Tranny problem seems to have been sorted

[Optimus Prime]

Posted about it Here

The guys at the local MOA club recomended a member who works on most of their bikes. He's got a sweet little shop and only charges $30 / hour. I had him redo my 12K service since I wanted to make sure I hadn't mucked it up. I told him about my tranny and he asked if I was running Mobil One (I was). He mentioned that he and several guys had tranny issues with it. He recomended the BMW sythetic.

When I picked up the bike, I spent the next few days riding with my old boots. They offer a lot less protection, but far superior feel. I also kept the RPM around 5K or higher when shifting. I had slipped into the habit of short shifting when not hooning it up. Tranny acted great. So it was tranny oil, low revs, and / or bad shifting on my part. I've gone back to the new boots and haven't missed yet.

Thanks for all the suggestions.
-Jason

[chibbert1]

Optimus

Glad to hear you have things sorted out. Please put the $30 an hour guy on the road to come visit all your r1150r brethren.

I am saddened to hear that Mobil 1 could have played a part in this though. My father - a lubrication specialist - has access to test results for just about every type of lubrication both synthetic, para-synthetic, and crude-based. Everything he has ever seen states that Mobil-1 is the best "main stream" brand. Obviously it falls below Ams-Oil and the likes of Purple Racing, and the other smaller companies. Anyhow - I guess I won't consider putting Mobil-1 in my tranny now as I suspect the man/men you are dealing with know what they are talking about.

Just please. . . . . stay away from Quaker State


Chris

[Optimus Prime]

Optimus

Glad to hear you have things sorted out. Please put the $30 an hour guy on the road to come visit all your r1150r brethren.

I am saddened to hear that Mobil 1 could have played a part in this though. My father - a lubrication specialist - has access to test results for just about every type of lubrication both synthetic, para-synthetic, and crude-based. Everything he has ever seen states that Mobil-1 is the best "main stream" brand. Obviously it falls below Ams-Oil and the likes of Purple Racing, and the other smaller companies. Anyhow - I guess I won't consider putting Mobil-1 in my tranny now as I suspect the man/men you are dealing with know what they are talking about.

Just please. . . . . stay away from Quaker State


Chris

I've always had good luck with Mobil One in everything I use, but the MOA guys around here say that sometimes the BMW trannies just don't like it. No one really knows why.

[Deans BMW]

I reccomend 70/140 Synth in the tranny and 70/90 synth in the rear drive. Mobil 1 does not have a 70/140 so I use BMW 70/140 synth in the tranny and Mobil 1 70/90 synth in the rear drive, bike has and is perfect after 37,000 miles of extreme Pat like riding, Whaycock has something like 70,000 miles on his RR uses the same as mine and equally perfect.

On my ST I use BMW 70/140 in the tranny and the rear drive is permanent with what ever came from the factory.

[bakernks]

I agree with Dean's choices. But my tech says use the BMW 75w90 straight mineral oil in the tranny when new, until the 6,000 mile service. THEN change to the 75w140 synth. Gives the tranny a chance to finish fit he says. I like to think the 75w140 is best because the cat adds so much darn heat to that tranny in city traffic, stop and go, it's just cooking that tranny all that cat heat rising up. Not everyone gets to fly their ST1200 through Nevada like he's on a missile test range (in Nevada.)

[Acacia]

I have still not heard the 'why' the tranny will kick out of gear after having engaged it - and a short while later it will kick out - randomly (for those who have not followed this thread - under red line riding between 5-6th)? I dont understand the comment that, "BMW trannies dont like Mobil".

Mine did it kick out with BMW oils. Tranny and rear end now have Castrol 70-90 syn. in them- has not done it yet - but maybe it has to do with more deliberate changing now? Or, is it that the tolerances are not so tight now and it engages more fully? The potential still exists then for it to jump out again!

While the rear end oil is supposed to get changed - is it at 24K? - I did mine at 6. There was a lot of black 'dirt' that 1st came out -I guess the initial polishings? Surprised me as I have never seen this in oils from trannies before. Particles on the magnet yes, but the other -no! I flushed it several times to get that out before re-filling. Would not have liked to have kept that in for 24K

[boxermania]

All meshing gears undergo a process called "honing" over the first few thousand miles of initial use. When the gears engage and dis-engage they slide against each other. New gears, being machine made are not perfect and have slight variations on the surface.

Well, the continuous action of the gears coming in and out of each other "polishes" the surfaces and over time makes the engagement easier.

That is one of the reasons for using lihjter oil for break in and the finding of the greyish "soot" found upon the first replacement (if you look at it under a magnifying glass it looks like a very, very fine powder) that is the product of the honing process.

The reason for the 70/140 is that gears generally carry a great deal of load and require a good oil film for long term operation. Gear oils also have EP (Extra pressure) additives to improve the operation.

As it was mentioned in one of the posts, the cat heat can also affect the tranny, however, I'm sure that the effects have been looked at by the engineers and the potential temperatures in the tranny are well below the oil breakdown temperatures. Actually if you think about it, the only time that heat will be impinging on the tranny is when the bike is stopped and running, while at speed the air is flowing by the cat and carrying the heat rearward.