Which oil to use

[Wraithwrider]

Oil for running in?

As my Wrock Wred 12 (Wraith) will hopefully be picked up on 22/10 I phoned to book in an oil & Filter change on the Saturday the 23rd. The intention being to bed the rings in on the Friday and get some new oil in before riding from Plymouth to Kendal via mainly A roads (A38, A34, A6, avoiding motorways) on the 'quieter' Sunday.

The dealership (Ocean) don't have any mineral oil, it's all synthetic presumably. They tell me that the bike comes with a 'special' mineral 'running in' oil (now I've heard that before somewhere-Honda VFR). So no oil & filter change was booked.

This above also implies that Ocean put synthetic in at the 600 mile service which just seems tooooo early to me.

This leaves me two options:

Wait until the 600 mile service

Do my own oil change (leave the filter)

I favour the latter but am unsure what oil to use.

Any Bee Emm oil experts out there? (as opposed to loadsa opinions ) who can advise on a suitable mineral oil to replace the 'special' oil with?


__________________
Wraithwrider

 

[Paul Wakefield]

Dealer uses Castrol GP 10w-40 to 12000 miles

Paul

 

[Wraithwrider]

Thanks Paul, sounds good to me. Next question would be how many litres and what's the torque on the sump plug, assuming a standard hex of course?

Any 1200 owners can provide the info?

 

[JayGee]

Oil for running in?

The dealership (Ocean) don't have any mineral oil, it's all synthetic presumably. They tell me that the bike comes with a 'special' mineral 'running in' oil
Wraithwrider

This surprises me as my dealer (Pidcocks) told me the bikes use normal mineral oil for running in and they use Castrol GP up to 12000 miles. Apparently to aid bed-in of the bores and to help minimse oil consumption. All very strange things to think about if you're used to a Honda

Good luck with the aggressive run-in, let us know how the bike responds. I ran mine in almost by the book but didn't worry to much about the 4000 rev limit just didn't let it strain/labour in low gears.
Cheers JG

 

[suarvharv]

Thanks Paul, sounds good to me. Next question would be how many litres and what's the torque on the sump plug, assuming a standard hex of course?

Any 1200 owners can provide the info?

From the CD-ROM, initial torque is 23Nm then tighten to 32Nm. Use a new washer. Capacity is 3.9-4l inc. filter.

My dealer (SLM) changes to Castrol semi-synthetic at 6000m. So much for dealer consistency.

 

[scgross]

oil for running in

I have a R1200gs and a Ducati 998.

Ducati 998:
The Ducati has 23000 miles on it. During the last valve check I noticed no viewable wear on the camshaft or rocker arms. No shimming of the valves has ever been required. The Ducati was serviced with Mobil 1 15W-50 since the first (600mi.) service.

BMW R1200GS:
I changed my oil and filter at 400 miles. I replaced the oil with Mobil 1 15W-50.
I change oil and filter every 3000 miles. I have 6000 miles on the machine now and have not noticed any oil consumption. I have not had to add oil between changes.

I have used this same oil in all my vehicles (Range Rover and Land Rover Defenders) since 1987 with the same results. Porsche uses Mobil 1 as the initial fill on all new vehicles.

-sg

 

[Mouse]

From the CD-ROM, initial torque is 23Nm then tighten to 32Nm. Use a new washer.

Just out of interest, does anyone actually use a new sump plug washer when they change their oil? My current bike has got 50,000 miles on the original washer

 

[gavin]

Looking at the repair CD, it states 20w50 oil, and has a part no, 81229407685, any dealers out there tell me what that is?

 

[Wraithwrider]

Thanks for the information that's a great help. Is the CD-ROM available online by any chance?

SG, there's a large school of thought that says if you put synthetic oil in too early the motor won't bed in properly. i.e. Mobil 1 is too good. This applies especially to those long piston rings on what are large bored bikes.

Did you run your bikes in gently by the book or did you work the rings before the initial service?

In the past I've run all my new bikes in strictly by the book (even working up to the rev limits) with extra oil & filter changes thrown in. I've stuck to mineral oil and more lately (since it's been available) semi-synthetic after initial service until higher mileages when fully synthetic goes in. I've noticed that a lot of US motorcyclists seem to put in Mobil 1 from day 1 presumably in the theory that it's the best so it's got to be good for the motor.

This will be the first time I've departed from the standard run in procedure. A lot of my mates don't run in their bikes at all and they seem to have more go and are just as robust so I'm going for it.

 

[Capsize]

Another vote for the 10w 40 here.

Asked my dealer at delivery, (Wollaston) and was told top up with plain old 10w 40 mineral.

Refreshing change from the 'must have' synthetics - I thought.

 

[crampie]

Another vote for the 10w 40 here.

Asked my dealer at delivery, (Wollaston) and was told top up with plain old 10w 40 mineral.

Refreshing change from the 'must have' synthetics - I thought.

Absolutely right.

10w 40 (Castrol GP) up to 12000. Semi synthetic GPS after that.

 

[David_S]

Sorry to drag this up from the bottom but it just struck me as odd that the dealers (all that I have spoken with) here in the USA recommend BMW brand 20/50 non-synthetic. I guess one needs to decide for themselves what they want to run and then just call around to find the right dealer to back it?

 

[gavin]

Castrol GP 20w50 (mineral), in mine, up to 6k miles, then i'll use semi synth 20w50 or 15w50.