On my first service I totally forgot to ask the dealer which kind/brand of engine oil they put. When I got back home I saw on the invoice that it is BMW High Power 15W-40. I can't find anything on the net about this oil. Does anyone know what kind of oil it is?
I searched google and found part number 81*22*9*407*414 for that oil BMW High Power Oil. SAE 15W-40. Multigrade HD engine oil for BMW petrol and diesel engines. Acea: A3/B3; api: sj/cf * It's a mineral oil
Yup, that's the part number on my invoice. So, Multigrade HD engine oil for BMW petrol and diesel engines, is this OK for the F8GS? Never used mineral oil and I don't know whether there is a difference between mineral for motorcycles and mineral for cars. ------- Bergen, very nice city. Been there twice and I liked it very much. Suppose you carry your rain gear on the key-chain with all that rain .
oil for diesel and petrol engines is not for motorcycle!!!!!!!!!!!! motorcycle have wet clutch and transmission and all this lubricate for the oil and oil must have specification for motorcycle!!! not for car!!!!
Hopefully without starting a holy-war about oil, you can (in theory) use any oil in a wet clutch engine which does not have "Energy Conserving" in the circular stamp on the back of the container.
There are a few special problem areas for motorcycle oil. Most motorcycles have wet clutches, which means the motor oil runs through the clutch. If the motor oil has too much molybdenum in it, there are fears that the clutch can start slipping. No one I know has ever actually had this happen to them, but the warnings are all over your owners' manual and the oil companies' web pages. On the back of all certified oil cans is a circular stamp with the certification. Avoid oils that say "energy conserving" in the bottom half of the donut. These oils contain friction modifier additives that could cause clutch slipping over time. Essentially all 0w-20, 5w-30 and 10w-30 oils are energy conserving, and should not be used in your motorcycle. Most motorcycles run the engine oil through the transmission, and the transmission gears are very hard on the oil's VII package. This means that over a couple thousand miles, the oil's viscosity can break down. Standard car oils are only good for typically 1500 miles before they've lost about half of their viscosity. Remember, 10w-40 oils contain a lot of VIIs which tend to shear in your transmission, so I believe 10w-40 oils should be avoided. You can't use 10w-30 because of the friction modifiers. This doesn't leave much. Commercial 15w-40 oils are a good choice, because they have relatively few VIIs which are the more expensive shear-stable sort. Synthetics typically don't contain much of a VII package, so shear is not as big an issue with them.
Also keep in mind most motorcycle oils are formulated for wet stators. Some automotive oils can have additives that are not good for the windings.
Seen it happen about a month ago. My friend thought his clutch was gone until we found he was putting motor oil in. So it dose happen.
OK, be prepared for this. I asked the dealer to check whether it's a mistake or they actually put that oil. His answer was that there is no mistake and that is the oil which BMW recommends for my motorcycle. He showed me their internal BMW software in which by entering my VIN the software returned that the motorcycle is a K72 model (F650GS, F800GS) F800GS (0219, 0229) and also listed all parts. Under lubricants section, there it was, Motor Oil High Power SAE 15W-40, part number 81 22 9 407 414. What to say on that. This reminded me on one title in the Haynes manual: "BMW - They did it their way" So there you go, let the holy-war about oil continue. BTW this is the oil which is also listed in http://www.maxbmwmotorcycles.com parts catalogue
Please check this: http://www.maxbmwmotorcycles.com/fiche/PartsDetails.aspx?source=catalog&vid=51598&diagram=ST_FLUIDS its show only bmw oils for motocycles and recomment for k72 models did not show the 81229407414 any way i use on my bike only oil for motorcycles not for car!
Strange thing how BMW applies different standards in different regions, at least for the engine oil. I must say that using this type of oil is unusual practice. I bought my bike from one country and did the first service in a different country. The dealer where I did the first service sent me the print screen of their sw for oil recommendation. Then I asked the dealer from the country where I bought the bike and they also stated that BMW recommends Motor Oil High Power SAE 15W-40 part number 81 22 9 407 414. They assured me that this is the right oil for the bike with given VIN number.
The last I checked BMW did not own an oil well or a oil refinery. It is re badged something else. Synthetic oil available for cars and motorcycles is still oil based, just more refined with some different additives. May be different for your jet. It used to be easy to find an auto oil that would work in your motorcycle. That has changed in the last 15 years to increase mileage and reduce some pollutants. The energy efficient oils are not compatible with wet clutches and some breakdown easily in the transmission. There are still some out there. Diesels used to be a good source, but even they are being effected by the efforts to control emissions. Low sulfur diesel is an example. 15-40 oil apparently is the oil of choice for reasons that I got too bored to read. Motorcycle specific oil is available in most cheap auto supply houses now. Easier to just buy it than do the research on appropriate auto oil. Everything you would ever want to know about oil: http://motorcycleinfo.calsci.com/Oils1.html
For those who did the RTW trip, was it hard to find motorcycle specific oils in third world countries?
More and more BMW dealers around here in southern Germany now recommend 15 W 50 beside the 10 W 40 for the F800GS.
I guarantee you can find motorcycle specific oil damn near anywhere in the world, today. BMW oil here is Castrol rebadged and with a huge increase in price. You can get Castrol 20w-50 bike oil in almost every town in Mexico. Same product but without the BMW fancy bottle and logo. Interesting the German mechanics are recommending the 15w-50 oil for the F8 type bikes.
The dealers may recommend it but that's not what's in the manual. Imagine all those engineers at BMW who aren't bright enough to realize they should run 15W50 instead of 10W40 (>-4degF) or 15W40 (>14degF). Of course the dealers have much better access to design information and the hundreds of thousands of hours of test bench data, including the network of field reports. Yes that's sarcasm. Just run what the manual tells you and all will be well. BTW, there's a nice Castrol logo in the F800GS manual with "BMW recommends" next to it.
