Final Drive Oil Quantity

[prwatts]

Hi there,
Please tell me what is the Final Drive Oil Quantity for my 2004 GS?
It was 220ml then 200ml now I hear it is 180ml.

I changed my oil today and 210ml came out so I put in 210ml - should I drain a bit out?

Thanks
Peter

 

[Sgt Bilco]

Peter

The latest from BuMW is to use 180ml however, I shouldn't worry too much.

 

[prwatts]

Thanks Sarge, but what about the risk of 'blown seals' or is it just a case of a bit of weeping of oil that I might see?
Also, I hear the new GS has a breather on the FD? Is that so?

Regards, Peter

 

[G5RJO]

180ml

Buy a big syringe off fleabay. 60ml is pretty common, squirt three tube fulls in, job done.

New 10 model have a breather that seems to be located on the filler hole. It's visible as a black tube adjacent to the rear caliper.

It is NOT a retro fit item.

I'm told that the big bearing in the final drive is now open as opposed to shielded/sealed. The extra frothing needed a breather, that may be bull but that's what I'm told.

Roger.

 

[Sgt Bilco]

Thanks Sarge, but what about the risk of 'blown seals' or is it just a case of a bit of weeping of oil that I might see?
Also, I hear the new GS has a breather on the FD? Is that so?

Regards, Peter

The quantity was reduced to stop the pressure building up and the seals weeping. A lot of seals have been changed when they were perfectly good and just pressurising.

I've see a couple of instances were seals have started to leak due to high temps then stopped a couple of days later with no problem. It's not so much leaking as misting so you aren't losing much.

I believe the newer ones have breathers

 

[Kremmen]

I'm told that the big bearing in the final drive is now open as opposed to shielded/sealed. The extra frothing needed a breather, that may be bull but that's what I'm told.

Interesting...
The earlier crown wheel bearing is sealed on both sides if I'm not mistaken ...so have they fitted a bearing with a single sided seal..... which would be unusual, or have they now installed an additional seal??

 

[G5RJO]

Open!

Was told it was a fully open bearing running in oil. This compares to the previous sealed/shielded bearing. I understood that the previous bearing was not open so it was protected from metal shavings caused by wear on the gears. Assume they are going to rely on the magnet recovery of bits to protect it. Will have to wait and see, only time will tell.

Roger.

 

[drinkingparrot]

I changed mine out a couple of weeks ago, and not knowing what amount of oil to put back in I measured what came out which was nearer to 250ml, I then called Jefferies who informed me that BMW had changed it to 180ml, mines an 04, and so I settled for putting 200ml back in. don.t think blown seals are a problem http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3594943/penguin_blew_a_seal/

 

[(RIP) Arkwright]

Reducing the FD oil quantity to 180ml may not be such a good idea as it reduces the oil available to lubricate the pinion bearing but it does seem to stop RH seal from weeping. It appears there are now instances of some pinion bearings failing.

From now on the dealers will be expected to rebuild 1200 final drives instead of changing the complete unit.

The Twin Cam final drives have crown wheel bearings lubricated by the oil in the the final drive and breathers on the top............so it's all gone full circle back to the way all final drives were up to the 1200, very few of which give any trouble until the have done high mileages. There's obviously something to be said for Airhead design!

cheers,