There's been a lot of chatter in the GS community about where to find Castrol and what gear oil to use in the final drive instead of SAF-AO. After reading a bunch of internet threads, I discovered that the recommended quantity of oil for hex heads has been reduced from 220cc to 180cc and bi annual changes. Went to the dealer to buy the washers to do a change and was informed that the recommended oil is now available in 200 cc bottles (I guess so you can't overfill). $10 The old BMW brand gear oil has been pulled off the shelves.
Drained my final drive and it was full of metal. Magnetic plug was caked with shavings. This was after 9,000 miles. Also, the oil was red, just like the old Golden Spectro-BMW brand synthetic, not yellow like Castrol. So dealer who did the 600 mile running in service didn't use Castrol.
Normally, I don't let stuff like running a different brand of oil bother me much, but I've heard about final drive seals failing on higher mileage bikes. Now I'm good for 2 years. BTW, my bad luck. Two weeks before the oil brand change, I used the now discontinued BMW oil in my transmission. I'm not worried about it since there are very few transmission problems reported.
Drained my final drive and it was full of metal. Magnetic plug was caked with shavings. This was after 9,000 miles. Also, the oil was red, just like the old Golden Spectro-BMW brand synthetic, not yellow like Castrol. So dealer who did the 600 mile running in service didn't use Castrol.
Normally, I don't let stuff like running a different brand of oil bother me much, but I've heard about final drive seals failing on higher mileage bikes. Now I'm good for 2 years. BTW, my bad luck. Two weeks before the oil brand change, I used the now discontinued BMW oil in my transmission. I'm not worried about it since there are very few transmission problems reported.
