DIY Servicing

[hammo]

A general question here , what is your opinion on this matter ? because of the cost of a new bike is it beneficial to carry out interim oil/filter changes or just adhere to the bikes service intervals as recommended by the dealers ? also if you carry out interim oil/filter changes yourself does this interfere with your bikes warranty ? 

[David.]

From new on my 2007 Hexhead, I decided to change the oil & filter myself at 3K miles, let the dealers do it as recommended at 6K, then I did it again at 9K and so on. The reason being that, at the time the oil used was 20W-50 mineral oil at around 5 GBP per litre and I didn't know how long I was going to keep the bike. I hand wrote these interim oil & filter changes in the "Confirmation of service" section within the Rider's Manual.

After 6 months and 10K miles, the bike partially seized on both cylinders, there were no issues wth the warranty claim. The reason given by BMW for the failure was problems with pistons, nothing to do with oil & filter changes. Although, the first thing they did was check the quantity of oil drained out of the engine. Whether they would go as far as having the oil specification checked, I don't know.

If you do decide to do an interim oil & filter change yourself, (either at 3K miles or 6 months),  providing that a genuine BMW oil filter and oil of the same viscosity is used, how would BMW know you have done it. Note, some oils when new are different colours, would this be noticeable after a period of use.

On my two Camheads, I haven't followed this regime, the reason being that the oil used was/is 10W-50 fully synthetic and now 15W-50 semi-synthetic which is a greater cost and better quality than the 20W-50 mineral oil used 14 years ago. Plus, my annual mileage has now reduced to around 6K or less and irrespective of the mileage, the oil & filter is changed every year.

If you buy a new bike and possibly see it as your last purchase, then it might be worth considering doing interim oil & filter changes. At the end of the day, it's the only thing which will help to protect and prolong the life of the engine. An example with a car, had a MkII Golf GTI, did interim oil & filter changes every 5K, twice as often as recommended by VW. The car was sold after 17 years and 225K miles not having required any engine work.

[PeteM]

An engineer I used to know used to point out oil is cheaper than engines.

[David.]

I certainly wouldn't pay the BMW prices for oil & filter then throw it down the drain after 6 months or 3K miles.

When my bike is serviced at the BMW dealers, I provide a Hi-Flo oil filter and oil of equivalent spec. to the BMW Advantec stuff.

This has been confirmed as acceptable by both the dealers and insured warranty.

[RC51 Tofuman]

Most of the minor servicing is eeezy
Oil changes
Mount/dismount tires from bike
Brakes

The above can easily be done yourself. Alot of youtube videos and JVB productions put out a nice video on Maintenance along with all the torque specs

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

[bandytales]

A general question here , what is your opinion on this matter ? because of the cost of a new bike is it beneficial to carry out interim oil/filter changes or just adhere to the bikes service intervals as recommended by the dealers ? also if you carry out interim oil/filter changes yourself does this interfere with your bikes warranty ?

https://youtu.be/0exJbyMnGQg
https://youtu.be/c1_1gPRA274
https://youtu.be/x_lHZPbSJ_s
https://youtu.be/sVYpMKdrido
https://youtu.be/1bZJC0Dfb80
https://youtu.be/NNck2liW7xA


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[bicyclenut]

A general question here , what is your opinion on this matter ? because of the cost of a new bike is it beneficial to carry out interim oil/filter changes or just adhere to the bikes service intervals as recommended by the dealers ? also if you carry out interim oil/filter changes yourself does this interfere with your bikes warranty ?

I do oil changes and all maintenance myself, much cheaper and faster that dealer. I generally do oil changes at about 5000 miles or 6 mos, that way I don't go over the 6000 mile recommendation because I am busy or riding a lot. That said, if I had a trip where I would go over mileage before the next oil change, I would go ahead and change the oil early, even if I were at 4000 miles. Prefer not to do on the road or find a dealer during a trip. I have a GS-911 so don't even need dealer for reset of service light. I log all my maintenance on an Excel spreadsheet. If my bike were new and I was concerned about warranty, I would also save receipts from oil, filter and any other materials used for maintenance work as proof work was done. When I have read the BMW Motorrad Warranty fine print it does not state that maintenance is required to be done by a BMW dealer, but it does imply BMW Parts should be used or they may not cover failures due to these, so it may be a good idea to use OEM BMW parts for maintenance during the warranty period. That way BMW couldn't claim egine failure was due to use of a non-OEM oil filter or something like that, even though we know the BMW filter may be a Mahle or some other brand repackaged.

[bandytales]

... is it beneficial to carry out interim oil/filter changes or just adhere to the bikes service intervals as recommended by.

The idea of extra oil changes seems ethically wrong. As many users of modern oils have found when they have sent there oil off to labs for testing after the prescribed manufacturers usage period, the oil is absolutely fit to go on much further with very little shear damage or particulate contamination.
With each oil change you are producing oil disposal issues, recycling costs, plastic waste, use of your hard earned cash etc, etc. Just stick to the manufacturers recommended periodicities and you will be fine - especially here in the UK where we do not get extremes in weather, our riding never really stresses an engine.

[David.]

The crazy thing about oil & filter changes is that BMW say they must be done every 12 months (irrespective of the mileage) or 6K miles whichever comes first.

Looking at my service book, before I owned the bike, it had two previous owners.
This resulted in the oil & filter being changed at intervals of 545 miles (running-in check),  +1,101 miles, +383 miles & +1131 miles.

In my ownership, one oil & filter change was after 6,870 miles. BMW allow up to 7K miles to maintain T&C's of the warranty.

Typically since then, I've covered between approx. 3K to 6K miles per year between oil & filter changes.