Do they all rattle when you start them hot on the sidestand?

Steady on the sight glass will cope with a lot more than oil temp at idling, or if you are getting over 200 deg C oil temp at idle you have a big problem :eek

It has happened to more than one owner, try searching. Not a lot of air flowing through the oil cooler at standstill, lots of heat from friction, combustion and yet more radiant heat from the exhaust.
 
Genuine answer: it'll end up getting so hot if you leave it idling that you will thin the oil enough to start a rattle. Leave long enough and the plastic oil level sight glass will melt.
Agreed. But what's the relevance of the side-stand? It would do this regardless of where/how it was idling.

The original question related to a rattle when started from hot, not when idling for long periods.

People seem to think there is some kind of mysterious oil-starvation which will ruin their machine if one of the pots is higher than the other. I seem to have spent the past twelve years pointing out that almost every other vehicle on the road has the valves, cams and pistons way above the oil.
 
So in your world the oil gets hotter idling than riding through the sahara or for that matter london traffic ? The damage done to seals and plastic internals if the engine got hot enough to melt the sight glass would be terminal. I agree that there is no valid reason for idling on the side stand but there is no need to panic !!
 
If I promise never to start it on the side stand again can we leave it there?

;)
 
So in your world the oil gets hotter idling than riding through the sahara or for that matter london traffic ? The damage done to seals and plastic internals if the engine got hot enough to melt the sight glass would be terminal. I agree that there is no valid reason for idling on the side stand but there is no need to panic !!

No, in "my world" I use the search feature and read other peoples posts about how their sight glasses have melted and view their accompanying photos. Plus I've been on the forum long enough to remember seeing the original posts on the subject.

Your call......
 
No, in "my world" I use the search feature and read other peoples posts about how their sight glasses have melted and view their accompanying photos. Plus I've been on the forum long enough to remember seeing the original posts on the subject.

Your call......

I also seem to recall at least one post in the past about a bike that went up in flames following excessive heat build up as it was left idling...... or maybe I'm just imagining that one :D
 
No, in "my world" I use the search feature and read other peoples posts about how their sight glasses have melted and view their accompanying photos. Plus I've been on the forum long enough to remember seeing the original posts on the subject.

Your call......
I bow to your obvious superior knowledge gleened from google, against my 10 years in engine development/ testing I obviously am in your shadow and apologise if i have used the laws of physics and science against hearsay. Don't really know why I bought a GS as according to this site's posters they are the most unreliable, dangerous pieces of equipment. I will of course keep my veiws to myself in future so as not to upset the regulars

See ya:blagblah
 
I also seem to recall at least one post in the past about a bike that went up in flames following excessive heat build up as it was left idling...... or maybe I'm just imagining that one :D

That certainly happened with the 1150RT, which had a fairing that was close to the pots. BMW warned in a Service Bulletin against the practice of allowing the machine to idle too long, & I think it said similarly in the handbook. Not such a problem on the GS obviously, although still not wise treatment of the engine IMHO.
 
i owned an 1150rt for a number of years and on two occasions melted the "shark fins" while filtering in slow traffic. once in pamplona and again in barcelona, it was unbearably hot though
 
I bow to your obvious superior knowledge gleened from google, against my 10 years in engine development/ testing I obviously am in your shadow and apologise if i have used the laws of physics and science against hearsay. Don't really know why I bought a GS as according to this site's posters they are the most unreliable, dangerous pieces of equipment. I will of course keep my veiws to myself in future so as not to upset the regulars

See ya:blagblah

There are even pictures of the melted sight glass (plastic really) and a photo of the bike standing in a smoke-filled garage where the absent minded owner had left it idling while he went indoors. All posted by said owner about 12 months ago. Difficult to dismiss that as hearsay, even if your years of experience in the field suggest it shouldn't happen...
 
I bow to your obvious superior knowledge gleened from google, against my 10 years in engine development/ testing I obviously am in your shadow and apologise if i have used the laws of physics and science against hearsay. Don't really know why I bought a GS as according to this site's posters they are the most unreliable, dangerous pieces of equipment. I will of course keep my veiws to myself in future so as not to upset the regulars

See ya:blagblah

You Would be right if your development is in water cooled engines or even fan cooled. On an oil/air cooled engine with no fans or moving air where the head temp (mid temp gauge) is 150c at idle your wrong. It's amazing the first link didn't completely destroy itself idling for an hour never mind melt a plastic window.
 
Like I said I BOW to your superior knowledge enjoy, but hang on head temps far exceed that, exhuast out temps at the port reach 850 deg c to acheive good combustion. therefore head temps of 200 deg c are expected. But to melt the sight glass we are talking oil temps of 250 to 300 deg. Now in full power mode this is achievable but the oil would carbonise leading to lack of lubrication and seizure. Look all I said is you are very unlikely to reach plastic melting temps at idle speeds, I also said there is no reason to idle the engine on the side stand but all you seem to want to do is scare people into not getting BMs, this I do not understand :confused:
 
A note for the record, the picture of the bike with the melted glass was on the centre stand, not side stand. Carry on.
79031.gif
 
Like I said I BOW to your superior knowledge enjoy, but hang on head temps far exceed that, exhuast out temps at the port reach 850 deg c to acheive good combustion. therefore head temps of 200 deg c are expected. But to melt the sight glass we are talking oil temps of 250 to 300 deg. Now in full power mode this is achievable but the oil would carbonise leading to lack of lubrication and seizure. Look all I said is you are very unlikely to reach plastic melting temps at idle speeds, I also said there is no reason to idle the engine on the side stand but all you seem to want to do is scare people into not getting BMs, this I do not understand :confused:

All that has been done is a couple of examples directly from users of this forum together with pictures to highlight what can happen if an air cooled engine is left to run at idle. No one said it was an everyday occurrence and that's mostly due to the fact that bike's don't usually get left that long to run at idle because there is no need to do so. Your posts have implied that these occurrences were figments of imagination, couldn't happen and the result of a Google search. All that's been pointed out to you is that it wasn't a Google search, it was from members of this forum together with pictures as evidence. Obviously you have not encountered this in your ten years of automotive experience but that's not an unusual event from experts on this forum.
 
An electric cooling fan is listed as a part for European and US versions of the 1200RT, right back to 2008 models.
 


Back
Top Bottom