Oil consumption....

[Sgt Bilco]

".....And as for "I dont believe the oil level is critical" yeah ok mate!!, its only an air/oil cooled bike after all..." says Ghost-rider.
Let me put it more clearly for you then... the oil level that you can see in the "window" will vary between MAX and MIN. If the actual level is apparent - i.e. IF YOU CAN SEE THE LEVEL it is nither too full nor too empty. The diffference is HALF a LITRE - and that means that you can have 12.5% less oil than the full 4 litres before you need to DO SOMETHING - now that is not too critical is it?! The makers have decided where to put the window and the acceptable minimum and maximum capacities - who am I to argue? ' Oil will expand when warm therefore the window is only in the right place IF it is at the right temperature and that is why the cooling down period before reading is important..(Yes, I actually WAS a rocket scientist once, when we produced such things)
As far as I am concerned this is all theory because for some 'strange reason' I have never had to top up between services.

Well said that man

I`m sure BuMW know what they are doing and strangely, I`ve never had to top up my 1200 between services and it`s done 34,000 miles! Funnily enough, maybe half a litre in 40,000 miles on my 1150 in extreme conditions and I`m not expecting my 57,000 mile 1100 to be any different.

I think there is a definate case of "overfilling" which causes excessive consumption.

 

[ghost-rider]

yeah ok,ok loadsa valid points, brian as for your toilet pump, I know what you mean if its a thetford swivel bowl, theys a pain in the arse!! easy enough when you've pulled the complete toilet out, but if its the older built in toilet module with the built in bog roll holder, u is laffing they is piece a piss

 

[Brian ROSEN]

Language problems;

I live in France BUt I am English; I assume that " u is laffing they is piece a piss " is more optimistic than "...theys a pain in the arse!!" ?? I will tackle the job when I next get down to my (ancient) Abbey caravan in a few weeks time. many thanks;

 

[GSmonkey]

I see that we have two chartered engineers working on this formidable problem!

And you get the benefit of our valuable albeit theoretical advice for free

 

[ghost-rider]

And you get the benefit of our valuable albeit theoretical advice for free

too right, brian i dare say uve got it sussed, but if u get stuck mate, giv us a shout, i'll talk ya thru it

 

[Brian ROSEN]

Off thread???

".....too right, brian i dare say uve got it sussed, but if u get stuck mate, giv us a shout, i'll talk ya thru it...." That is very kind of you - the real problem in August in Corsica is trying to do ANY work inside the caravan, where the temperature may be around 40°. i was going to say tat I would rather work on the bike - but that is no longer true either!

 

[david a hall]

My bike seams to produce oil, if i dont empty half a ltr out every 1000 miles it over flows, is this unusual?

 

[ghost-rider]

My bike seams to produce oil, if i dont empty half a ltr out every 1000 miles it over flows, is this unusual?

your windin us up now aint ya

 

[Brian ROSEN]

My bike seams to produce oil, if i dont empty half a ltr out every 1000 miles it over flows, is this unusual?

You had better join OPEC - and then perhaps offer low price petrol JUST for us GSers;

 

[deaninkl]

I have had to top mine oil up by about a pint twice in 14k km, both times shortly aftre services at 1k and 10 km.... so me thinks its a short oil fill by BMW rather than the engine dringking oil.

Generally BMW twins drink a little for the first few k, then stopm when they are nicely bedded in. But from this site the evidence suggests they are all different so worth keeping an eye on.

 

[Brian ROSEN]

".....]I have had to top mine oil up by about a pint twice...."
You should NOt put pints into a metric machine; it can cause all sorts of problems!
To be serious however, your last comment."...worth keeping an eye on." sums upthe whole debate about oil levels. Just check regularly, use the same drill, and you will (probably) find very little other action is required;