Sorry.. DOHC oil question.

[harry]

Thanks Cookie. I think manual says 1 lit/1000km. But that is an absurd amount. An avarage Alps tour for me is about 4-5000km so that means I bring 4 liter cans with me. In fact, I just posted a couple of liters to the hotel in the Dolomites where we staying in last June..

What is noticeable though is that the oil level goes down a lot slower when on the motorway. I usually cruise the speed limit there in 6th gear, so around 4-5000rpm. When in the hilly country rpms go up and so does the oil consumption.

And all this oil it burns, does it leave residue in the engine, dirty the spark plugs etc? Is that an additional worry? It sometimes coughs when I start it up, a kind of hiccup and dies. Surely can't be the battery yet.

I've even attached a tool tube to the bike so I can have a liter of oil with me at all times. I dare not ride on much now when the oil icon comes up on the dash. With previous GS I would just finish a ride with it on, even over 200km. Won't dream of doing that with this one.

Your frequent top-ups are because you arn't filling to the top of the sight glass. Fill it to the top and you will get a better idea of how much it is using, it's a half litre from top to bottom.

I'd bet there is nothing amiss with your engine, send it on thro' the gears, burn some rubber for a thousand miles and it will be perfectly OK. Do it safely of course!

I'd there is nothing amiss

 

[cookie]

Hi
what is

it's in the manual. i'd post a scan, but it's on my other computer, so you'll just have to go and look

 

[GSgirl]

I'd bet there is nothing amiss with your engine, send it on thro' the gears, burn some rubber for a thousand miles and it will be perfectly OK.

Harry- thanks, but what do you think will be different after another thousand miles when I've already burnt enough rubber to be on my 2nd set of tyres?

 

[OldCroc]

Take it back to the dealer. Insist on tests including compression and oil consumption test and than take it from there.
OldCroc

 

[billabong]

hi gs girl,

Being a time served mechanic and going from your information saying that your bike uses less oil at constant speed, i,d surmise that it,s a valve stem seal problem if anything.This occurs when you are on the overrun with the throttle closed,this means the pistons cannot draw air/fuel because of the closed throttle/air flaps so the pistons will pull in oil from the top of the engine via the valve stem seals if the seals are worn/faulty and burn the oil off through the exhaust.A pretty sure way to test for this is to motor down a hill for a while using engine braking with the throttle closed,then open the throttle up and if you get a puff of smoke exiting the exhaust the stem seals are probably the culprit,best to get someone to follow you and observe rather then try look yourself,it,s a bit safer.If the oil loss occurs through the bores/pistons it usually shows up by smoke emitting from the exhaust under high revs/harsh acceleration,which going by what you say isn,t the case here,i,d be looking at the valve stem seals if i were you,

regards
Andy

 

[sagalout]

Just had first service on my Rallye and it didn't appear to use any oil.

Ran it in as per the book, which was surprisingly hard, and felt unnatural for the type of engine. Certainly had to force myself to use all the recommended revs when my reaction would normally be to short shift!

 

[AberdeenAngus]

hi gs girl,

Being a time served mechanic and going from your information saying that your bike uses less oil at constant speed, i,d surmise that it,s a valve stem seal problem if anything.This occurs when you are on the overrun with the throttle closed,this means the pistons cannot draw air/fuel because of the closed throttle/air flaps so the pistons will pull in oil from the top of the engine via the valve stem seals if the seals are worn/faulty and burn the oil off through the exhaust.A pretty sure way to test for this is to motor down a hill for a while using engine braking with the throttle closed,then open the throttle up and if you get a puff of smoke exiting the exhaust the stem seals are probably the culprit,best to get someone to follow you and observe rather then try look yourself,it,s a bit safer.If the oil loss occurs through the bores/pistons it usually shows up by smoke emitting from the exhaust under high revs/harsh acceleration,which going by what you say isn,t the case here,i,d be looking at the valve stem seals if i were you,

regards
Andy

Top advice

 

[Deleted account 211025001]

Top advice

Except the bit about finding a hill ;-)

Andres

 

[GSgirl]

If the oil loss occurs through the bores/pistons it usually shows up by smoke emitting from the exhaust under high revs/harsh acceleration

Thanks Andy, much appreciated! We have a small trip coming up this weekend to the hilly country of the Eifel. Will ask my husband to monitor my behind..

 

[billabong]

you,re welcome

have a nice trip.

 

[JayC]

You don't need anybody to check for smoke on an overun test. Park your bike up , feed in some revs in neutral , 2.5-3K for about ten seconds, it will sound painful , and shut the throttle. Any signs of smokes after shutting the throttle off and it's your stem seals.

 

[Packer]

You don't need anybody to check for smoke on an overun test. Park your bike up , feed in some revs in neutral , 2.5-3K for about ten seconds, it will sound painful , and shut the throttle. Any signs of smokes after shutting the throttle off and it's your stem seals.

With a catalysed bike won't the oil get burnt in the catalyst and not show in the exhaust at all?

As the bores are Nickasil coated unless one is faulty it's unlikely to be the cylinders which means either faulty, broken or poorly installed piston rings; faulty piston(s) or as seems more likely on the basis of Billabongs post a problem with the valve stem seals. Maybe someone forgot to install them at manufacture

Apart from the labour, fitting new rings and valve stem seals shouldn't be expensive and if the oil consumption is over the BMW figure a good dealer should pursue the problem on your behalf with BMW, especially if you are a long term customer.

 

[JayC]

With a catalysed bike won't the oil get burnt in the catalyst and not show in the exhaust at all?

Well if it doesn't drip on the floor from the casings it has only one other place of exit, burnt or otherwise. I very much doubt there is a litre or so of oil sitting in the cat , but if it was then when it burns it will give off a black smoke , this is where the exhaust comes in.

 

[Nick dj]

Oil?

It may be worth putting in a mineral oil for a couple of thousand miles.

I had a talk to my dealer when I had an 08 GS and they changed to the new synthetic oil. He told me that BMW had found that their cars burnt oil until 30/35k but they got less engine warranty claims.

I ran my new DOHC bike in per the book two up from picking it up. The dealer also told me to do 1K before first service and uses less than 1L in 6K

 

[jeff]

20/50 is not on bmw's recommendation list for the twin cam.

It is in southern Europe.Load of nonsense talked about oil on what is a basic air cooled twin. I have a r
twin cam. Semi-synthetic when new. Full synthetic on first service. Used a fair bit of oil. Back to semi-synthetic now, minimal oil use.

Great British trained mechanic works for Mottorad here in Xania Crete. Bmw recommend 20/50 but changed every 5000k (3000miles). Says synthetic oil comes out like water (but fine for the closer engineering tolerances of water cooled engines.)

 

[cookie]

It is in southern Europe.Load of nonsense talked about oil on what is a basic air cooled twin. I have a r
twin cam. Semi-synthetic when new. Full synthetic on first service. Used a fair bit of oil. Back to semi-synthetic now, minimal oil use.

Great British trained mechanic works for Mottorad here in Xania Crete. Bmw recommend 20/50 but changed every 5000k (3000miles). Says synthetic oil comes out like water (but fine for the closer engineering tolerances of water cooled engines.)

20w50 was on the chart for the 1200, but was removed with the advent of the twin cam, and i assume, a bung from castrol.

 

[bod]

It may be worth putting in a mineral oil for a couple of thousand miles.

I had a talk to my dealer when I had an 08 GS and they changed to the new synthetic oil. He told me that BMW had found that their cars burnt oil until 30/35k but they got less engine warranty claims.

I ran my new DOHC bike in per the book two up from picking it up. The dealer also told me to do 1K before first service and uses less than 1L in 6K

I remember the Yamaha R1 switching to mineral oil until the first service, because the combination of ceramic bores & fully synthetic oil wasn't running in the engine.

Hardly a drop used on my twin cam by the way!

 

[GSgirl]

We checked and no smoke is coming from the exhaust. Anybody heard of this yet or uses it? Wonder if it will help me.

motorex-boxer-4t-oil/

 

[APE]

If you're burning a lot of oil I'd go for something cheap tbh. A 20/50 mineral would be my choice - something you could easily find in a petrol station so you don't have to carry so much around.

 

[Daffy]

Bought my 12GS DOHC late last year. Picked it up this spring. It now has 7500mi on it and still uses about 1 liter of oil every 600mi.

At this sort of consumption I would say get it back to the dealer and tell them to solve the problem, don't waste time trying to figure it out, let them do it.

I reckon you have put in about 12 ltr of oil in it since new as opposed to 150 gallons of petrol (@ an assumed 50mpg), thats almost 10% oil to fuel ratio.

Get them to sort it or tell you what you are doing wrong.