Oil Change Frequency

[SeaMarshal]

How often do most of you fellow riders really change your oil? I did the first at 1000 miles and now have 5100 miles. I know some say every 3000, and the dealer say's to change it at 6000 and 12000.

Just want to treat my bike well.

Tim

[dshealey]

How often do most of you fellow riders really change your oil? I did the first at 1000 miles and now have 5100 miles. I know some say every 3000, and the dealer say's to change it at 6000 and 12000.

Just want to treat my bike well.

Tim

If you have time and money to waste, and don't mind adding to the environmental problems we have, and feel you know better than BMW (who is VERY conservative) change it every 3000 miles.

If you feel the engineers at BMW possibly know more than you do, and do not want to contribute to the problems of way too much used oil that has to be (hopefully) recycled, then change it at the recommended interval, or annually if you do not ride much. Switch to synthetic at some mileage on the bike (hotly debated, most say 18,000 miles, others disagree) then 6000 miles is certainly no problem at all. Some run synthetic even longer.

Don't worry when the oil looks black. That is not a sign that it is bad. As long as the additives are not cooked out, and fuel/moisture condensation in the oil is not a problem (only happens if you ride a lot of short trips and don't get the oil hot for long enough to boil them out), then don't worry about it.

Of course, this is just MY opinion! :D There are and will be many more to choose from, so in the end what you hear here in total ends up being your decision anyway.

[strsout]

Normally I do avery 3K to 4K miles.
If I need (like in a trip), I will go up to 6.000 miles, but not more than that.

[rdtebeau]

I change my oil every 6000 miles. I have over 99k on the clock and I have been using synthetic since 12k.

[meese]

There are as many answers as people here, so ultimately it's up to your own comfort level. We've had one LT go over 300K miles using synthetic changed at every 12K. And we've had many LTs go well over 100K with similar change frequencies.

I'm good with synthetic changed every 10K, mostly because it's easy to remember. But I'm not stuck on that exact frequency. If I have a long trip planned, I'll adjust before or after to make it easier. That gives me about three changes per year. I tend to go through tires faster than that.

Oh, and if I owned a company that does nothing but oil changes for the mechanically-challenged public, I'd also put up hundreds of huge billboards claiming that you have to change your oil every 3K miles or your car will suddenly implode. Fear and exploitation of the unknown is a very powerful and profitable motivator.

[strsout]

David and Ken,
Not whant to start another oil trhead, just try to convince my self to change oil less offten.
I use to change oil every 6K miles, back on my old 1999 and nothing happens to that engine until today.
Well, I remmember reading here few people agree that changing every 3K miles would improve the life of the engine and that BMW says to change every 6K just for marketing purposes and that any engine would fail under warranty if yo ustill change oil every 6K, but eventually if will fail at some magicly number around 60 to 80K.
It was posted years ago, if I'm not mistake, on the old Yahoo forum. I keept that info and since then I have been changing every 3K (and using syntec after 18K)
So, is there any new concensus that we can go for 6K (Ken is going for 10K) w/o too much worries?

[nswenson]

There are as many answers as people here, so ultimately it's up to your own comfort level. We've had one LT go over 300K miles using synthetic changed at every 12K. And we've had many LTs go well over 100K with similar change frequencies.


The guy that had over 300K on his bike changed oil every 15,000 miles and used synthetic oil. I run synthetic and change oil every 12k (at the 12K service).

Nathan

[dshealey]

Well, I remmember reading here few people agree that changing every 3K miles would improve the life of the engine
Sure, some people say that, but it is totally unfounded, with no facts to back it up.
and that BMW says to change every 6K just for marketing purposes and that any engine would fail under warranty if yo ustill change oil every 6K, but eventually if will fail at some magicly number around 60 to 80K.
Don't know where you heard that! BMW, at least as much as any other manufacturer wants their engines to be known as LONG LASTING engines, and absolutely would not state an oil change interval that causes early failure. If you were looking at cars, would you base your decision on known long mileage expectancy, or increased oil change intervals?

BMW engines, both motorcycle and car, are well known to be generally 200,000 plus mile engines. There will always be a very small percentage that fail early, for whatever reason, but the vast majority, especially the cars, last well over 200K before major work is needed.

BMW cars use Electronic Engine Control monitoring to determine when the engine oil should be changed, and on both my cars it is usually well over 10,000 miles before the change oil lights come on.

In my opinion, if we were to monitor LT miles until there were many in the 200,000 mile plus range and compare how many changed oil at 3K against those who went 6K (or longer), there would be no data to suggest the earlier change interval makes any difference.

I had piston ring land failure due to detonation caused by a misdiagnosed vacuum leak, at nearly 100,000 miles, but on tear down there was practically NO measurable wear on anything. Even the ring gaps were still within the INSTALL range, not even started into the allowable wear range yet. The bearings were so good I just put them back in. I change oil at minimum 6K miles, usually a little longer.

[strsout]

I change oil at minimum 6K miles, usually a little longer.


OK :) good enough... I will be back to the 6K changes... after all, much easier on me, since I'm doing it my self :)

[patrick2000]

How often do most of you fellow riders really change your oil? I did the first at 1000 miles and now have 5100 miles. I know some say every 3000, and the dealer say's to change it at 6000 and 12000.

Just want to treat my bike well.

Tim

IMO the engine will outlast the rest of the major components on the bike. I change mine at 8 to 10K depending on usage.

[DaddyDukes]

I'll soon be approaching the 18K mark. I've been one of those who changes oil every 4K. If I go to synthetic at 18K, what weight would you recommend?

Thanks,
Keith

[tbl160]

David has written a great post. I go with the factory recommended oil changes. My last three cages have all exceeded 150,000 miles with out an oil related failure. All were changed at factory intervals 6K + or - 10%.

Jim in GA

[JPSpen]

Ever since I was a young man I have used synthetic oil and changed at 10-12K intervals. I have NEVER experienced a lubrication related failure in any vehicle I have ever owned. None of the engines I have done this with have ever used any oil between changes. Checking my oil is something I never do anymore.. Just never need to add...My Jag has 165,000 miles on it and when I tore it down to change the head gasket and do a top overhaul the internals showed almost no wear of any kind...Enclosed its a pic of the cylinder walls.
I couldn't believe it when I looked at them...

John

[davek100rt]

I have had many vehicles over the years. I have discovered the most important maintenance for any vehicle is the proper use of the best QUALITY oil you can afford and the regular change of it. This includes oil in the final drive and gearbox. You can extend the mileage with the use of synthetic. If you intend to use regular crude, you can't go wrong with the three thousand mile frequency. With synthetic oil for the engine, six to ten thousand is good. Extending it can be done but not on a regular basis. The real oil does not go bad. It is the additives that are distroyed over time. The harder you ride the more often you change. By this method I have never had a motor die from lack of lubrication. My '85 k100rt still runs great after 115K miles. My '99 K1200LT with 52K miles runs like new. I change each every 3000 miles or 3 or 4 months of sitting. I haven't run the '85 much since I got the K1200Lt.

[nswenson]

With synthetic oil for the engine, six to ten thousand is good. Extending it can be done but not on a regular basis. The real oil does not go bad. It is the additives that are distroyed over time.

So how do you explain 300,000 miles with changes every 15,000? I can't find the original thread, but there was one forum member that went over 300k miles with this approach. This would seem to defy your statement. Granted I'm sure he was doing some serious LD touring. If your doing city riding and shorter trips, then sure, you should change more often; however for LD touring, I think it's wasteful and unnessary to change every 3K miles, even with with non-synthetic oils. If you change your own oil, then I guess it's no big deal; however for me, I don't have the a good place to do this, so it costs me more for oil changes. I commute 94 miles every work day and if I changed every 3000 miles, I would be visiting the dealer every 6 weeks!