any of the above, clean the plugs thoroughly and install with fresh crush washers then refill and ride.

Best,
DG

 

[grumpygnome]

Thanks,
I will keep an eye on the plugs.

 

[henzilla]

In other words, don't worry about it unless you actually have chunks of gear on the magnet.

careful, you'll scare the youngins' , but spot on!

copper color stream coming out in lube, shiny silver bits or dreaded CHUNKS. Missing those, go ride!

Good luck on your 1100...we have a '95R

 

[happy wanderer]

careful, you'll scare the youngins' , but spot on!

copper color stream coming out in lube, shiny silver bits or dreaded CHUNKS. Missing those, go ride!

Good luck on your 1100...we have a '95R

By the time you see "Chunks" of metal on your magnetic plug your gearbox is well on it's way to calving. What you should be ignoring is the black fuzzy stuff. I take my magnetic plugs over to the solvent bath and run solvent over them which removes most of the black stuff which is residue and gunk from the oil anyway. Then I look carefull for shiny silver flakes or heaven forbid... bits of actual metal. I've never seen bits of metal yet, but maybe someday. There is always fuzzy black metallic material on the magnet in your gear box when it's been run for the specified distance between oil changes. This is normal wear and tear.

When I do see shiny silver looking metal flakes this tells me that bearings or their races are starting to shed the coating and this means bearing failure is beginning to or already happens. Keep riding it like that and you will be having much worse problems next. Like "chunks of gear on the magnet".

 

[mrmayhem]

What is this bronze-colored sheen on the oil an indication of?

 

[52184]

What is this bronze-colored sheen on the oil an indication of?

Wear on bronze sleeves, bushings, or shift components used in the gearbox. When a transmission starts to go bad the volume of worn-off material present in the oil increases noticeably.

Best,
DG

 

[K7GLE]

Wear on bronze sleeves, bushings, or shift components used in the gearbox. When a transmission starts to go bad the volume of worn-off material present in the oil increases noticeably.

Best,
DG

But since bronze is typically not magnetic (unless it contains a fair amount of nickel) it won't stick to the drain plug & you'd probably only see slivers & chunks if you filtered the drained fluid. I put a scrap of panty-hose over the top of my drain pan.

 

[dieselyoda]

Wear on bronze sleeves, bushings, or shift components used in the gearbox. When a transmission starts to go bad the volume of worn-off material present in the oil increases noticeably.

Best,
DG

Do our transmissions have any bronze/brass? I have had many apart the past few years and I don't recall seeing anything similar in the tranny or the final drive.

 

[gsaddict]

Do our transmissions have any bronze/brass? I have had many apart the past few years and I don't recall seeing anything similar in the tranny or the final drive.

In a word - NO

 

[pglaves]

I have never seen nor looked for a bronze sheen on gear oil from a transmission or final drive. But I do with engine oil.

 

[henzilla]

My limited run in with a bad tranny and/or final drive stories was leaving Big Bend and hearing my bro in laws high mileage 1100R whining in front of me as we pulled into the BP check point line.It wasn't a promising noise.

We drained FD later and had large metal bits and dark lube and the transmission had a lot of parts and a shiny bronze stream exit the drain plug. Whatever it was was a bronze sheen.
Funny now, but not hoping at time trying to make it back to Ft Davis and a truck for the ride home.

Have several Oilheads and routine lube changes have minimum debris on them for years. After seeing that mess on his and knowing it got regular attention just has me in the camp of do your best...but go ride and worry less.

Have had leaking seals and a few bearing failures on other models...so yeah, it does happen.

 

[happy wanderer]

A photo is worth a thousand posts?

We would probably recognize what is being described if we saw a colour photo of it.

Besides, there's so much sunlight down south that the colour of used gearbox oil does look like bronze!!!

 

[179212]

Color

A little bit of moisture might change color to bronze tint, a lot the milky white stuff