20w50

[Tooth]

I am a noob.....please forgive my ignorance

I went to my dealer and bought and oil filter and they sold the thing in a "package".....it was of course BMW oil (4 qts) and filter.....
Today I go to change the oil and I am suprised to fine that the oil included was 20W50.....going back to manual and checking recommendations I see no where, that this viscosity would be recommended.

I am I missing something other than my money and helping them clean out their back stock?

[engel]

[cug]

It was used for a while (don't know how long), but now it's 10W40 that's recommended in most areas. And I certainly recommend it when temperatures get towards freezing.

[marc]

The 10W-40 recommendation for the camheads is partly marketing. If you read the recommendation closely you'll see that:

>= -20ºC "Castrol GPS SAE 10W40". Please note that this is a plug for Castrol. There are OTHER weights recommended for the same >= -20º C and other 10W-40 (meaning non Castol GPS) is only rated at >= -10º C.

Here's the page from the '10 GS manual.



But yeah, it looks like they want an oil lighter than 20W for cold use.

[engel]

Originally Posted by marc

But yeah, it looks like they want an oil lighter than 20W for cold use.

+1

15-50 synthetic oil or 20-50 mineral IMHO for normal use

[Schtum]

UK dealerships now use Castrol Power 1 Racing 4T 10W-50 as per BMW Motorrad's recommendations.

The Castrol tie-up isn't just about marketing. Castrol performs a huge amount of research on how their oils perform in BMW motorcycles. Motorcycles are run on the Castrol dyno, sometimes to the point of component failure, in order to ensure that the oil formulations provide the best possibe protection.

http://www.bmw-motorrad.co.uk/media/...66_low_res.pdf

[Wiley]

Most definitely be sure to use castrol greentec special Bike cleaner