Pictorial: Engine, Transmission, and Final Drive Oil Change

[Buckster]

I do have one question. Are you supposed to fill the tranny until it starts to overflow or if it is measured out and does not overflow are you still good? Is there a way to check if the fluid is at the right level after this procedure is done?

[adg44]

I do have one question. Are you supposed to fill the tranny until it starts to overflow or if it is measured out and does not overflow are you still good? Is there a way to check if the fluid is at the right level after this procedure is done?

You want the fluid level to be at the bottom of the threads for the fill plug. There is no way to overfill it, because if you do, the fluid will trickle out of the fill plug hole.

It takes about 1.1 quarts.

[boxermania]

Anthony.....very nice coverage, I'm sure it wll be of infinite help to those owners eager to venture into the maintenance aspects of the BMW boxer.

CycleRob......you are correct, regarding engine wear upon start-up. I don't know if it is 90%. I'm not sure if the lubrication pundits have agreed on a percentage, however, it is the operation which will affect the engine wear the most. Like you say, not only does the pump need to come up to pressure, but we also have the rundown (gravity) of the oil from the lubricated parts to deal with and the engine being cold......

When I use to build Chevy's it was the rule of the day to prime the pump with an eletric drill throught the distributor hole.....yes, you are right that was ~ 300 years ago, I just mentioned to support the topic.

[itimna bundok]

Great job. I wish I'd had the information during my first attempt.

[flick]

I hope to begin servicing of my R1150R soon and this information will be invaluable.

cheers

[CycleRob]

boxermania,

I remember doing the drill turning the oil pump trick (only one event). The reverse torque reaction on the drill was considerable. I believe GM designed it that way, with the drive gear on the distributor shaft and not on the oil pump, so you CAN prelube the engine upon assembly. They know how important those first few dry seconds are. I did the very same thing to my VX-800 during reassembly since the oil pump was chain driven off the back of the clutch basket. Like Martha Stewart says . . . . "It's a good thing".

I've read articles where they measured everything of a broken-in engine, run the engine continuously near redline at FULL THROTTLE for 100 hours, then take it apart and measure everything again. They found almost NO WEAR!!!
When the engine is running, the parts do not touch. They are all hydroplaning on a thin film of oil.

Yous guys that change your oil every 2,000 miles without filling the filter and do many short trips will have lots more engine wear than my 6,000 mile, no short trip engine. It's more wear but prolly nothing to loose any sleep over.

Ride On!

[boxermania]

Actually there is another fill option for those tranny's or FD's hard to reach. There is a small pump that screws onto the threads of a typical FD oil can, these are used to fill lower ends of outboard motors and can be found in the boating section. They are quite inexpensive too, I hate when the oil is runneth over......

In my formative years I have used and still use a piece of 1/4" or 3/8" clear tubing that can be picked up at any Home Depot or Lowe's, just cut a bit of the fill spout and stick the hose up the spout, cheap and clean.

[adg44]

Wow, I completely forgot about this topic. I just got an e-mail notification and had to reset my password because Iforgot what it was it has been so long since I visited.

I do miss my R1150. Talk about a much better bike than my current Triumph Sprint ST.

Hope this has helped a lot of people.

- Anthony

[n.i.paul]

Thanks to the original poster of this topic. Have just completed my first ever oil and filter change and was easy after reading this.

Paul