oil change frequency

[crackles2005]

Hi All,
A daft question perhaps.
My BMW 320diesel needs an oil change every 18,000miles or so.
My 1150GS every 6000miles.
Why is this? My old zx9 was every 3000miles, according to Kawasaki this was cos the gearbox/engine oil was combined, so a compromise in oil performance was required (hence short life). As the GS has a seperate gearbox, presumably the engine oil is the same as car oil?
Can I leave my GS for 18,000 miles between oil services then ?
Why is the oil life so short in a bike with seperate gearbox
Cheers,
Crackles

 

[cookie]

temperature regulation is not as stable on the GS as your car.

not the whole answer, but a part.

 

[ELIMINATOR]

Your car is probably synthetic oil. BMW Mottorad have the balls of a new born gazelle.

 

[pomm001]

Hi All,
A daft question perhaps.
My BMW 320diesel needs an oil change every 18,000miles or so.
My 1150GS every 6000miles.
Why is this? My old zx9 was every 3000miles, according to Kawasaki this was cos the gearbox/engine oil was combined, so a compromise in oil performance was required (hence short life). As the GS has a seperate gearbox, presumably the engine oil is the same as car oil?
Can I leave my GS for 18,000 miles between oil services then ?
Why is the oil life so short in a bike with seperate gearbox
Cheers,
Crackles

ERr,no
I follow the logic but motorcycles are seen as 'recreational vehicles' and not so sensitive to servicing costs unlike cars,
Lots of R&D have been done on the cars to way up duty cycle and servicing frequency to lower the 'cost of ownership'
This has not been done with bikes, as its too expensive to carry out , so regular 60000 mile oil changes rule.
Oil doesnt cost that much, and it will never do any harn to change oil more regulaly that realy needed,

 

[Bigtwin]

I always use 94.2mhz on the modulatinng waveband. Worked so far.

 

[notlostyet]

is that 60000?

 

[jimbo]

I suspect there are a lot of factors affecting this, here's a few:
- Car engines are generally build to rev lower than bike engines
- car engines probably have more accurate fueling, so less unburn combustion nastys end up in the oil.
- Car engines are generally more robust, and have large bearing surfaces, so are more tolerant
- car motors are less bhp focused, so might have a relatively bigger capacity oil pump
- there is evidence that car manufacturer over stretch the duration between oil changes so that the fleet owners who calculate life time cost with services get a cheaper answer.
- Cars can have much large oil capacities, twice as much oil, twice the time between services (probably simplistic, but you see the point).
- Yes, gears do 'tear' oil and reduce life significantly (although not in a GS)
- As suggested I suspect that fully synthetic oil, will allow oil change interval to be stretched, particularly if you do a lot of long distance motorway riding. BMW car dealers will insist on synthetic, I don't think the bike dealer even use it.

One my my university topic was tribology, which is the study of cantacting surfaces and lubrication. It was horribly complex and I didn't understand half of it.

 

[Speedy]

The GS is oil-cooled (the car is water-cooled) so the oil is working much harder and needs to be changed more often

 

[Steptoe]

When fully synth oil first appeared, the oil company boast was "you can use it for 30K miles between changes"

Then they realised how much sales would drop . So a change of advertising tact was employed.

 

[sniper]

Hi All,
A daft question perhaps.
My BMW 320diesel needs an oil change every 18,000miles or so.
My 1150GS every 6000miles.
Why is this? My old zx9 was every 3000miles, according to Kawasaki this was cos the gearbox/engine oil was combined, so a compromise in oil performance was required (hence short life). As the GS has a seperate gearbox, presumably the engine oil is the same as car oil?
Can I leave my GS for 18,000 miles between oil services then ?
Why is the oil life so short in a bike with seperate gearbox
Cheers,
Crackles

A gs only needs a basic oil and if you do it youeself a oil/filter change will cost less then a tank of fuel. How many miles do you do a year on your gs ?, it takes most riders several years to do 18,000 miles. I change mine three times a year and only do about 9,000 miles a year.