Oil levels post Zip-Ty Oil Recirculation Kit installation

Piston rings do not make a perfect seal and fuel is let by upon compression and ignition. This fuel is also on fire which aids to vaporizing your crank case oil and heating your torque limiter. The oil recirculation tank cools these gasses, condensing the oil out of the vapor and back to a liquid while re-burning the fuel that may still be in vapor.

Stick with Mobil 0W40 if possible, it has much better protection for your engine than 5W40 and tends to vaporize less. Think of your oil as a coolant and not as a lubricant. Hi flow stainless steel oil filters are a plus. Any oil pressure over 36psi gets bypassed back to the crankcase and you will reach that pressure with 0W40. Since pressure is inversely related to flow, heavier the viscosity, the higher the pressure and the less oil flow you have. If you are reaching your pressure limit with 0W40, think about what is happening with 5W40, 10W40, 10W50, 20W50, etc.

Great write up, thanks for taking the time. What I seem to be missing is how the 0W-40 is thinner than 5W-40? In my limited knowledge of oil I understand the "40" to indicate the viscosity (thikness) at operating temperature and the "...W" is the viscosity of the oil when cold so useful for start up but making no difference at operating temperature. If so then the "...W" should make no difference to pressure at operating temperature?

Both 40's are practically identical at 150°C or at least to a point, we are talking about numbers on a bottle which are almost meaningless too. The 40 weight can vary anywhere from 13 to 17 cSt@100°C and still fall within classification. But it's the start up viscosity which have the most meaning to us. That first 30 minutes of riding which slowly leads to destruction.

Let's compare M1 0W40 with M1 5W40. I'll toss 20W50 in also just for comparison.

M1 0W40Viscosity, cSt (ASTM D445)
@ 40ºC 75 <
@ 100ºC 13.5

M1 5W40Viscosity, cSt (ASTM D445)
@ 40ºC 97.9 <<
@ 100ºC 14.5


M1 20W50 Viscosity, cSt (ASTM D445)
@ 40ºC 172.3 <<<
@ 100ºC 20.8


As you can see the start-up viscosity is the biggest difference here, with 0W40 being considerably thinner at low temperatures. At normal operating temperatures, Cst@150°C, differences between the oils will be negligible, 0.5cst if any.

Great, I follow. However, the High Stress figures show that the 0W-40 oils shear and are broken down about 20-30% easier than the 5W-40 oils. Therefore do you change your engine's oil more frequently than stipulated?

We change at 300 miles, sometimes stretching to 500 as in Vegas to Reno 531miles. Typically every 300 miles.

When changing your oil with the kit in, just pull the front two plugs, drain plug stays in place.

Water pump seal might be going if oil is in the airbox.

You wont be disappointed I run 1250ml of Motul 10 - 40 , Sometimes shoot down the street 60 kms ,80kms and 110kms and no problems , it has stopped my bike getting as hot and changing into neutral is better too. I also have the manetic oil filter cap and thats works a treat as well .
It's a great product.

Tinken, oil spills completely? Crankcase will empty?
Usually I pull drain plug too.

I did get the magnetic oil filter cover - I'm ready to install the kit in the morning with one exception - After a day of shopping around town its evident that not many dirt bikers ask for stainless steal oil filters here, let alone high flow ones. I'll install the kit without the SS filter if necessary. Some real hectic magnets in that oil cap though...

I fitted the IMS auxiliary fuel tank to my 449 today and I am looking forward to the full package once the Zip-Ty recirc kit is in. My aim with this build is to enter some of the multi-stage rallyes in Southern Africa: 2000 - 3000kms in 4-6 days through the bundus. The race organisers set approx 250 - 300km legs between fuel stops (the IMS tank takes care of that: OEM tank + IMS tank = 20 liters) and I require an engine that can handle the heat and the dust (I'm trusting the Zip-Ty kit will go a long way to taking care of that). Then I hope that the last two custom projects will be new springs for the front forks and rear shock; and I am struggling like hell to get a heavier flywheel. On Monday I'm going to call BMW to see if they have a heavier flywheel for the G450X.

Hey Normann, please explain what you wrote? I'm not sure I follow.

Yes, it will empty. The forward plug is the prefilter off the crankshaft and rarely has debris, really you can get away with just pulling the center prefilter and allow it to drain.

Hey, Husky Bob.
I asked about it:

When you change oil, usually pull out two mesh filters and stock drain plug with magnet. I have full ZipTy oil recirc. kit installed with drain oil modifications. Also have Oil filter cover with magnet.
Read please: http://www.cafehusky.com/threads/ztr-oil-recirculation-system.39308/

Thanks for explanation.

Please would you confirm if the oil filter that I bought is the type intended for use with the magnetic oil cap: it is a cylindrical cartridge type filter with steel end caps (I presumed plastic or rubber end caps would be incorrect).

Sorry it took so long to get these pics posted.

I have to admit I'm a bit surprised that the inlet for the oil is higher than the oiler for the gases. Woulda thought it would have gone the other way.

That's actually not hooked up correctly. Not sure how you have the outlet of the tank plumbed either.