Oil consumption r1250gs

[bas]

Hello good day people. Greetings from the Netherlands.

I have a question about oil consumption. My 1250 from 2019 uses aprox 300ml oil in 1000miles. I think this is to much for a modern motorcycle. Am I right or are there more of 1250 owners with oil consumption like mine?

 

[MrC99]

Hello good day people. Greetings from the Netherlands.

I have a question about oil consumption. My 1250 from 2019 uses aprox 300ml oil in 1000miles. I think this is to much for a modern motorcycle. Am I right or are there more of 1250 owners with oil consumption like mine?

That seems high but without any idea of distance bike has done, what usage pattern or service intervals it's hard to say whether it's extreme or not.

As an example my 1200 has never had to be topped up between services and its done just over 68k miles (110k kms) but it gets used regularly and is serviced every 6k miles. It does get used quite hard at times

 

[Bem]

That seems high but without any idea of distance bike has done, what usage pattern or service intervals it's hard to say whether it's extreme or not.

As an example my 1200 has never had to be topped up between services and its done just over 68k miles (110k kms) but it gets used regularly and is serviced every 6k miles. It does get used quite hard at times

Simlar questions and experience.
Just turned 35k, serviced every 6k, never topped up between services.

 

[bas]

That seems high but without any idea of distance bike has done, what usage pattern or service intervals it's hard to say whether it's extreme or not.

As an example my 1200 has never had to be topped up between services and its done just over 68k miles (110k kms) but it gets used regularly and is serviced every 6k miles. It does get used quite hard at times

It has 46200 kms on the odo and it gets its service on time at BMW. My 1200lc I had before didn't drink a drop.

 

[siddo]

Mine was below halfway mark after 6k miles which included 4k mile tour with plenty of thrashing in Alps and Pyrenees.

 

[Hartley]

My previous 21 1250 would need topping up between services. By halfway between services it was on minimum.

 

[RadioFlyer]

BMW had a spec for the oilheads of 1L per 1000 kms before oil consumption would be considered excessive and I daresay that little has changed wrt the mechanical components involved.

 

[Hartley]

Had the same spec on my 1984 320

 

[MrC99]

BMW had a spec for the oilheads of 1L per 1000 kms before oil consumption would be considered excessive and I daresay that little has changed wrt the mechanical components involved.

Not sure about that - pretty sure engineering tolerances and material changes have improved oil consumption significantly, especially from the LCs onwards with their better cooling. Plenty of posts on here about bikes with some quite high mileages not needing any top-ups between services.

To the OP I suspect that if it isn't visibly burning oil (apart from the odd puff if left on the side stand for a while ), isn't making any undue noises and it's otherwise running fine then I'd not worry too much but just keep an eye on it for any increase in oil consumption.

 

[rovert57]

From my experience with my 1200 tc .when I bought it it had 25000 mls on it and was using oil after I had it for a few thousand mile in which I used to rev it quite hard it stopped using oil .
I have heard that using them too gently can lead to them burning a bit of oil ,maybe this can cause the bores to glaze

 

[Mulcher]

My 2019 1250 hardly used any oil between services and never needed topping up. I used BMW Advantec Ultimate 5W-40 oil. In December 2023 I switched to Motorex 5W-40 Boxer 4T fully synthetic. It seems to be using fractionally more but the oil level is still 75% up the sight glass. Current mileage 21,000 miles.

I would say yours is using a lot of oil.

I would visit your BMW dealership and register your concern about excessive oil consumption. I would expect them to inspect the engine. Assuming they can’t find anything wrong with it they’ll tell you that the oil consumption is within BMW’s tolerances (which are quite huge, conveniently for them). But at least your report will be on their system and in the event of any future serious problems the oil consumption issue will be on record which will hopefully be of benefit.

 

[RadioFlyer]

Not sure about that - pretty sure engineering tolerances and material changes have improved oil consumption significantly, especially from the LCs onwards with their better cooling. Plenty of posts on here about bikes with some quite high mileages not needing any top-ups between services.

To the OP I suspect that if it isn't visibly burning oil (apart from the odd puff if left on the side stand for a while ), isn't making any undue noises and it's otherwise running fine then I'd not worry too much but just keep an eye on it for any increase in oil consumption.

Let's say that those improvements have cut oil consumption by 50%, he is still within spec. Will BMW consider his oil consumption excessive ?