Oil Change Question

[badgertom]

I use synthetic oil for both the engine and gears. My last gear oil change was in 2014 and last engine oil change in 2015. I have only put on about 600 miles ( after gear oil change in 2014) and (200 miles after engine oil change in 2015). This year I was planning to change the engine oil but NOT the filter. Am I okay with letting the gear oil go another year? Also, can I is it necessary to change the engine oil filter
considering the low mileage? Finally, I have been using the oil filter supplied by my BMW dealer. I can get a little less expensive oil filter
via ebay. They sell a K&N filter for a few dollers less. Are K&N filter
fine for a 1982 R65? Thanks for any advicew.

[Bob_Roller]

I've gone two years on oil , semi-synthetic Spectro oil a few times, due to the low mileage/useage on my R65's .

I'm talking about 500-600  miles in a year .

This is without a filter change .

[D Mann]

The gear lube should be fine. Check out this site for a good source of filters and many other things http://www.euromotoelectrics.com/category-s/137.htm  

[Barry]

I think there is no question you can go another year or more on the gear oil. Ask yourself how often the oil is changed in a car differential which by the way is far more demanding on the oil than an airhead diff.  The only proviso is that you inspect the oil to check it has no water contamination particularly in the gearbox.

With your usage the filter will be fine for two oil changes.


Using synthetic in the engine seems something of an overkill for such a low mileage between changes. I also use it though in both engine and transmission principally because of the much lower viscosity when cold and I'm convinced there is some pay back in MPG due to the reduced oil drag.  

[montmil]

K&N oil filters for Airheads are No Bueno. Another site recently discussing, and cussing, K&N propensity to collapse. Their air filter adverts are little more than snake oil promises. Figure in the price of an engine rebuild and the correct OEM filter looks like very economical insurance.

[Bob_Roller]

There have been some posts on this site, concerning oil filter collapse, some were OEM BMW, some non-OEM .

It seems that the hinged OEM filter is less prone to this happening .

While this has nothing to do with airhead bikes, I thought it may be of interest in regards to OEM filter use .

 A coworker had an '02 R1150R same color as mine, when he sold the bike, he gave me 6 Bosch oil filters, these are the spin on type automotive style filters .

I've always used OEM filters for my vehicles .

I went online and did some research on this filter and found many references of owners of oilhead bikes using this make and model number filter .

I had an oil change coming up on my oilhead, so I bought an OEM filter did the oil change and cut open the used OEM filter I just removed and an unused Bosch filter .

The flitering media was the same area, couldn't tell a difference in quality of the filter paper by visual inspection .

The bypass valve was a rubber covered metal disc in the OEM filter, the Bosch was a very thin plastic disc .

I checked the force to move the bypass valves, the OEM, around 10 pounds of force, the Bosch, less than one pound to fully open it .

No question in my mind that I'm staying with OEM filters, oil and air .

In reference to the Euro Motoelectric site, Mahle and Mann are OEM filter suppliers to BMW .