Oil Thread...Do I dare start one?

[stevenrankin]

Teflon Memory

My teflon memory is tickling me in that back when I bought my first BMW airhead, the dealer didn't have or stock such a thing as BMW oil. Only with BMW's move to branding everything similar to Harley, has BMW oil suddenly come into being.

My dealer back then recommended Kendal oil and that is what he used in the shop. Ah the days before BMW became the empire. St.

 

[52184]

My teflon memory is tickling me in that back when I bought my first BMW airhead, the dealer didn't have or stock such a thing as BMW oil. Only with BMW's move to branding everything similar to Harley, has BMW oil suddenly come into being.

My dealer back then recommended Kendal oil and that is what he used in the shop. Ah the days before BMW became the empire. St.

BMW was definitely into oil marketing by the early 90s. We had no dealer in UT so the club was buying BMW oil in drums from an accommodating out of state dealer, and pumping into BYOB for club members. Once we had a dealer again the club stepped out of being middleman for oil.

Best,
DeVern

 

[stevenrankin]

Yes

Of course BMW had branded oil in the 90's, it was the mid 90's they went boutique. In the 70's and 80's I still don't recall a BMW specified oil or BMW branded oil. Specifications then were based on what brands and "weight" of oils along with additives that were available.

Since I don't have a bike newer than my 84 and I have owned it since new without any oil related problems, I guess the oil I have been using works just fine.

I have never used BMW branded oil.

Use the best oil with the best additive package you can buy for a fair price, keep it changed regularly, and you won't have any problems.

Most of the problems I see come into my friend's shop related to oil have more to do with owners not changing the oil or improper storage for long term not because of low cost oil. St.

 

[lkchris]

BMW buys oil from various refiner/blenders and puts their name on it. For a long time Spectro was making it. Not sure who has the task now. You can be sure BMW goes with the lowest cost that maintains specification. A better deal from another refiner/blender will see them switch as they have in the past.

I'm sorry, but this is incorrect. More to the point, obsolete.

BMW Motorcycle oil is no longer a product of BMW USA.

Advantec is a trade mark owned by or licensed from Shell. The current oil will be made in Germany by Shell, just as are the 10W-40 oil for wet clutch bikes and the 15W-50 for Oilheads and the like.

BMW’s ADVANTEC from Shell

Shell has been chosen by BMW AG as its only recommended global supplier for factory-fill and aftermarket engine oils for BMW Motorrad. From the start of 2015, Shell will produce and supply BMW’s branded engine oils available to customers at BMW Group’s network of more than 3,500 dealers, in more than 140 countries. These products will meet the latest BMW engine specifications and are underpinned by Shell’s PurePlus Technology.

https://www.shell.com/motorist/oils-lubricants/advance-for-motorcycles.html

 

[oldcamper]

i do feel a little sorry for the owners who used BMW’s expensive “recommended” oil and still had problems with camshaft and follower wear. Lots of other motor enthusiasts have suffered similar using oil that was no longer up to the task after ZDDP was restricted over catalytic converter concerns.

 

[RadioFlyer]

I very much doubt that the camshaft problems had anything to do with the oil used.

Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk

 

[stevenrankin]

As I said

I'm sorry, but this is incorrect. More to the point, obsolete.

BMW Motorcycle oil is no longer a product of BMW USA.

Advantec is a trade mark owned by or licensed from Shell. The current oil will be made in Germany by Shell, just as are the 10W-40 oil for wet clutch bikes and the 15W-50 for Oilheads and the like.


Like I said, BMW does not make the oil, they have it blended and branded. So Yes, Shell is the current supplier, no big news as Shell is the owner of a bunch of different brand names of oil I do believe for example Kendal is one of them.

I may have been mistaken Specro made the oil for BMW, who knows? Someone else made BMW oil before this deal was put into place or, maybe Shell made BMW oil from the start. For all I know Spectro maybe an offshoot of Shell? Shell bought a lot of refineries in the US and world, along with a lot of brand names. This would track along with about all the other industries of the world small companies get bought up by bigger ones.

BMW makes the deal according to what they want, for a good price for them, that will do the job and can be sold for the most profit.

I still believe BMW oil didn't exist until (and again, I don't remember the exact dates) perhaps the mid or early 90's when BMW decided they could make big money copying Harley and putting their name on every thing and make more money.

I really don't care who makes BMW oil now, I don't care what oil is recommended to work in R bikes newer than 1995. When I bought my bikes, there was no BMW oil on the shelf at my dealership, there was at the time, no discussion about using BMW oil it didn't exist.

What worked back then still works and maybe a synthetic oil might even work better?

Not a concern for me, I am not going to spend the money on synthetic oil when the non works. Nor will I pay extra for a product because it is branded BMW. Unless someone proves to me using either will increase my gas mileage 25% or warrenty my major engine overhaul will be after 400K miles I will continue to keep using the oils I have been using.

I am at 234K now on one bike and still running all original engine parts with the exception of jugs, pistons, valves, and seals. (as for the jugs and pistons don't get me started on my feelings about Nikasal. The valves were BMW's fault with the recession problems)

Not a bad deal for using moderately priced good oil and changing it regularly. St.

 

[20774]

For most of the life of my /7, I used Quaker State racing oil. Then at some point, I felt using BMW's branded oil would be best. It wasn't made by BMW but read on the bottle that it was made by Spectro. At some point, BMW changed suppliers for their oil...I think it was Castrol or maybe BP. When I found that out, I went more or less direct to Spectro which is what I've been using for the last 4-5 years.

 

[stevenrankin]

Thanks Kurt

Thanks Kurt, I thought BMW oil was at one time made by Spectro.

It is amazing now how many oil brands are owned by larger companies who do the refining and blending. With crude oil supplies dwindling, it has to happen I suppose. Like I said, Kendal for example with it's share of the market just could not survive on what PA crude is being pumped. So, it got bought out by Shell and still survives.

Brad Penn company, in Bradford PA, comes along and buys the Kendal refinery (thankfully for the workers and small crude producers) and manages to make a profit compatible with their market share. This was lucky for a few of my friends who still make a small living out of pumping PA crude as they have a place to take the oil without transporting it longer distance.

Just a bit of trivia, when Kendal was talking about closing the Bradford refinery, the story circulating at the time regarding clean up at the refinery site was that by the time the site was "properly" cleaned up, there would be a nice new lake 20 foot deep at the site. That is how deep the contamination goes into the onsite soil.

Harking back to my earlier post about PA crude making the best lubrication oil makes me wonder now just how good the crude based oils we buy are now compared to then? LOL, I won't loose any sleep if they are not as good, they are doing a good job as is. I would love to see the blend formula for a quart of Kendal 20W 50 motorcycle oil now versus 40 years ago. I bet good money the two are not the same.

Synthetic oil is the way to go, the future and I use it in my cars, I have to, that is what is specified. No, I don't buy BMW oil nor have my oil changes done on my 2011 BMW convertible, my local garage does that at half the cost. So far, it is running just fine at a mileage when most BMW owners would have traded it in for a newer model.

Hum, does anyone get the impression I am not a big fan of the modern, boutique BMW? St.

 

[20774]

I tested a Brad Penn oil in my testing in 2013. Sort of in the middle of the pack with OK ZDDP numbers. It was 20w50 oil bottled for use in motorcycles. Not nearly as good as BMW (which was Spectro at the time) and Spectro.

 

[stevenrankin]

Oil testing

Kurt, I bow to the results of oil testing over market hype any day.

Brad Penn keeping the refinery in Bradford open kept a few of my family and friends employed to retirement age. I am happy they produce a good product for a fair price, maybe not the best but certainly not the worst.

I thought about using it in my bikes but it is difficult to find in proper blend for airheads. Spectro is easy, the distributor shows up at the BB, drops off a dozen cases and I pick up a case from time to time as needed without going out of my way. I also get a good customer discount. St.

 

[Rick del Monte]

I bought my first airhead a few months ago ('93 R100GSPD) and the previous owner was running Maxima 20W-50 Blend. After a couple of days parked I was getting about a 3" diameter puddle of oil under the bike, most of it coming from the pushrod seals. When I changed all the fluids I put in Lubro Moly Conventional 20W-50 oil. Now my oil seepage is down to 2-3 drops a week. I would not have expected such a dramatic difference. Anyone else see something like this when changing to conventional oil?

 

[20774]

Seepage could happen. It used to be a common thing early on. The issue was that the newer synthetic oil didn't have the requisite seal-sweller additive. But I thought that it was more or less corrected across the board. Maybe not!

 

[stevenrankin]

seal seepage

I recall when synthetic oil first came on the market there were problems with seals seeping and leaking. What ever they did at the blenders was done quick and the problems dried up within a couple of years. St.