So I’m going to be changing the oil and filter on my 09 bmw g450x I just got and I’m wondering if I should use bmw oil and filter? Or another brand? What kind of oil does it take, what’s the filter part number? What other maintenance is recommended @500 miles and 20 hours? Also does anyone know where I can buy a set of new plastics? Thanks in advance.
Welcome to the forum,
Not to start another oil thread here but there is no reason in the world that you would have to run BMW Oil. The bike lists a 10w40 oil or a 5w40 in cooler temps. Personally I run nothing but "Mobil 1 full synthetic 0w40 European blend formula". It has no friction modifiers that can damage the wet clutch, its formulated for Audi, BMW, Volkswagon, Porsche, specifically for wet clutch applications and can be bought at any Walmart for about 26 bucks for a 5 quart jug. That's what I use and its recommended by Ty Davis who owns ZipTy racing that happens to be the foremost engine builder in the U.S.A. for these G450 engines and the Husqvarna 449/511 models that share the same engine family. He has raced Huskys for years and had the factory off road race team at 1 time. I have attached a picture of the jug of oil so you see what to look for.
I live in Arizona and ride all year and have never had any oil issues or related failures running this Mobil 1 0w-40 Euro blend. As you probably know bike shop synthetic oil can cost up to 12 bucks a quart and its no better IMHO. Look at the service ratings and make sure any oil you put in the bike is wet clutch compatible. You can also get the same filters from any Husqvarna dealer for the 2011-2013 TE/TXC/TC 449/511 models. You will learn more about that soon reading through this forum and which parts are actually interchangeable.
For oil filters I use a Flow-PC racing 167 Stainless steel re-usable oil filter. This particular filter can be purchased at Amazon for about 25 bucks and you just clean it with brake cleaner and reuse it. This PC 167 filter is actually for a KTM 450 and several other models its smaller in diameter than the factory paper element but it has been shown in testing to flow about 40% more oil around its smaller diameter in the enclosed area of the cases filter boss. It is about .120 shorter but that's not a problem as it slips over a hollow stem in the filter housing and once the cap is on it can't really move too enough to be any problem. ZipTy racing has field tested this filter to death in desert racing and had no issues with it being a bit smaller. The end cap on the PC filter has a recessed end on it that is dished and on my S/S PC filter I have permanently glued a 3/4"dia x 5/16" thick Neodymium disc magnet in the filter caps recess to collect any gearbox/magnetic debris in the filter housing and to add some length about 3/32" to it since its a tiny bit shorter than the factory filter but its not absolutely needed. Since this filter has a smaller dia. it is much easier to get out of the housing for service and cleaning. I do my oil changes at no more than about 10-15 hours of trail riding. You will see a picture of it below as well.
If you want to use the factory paper filter its about 16 to 18 bucks and comes in a service kit with new o-rings for the cartridge filters and a new crush washer for the rear most drain plug, a new o-ring for the oil filter cap etc.. the oil filter service kit is part #11 42 7 715 456. You can buy paper element stock type oil filters separate from other suppliers or from Amazon as well if you buy about 4 to 6 or more at a time. You won't need to replace these o-rings every single time you do this so why buy the service kits, That's up to you. I do keep a few of the oil filter kits laying around just to steal an o-ring if I damage one and I also have a boxed Metric o-ring assortment that I can match them up if I'm lucky from the 60 some odd sizes I keep. Again that's up to you. Be careful removing the 22mm oil filter bosses cap the hex is not very deep to get a good grip with your 22mm socket and if the socket has a beveled/radiused end it can easily strip the hex head on the filter cap. The best thing you can do is buy a single dedicated 1/2" drive 6 point 22mm socket and grind the end flat on a disc grinder just to use for removing the oil filter cap. Replacement caps are available from ZipTy racing if your is messed up or gets damged. I use them myself and its removable with a 3/8" square end of socket extension. Pictured below as well. They run about 60 bucks and have 4 magnets embedded in the side facing the filter. You get the idea here? To remove the factory 22mm cap, I suggest laying the bike on its right side and using push firmly against the cap with your socket preferably use an air/electric impact to loosen it. You may find it comes off easy and you may find it doesn't. You wouldn't be the first one trust me. The hex on the cap itself actually measures about 21.52mm, so you get the idea I'm trying to stress here.
You should get a copy of the service Rep Rom CD. Look back in the forum and you will find a member that has provided a way to download the disc yourself from his file. That will save you about 90 bucks.
for your 500 mile service follow the Service CD but you should give the bike a good once over, remove the fork legs and take apart the triple clamps to grease the steering head bearings, also do the swingarm pivot shaft, It has small 8mm hex headed cap screws on each end that can be removed and temporarily replaced with a 6mm metric zerk/grease fitting and pressure feed grease with a small grease gun to push out any debris from in the shaft. The shaft has a few internal holes in it that allows the grease to exit the shafts to push crud out of the seals on each end of the output shaft. The engines output countershaft rotates around this swingarm pivot so having clean grease in there is a standard service check and many of them are nearly dry from previous owners. Check all the fasteners and the motor mount bolts also.
I'm going to give you a important tip right now that you better take real serious. At some point soon lay the bike over on its right hand side and you better pull the left side cover off (be careful and the gasket can be reused) to inspect the ign.stator's lighting coils to have a good look at the inner flywheel that has 6 allen headed cap screws that are prone to backing out and or shearing off which wipes out the stator coils windings and turns the coils windings into a rat nest of copper wire. This is an expensive repair if you don't catch this in time. The factory screws fail all the time. Replace those screws with 6 new ones. size M8dia.x1.5 pitch x12mm long either 10.9 or 12.9 hardness bolts. I at a time and use red loctite. I prefer replacing these bolts with 10mm Hex headed style bolts rather than Allen headed bolts because they are easier to torque properly to 12 to 15 NM (newton meters), The factory screws were over torqued during engine assembly and even the Husky 449 and the BMW G450 service manual says to torque these screws to 25 NM This will stretch these factory screws beyond there yield point which leads to failure of over 90% of these engines if not inspected and corrected. You won't want to be the owner of 1 of the 90% of these engines that this happens to.
Trying to find plastics is not easy and they are no longer being made, There is some new old stock sometimes but a set will cost about $300.00 or more if you can even find them and that's not new that's used in excellent condition. Look on eBay for plastics.
Start reading the threads in this forum to educate yourself about the bike. Look into the "Breather mod"- "Oil in airbox" threads about the factory engine cases breather fitting being relocated to the valve cover to keep engine oil from being pushed up the breather hose into the airbox. This is nearly a must do modification as well.
That's about it from what you have asked and what you need to know.
Just one more thing..... I just bought my first g450x and doing the first oil change I found the oil filter really difficult to remove from it's seat! The answer is a dental pick. My regular shop pick is too big. Good luck and stay well. See how well it works in my vid. https://youtu.be/QqD_49bQHeg
I certainly do know what you are saying. However for those of us that may use a Stainless steel re-usable filter like myself, possibly damaging the filter during removal or poking a hole in the filters media is not a good idea.
Which I know is even unlikely with a dental pick since you are just hooking the rims edge of the filters metal cap. I have a few myself in my tool box that I use for o-ring picks.
I have the same issue with my FE501 Husky getting its filter out which is also Stainless steel.
The easiest thing to use really, is a pair of expandable snap ring pliers with flat tips, not the pointed type. You just expand them into the circular recess in the filters end cap and it works every time. I have about 3 or 4 pair of these so I'm never wasting time trying to find them.
Nice video by the way. I haven't seen a more original looking G450X that is that clean in a long time. Don't you even ride that thing ? Get out and get it dirty.
Hello guys, Hello Tim
When do you service the bike (oil + filter etc..) ? I have seen some video on youtube stating that it can be done like ''a regular engine'' e.g every 5000km/3000miles. What's the leasson learned ?
I do oil changes on the G450 probably about every 8 - 10 hours of riding, sometimes less, even with my fresh rebuilt engines.
If you ride your bikes like I ride mine. And I happily beat the hell out of mine or I don't ride them at all. I wouldn't go more than 350-500 miles with out changing the oil.
With the oil recirculation/recovery set-up I use. It only holds a maximum of 1150-1200cc of oil. Its the lifeblood of the engine, Oil is cheap.
The currently installed engine in my G450 at this time is the factory original engine that got the head fully ported and the top end rebuilt, nearly 2 years ago.
However it only has about 8 hours run time. It will get the oil changed before it goes out again.
It really doesn't get ridden much. I'll let my buddy ride it again next time I go out on the bikes. However, since I have been told by my Doctor to be very careful riding since I take blood thinners for "A Fib".
The Doctor tells me to stick with driving my side by side. Its much safer.
My good riding buddy has put most of that 7 to 8 hours on the G450X for me to break it in himself. Unless I'm taking it around the block just for kicks, if it goes out for the day I let my buddy ride it, since I usually ride my FE501. And his daughter that rides with us most of the time, really likes it when I surprise him and her both and say take my bike out for the day. She gets to ride his 450 since he's on 1 of my bikes for the day. So it works out for all 3 of us.
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