Oil Warning Light on 1200.

[Capsize]

OK

Now that my 'puters unphutted I can have my two p's worth again.

Wraith: I agree, there are some things that the manual is good for - and they are mostly what does what and how. Shame to ruin £11k's worth of hard earned for the sake of an hour R'ing TFM.

Joy

For what its worth, I ran mine in using the tried an tested thrash it me dads in Penzance technique (almost exactly 600 mile door to door) I had a panic on the way home - got to services in Exeter, stopped, checked oil, still three quarters up window.

Cup of tea with GSer's returning from Princetown.

Ride to petrol forecourt, fill up. Check level, no oil in window. Arghhhh Panic and add about 250ml of 10/w40. At next services check again, oil just above top of red line on window.

Moral - check twice fill once or risk the consequenses of an overfill.

After the remaining 200 miles home the level was once again below the top of the red circle. so I reckon it used about 300ml in 700mls up to the first service.

 

[Paul Wakefield]

they told me not to start the bike till the self check was complete when only the brake failure light remains on

Technically correct. In fact you can start it once the brake light flash speed has dropped to 2 per second.

From memory, I think you can actually start it practically straight away so long as as you don't touch the brakes until the flash speed has dropped. I'll check later to make sure I'm not talking complete rubbish.

Paul

 

[Joyseeker]

thin oil

Pint6x check www.findaproperty.co.uk and look how weybridge has a comparatively huge amount of property for sale or rent. there are deals to be had

the oil put in for the 600 mile run in is special thin oil i'm told. hence the oil burn is expected to be high. hence i question the wisdom of changing it before the first service.

what remains a mystery is when i checked the oil with vines when i delivered the bike for the 1st service the oil window was full. but then the technician who did the service said the oil was dangeriously low.

 

[Paul Wakefield]

then the technician who did the service said the oil was dangeriously low

They probably ran the engine briefly into the workshop. Guaranteed to cause the oil level to completely vanish!

paul

 

[Russ]

My dealer (Sawbridgeworth) instructed me to wait for the yellow triangle to extinguish before thumbing the starter (which suits me fine as in the motor I wait for all the idiot lights to extinguish before cranking it). It makes sense really to let the system do its diagnostics and set up the fuelling for starting.

I turn the key and put my gloves on, by the time i'm done i hit the starter and off i goooooo!

Oil - I have been using Castrol GTX high mileage, apparently its ideal for the boxer motor whilst its still relatively young (especially the thrashing i've given it!). I've now used up the 1 litre can in 1500 miles, or should i say i topped up the bike with the remaining few hundred ml's today (between 0 and the first service - at around 850 miles - it had used about 500ml)

I was also advised to ignore the manual becuase it's 'illogical', if you wait for the advised 10 minutes not all the oil sinks into the sump...it is better to check it when the engine is cold, as the damage from overfilling can be worse than running it too low, it also seems logical to me, when or why else would you check oil when its slightly warm and not cold?

 

[Mouse]

I was told (by the tech at the BMW dealer) that the risk of damage from overfilling is quite small, and that you would have to put a heck of a lot too much oil in there to do any damage. He said the most likely result was just oil being blown out of the crankcase breather.

Whereas we all know the certain consequences of too little oil!

Therefore I would not be scared to add a sensible amount of oil if you think the bike may be low. Like 100mls or so and then check it again later.

 

[smartrider]

I top it up if the level gets below half full ,it always feels better when its full of oil, ( that could be all in my mind, theres nothing else in my mind).

I do not keep such a close eye on the mesurements as some other people, but I have put a total of 2lts in almost 10,000.miles plus of course its had two services.

it certainly does not us as much as the old 1150 which never stopped using oil at about 1lr every 1000 -1500 miles right up to 45,000mls

 

[Fanum]

dear pint6x

you are not the only one to have a go at the background to the pic of my pride and joy. such assumptions too on the location being my home.

been a biker only a year and up till now i thought the community was like fly fishing. "it does not matter who you are..... we have a common interest..... names are not important and certainly asking what someone does is taboo."

so now it seems some have not moved on from the socio economic stuff of the 70's..... all must be a white males as that is the only political grip left to us but old fashioned and outside PC control.

Joyseeker....no-one gives too hoots about your socio economic situation, seriously......it's just a tradition to take the piss out of photos...stay around a bit and you'll lose count of the number of times you'll hear 'that grass needs cutting' etc.....

It's something to do with one pic of a GS being pretty much the same as another.,.....but the backgrounds contain interest or at least vary more.

We've got people here from all sorts of backgrounds, from the unemployed to millionaire comapny directors.....and no-one gives a monkeys.

As long as you don't paint your house violent lilac, you'll be ok.

 

[~Stef~]

as laughing Bob says - the oil warning light is not for the oil level , its a low (very) pressure warning .

You'd think the dealer would know this

More importantly, lets get back to the Quattro , whos is it , how fast does it go, and can i have a go ?

 

[JayGee]

For the oil warning light to come on because of low oil level the level has to be VERY low, so low that the pump pick-up is partly in air. If you run the oil that low you only have yourself to blame. Checking the oil level accurately is a real pain and really something that BMWers worry about too much, I just don't put any in untill its lower than half way down the glass and then only put 125cl in at a time.
BTW I ran mine in by the book and at 4000miles I've put 0.5 litres in since the 600 service.
Mine didn't have any special oil in when new (just Castrol GP) same as I put in now.

 

[Joyseeker]

as i approached the 6000mls service in this cold weather i noticed in the oil window various readings some suggesting an oil top up was needed.

but when put on the centre stand this reading was not consistant after a warm up ride.

what i found made it consistant was to put the bike on the centre stand with the engine running and then switch off letting the oil settle.

it seemed to me when the engine is switched off on the side stand first and then put on the centre stand the oil window tended to shown a false 'full' window as oil seems to collect on that side of the engine.

any comments?

 

[John Armstrong]

Usual boxer engine symptoms.

Most people come up with a method that they stick to, be it only on the centre stand, leave it for xx minutes on the side before onto the centre stand etc etc. The point the handbox seems to me to stress is the need for the oil to be at operating temperature.