Clutch/Engine Oil Question

[klennop]

Sorry about the oil question and I am not sure if this was brought up in the past. However I want to get some knowledge from the people on this board.

I was talking to the master tech at the local BMW shop and he had mentioned that since our oilhead bikes have dry clutches we can actually run "auto" oil in our bikes as long as it is the correct weight. He had said that "motorcycle" oils have additives in them to work with the clutches but since our dry clutch doesn't use the motors oil we are fine with "automotive" oils. I was always under the impression that I had to use "motorcycle" oil but I was kind of thrown off guard by what the mater tech had said.

I want to start doing my own oil changes on my 04 R1100S and also on my fathers 04 R1150RT so I think this is an important question that I needed to ask.

I posted this same question on another forum that I frequent but I wanted to see what other Oilhead owners have to say.

This was one article someone had posted but it is also from 14 years ago.
http://www.xs11.com/stories/mcnoil94.htm

Thanks for any info and sorry for bringing up another oil post.

Keith

[klennop]

This was posted on the other forum:

...the reason Motorcycle oils have additives, is because the tranny/clutch were mostly in the same case and the oil was shared with the engine in most cases of motorcycles... there are a few manufacturers who decided to separate engine and tranny (HD and BMW, to name a couple of prominent ones) and in those bikes you can run regular Car oils...

Mobil1 is an excellent oil and so are many others... if you want peace of mind, just have your oil analyzed every now and then!

[MCMXCIVRS]

With wet clutches, its not so much the additive the MC oils have so much as the ones they don't have. Some of the newer friction reducing automotive oils cantain additives that do just that to your clutch, reduce the friction. For the boxers with the dry clutch, this is not a concern. I used to run Mobil 1, but have now switched to Amsoil 20-50 MC specific oil. I also have two other bikes that do have wet clutches, and I can run this same oil in all of them.

[jingdog]

Not only can you use "automotive" oil in your BMW with a dry clutch, you can use it in your motorcycle with a wet clutch also. Its only recently that this "motorcycle specific" oil has become availible. We certainly didnt have it in 1969. There was no such oil then and everything was fine with wet clutch motorcycles. How do the "experts" explain that? Huh?

[GSAddict]

Any oil that is API SG rated or older is acceptable. ( provided correct weight is chosen)
API SJ or newer is not acceptable. API rating seems to be the difference between so called motorcycle oil and car oil
Newer oils contain less friction modifiers in order that newer cat converters last the minimum 100,000 miles in cars (government std.)


See this link to BMW bulletin. http://www.gunsmoke.com/motorcycling/reviews/sj_oil/index.html

And if you really want more details the read this oil report http://www.ibmwr.org/otech/oilreport.html

Sorry to open a can of worms here :stick

[GSAddict]

Not only can you use "automotive" oil in your BMW with a dry clutch, you can use it in your motorcycle with a wet clutch also. Its only recently that this "motorcycle specific" oil has become availible. We certainly didnt have it in 1969. There was no such oil then and everything was fine with wet clutch motorcycles. How do the "experts" explain that? Huh?

In 1969 there were no catalytic converters. Now oil mfgrs. use less friction modifiers ( zinc, magnesium, calcium ) in newer oils to meet Catalytic Converter Longetivity requirements. Those chemicals shorten the life of Cat's.
That started the separation of car oil and motorcycle oil - see my other reply for links and oil info.
I don't profess to be an expert by any means but from what I have read so far it seems to make sense.

[klennop]

Heck here is the link to the other post so you can see what others are saying. Sorry for opening the can of worms with this one but I think it is a very logical question.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?t=408754

[BeemerMike]

The higher viscosity new "automobile" oils (i.e., Mobil 1 15w-50 and 15w-50 EP) are not the specified oils for the newer cars, and so they do not need to meet the lower zinc-phosphorus specs for the current API certifications to protect the automobile catalytic converters. As a result, these Mobil 1 automobile oils have higher ZDDP contents than the lower viscosity oils, and are more in the range of the earlier auto and motorcycle oils. If no wet clutch, then obviously no need to worry about them being "too slick" for the clutch plates.

[HFD190]

Why not just follow the recommendations in your owner’s manual? Normal engine oil with proper API classifications…

[klennop]

Why not just follow the recommendations in your owner’s manual? Normal engine oil with proper API classifications…

Why do some people run "motorcycle" oil in motorcycles when/where it isn't needed?

In some motorcycle manuals I know it states the correct API to use but not specifically "motorcycle" oil which has screwed up some peoples clutches, motors, etc.

This is why I had asked if it was OK to run "automobile" oil in my year of oilhead. Kind of a double check to see what others are doing.

[kgadley01]

any good oil with the correct vilosity(sp) is fine. I used to run Mobil 1 with no problems. I now use AMsOIL. if AMsOIL ever gets too expensive... I will return to Mobil 1.

[ArthurKnowles]

People put whatever oil in their car/motorcycle that they believe will do something special (even if that means just work fine). I personally like synthetics. Synthetics have a higher burn off point. Smaller/more uniform molecules/oil dropplets/whatever you want to call them and usually produce less byproducts.

Since I have BMW motorcyles I use BMW products as the manufacturer recommends it. It's that simple for me. Cost is not a concern for me since an oil change lasts a minimum of one year and I'm going to change the oil at one year intervals even if the miles fall below the recommended schedule.

But use whatever makes you happy. If you are concerned about when to change, use Blackstone Labs to test your oil. I'm going to do so shortly to have my older RT checked out FD/Transmission/Engine and get an idea of the wear and tear on it more than anything about when to change my oil.