Sudden oil use

[MikeP]

I rode normally except for one short sprint (about 2 miles) at an indicated 120 mph. Is that the cause, do you think? If so, does this mean I can expect it to drop to minimum if I do this speed for 4 miles and to seize if I do it for many more

Malc

Have a re-read of your original post, second paragraph.

If that's not worthy of sarcasm, I don't know what is!

Perhaps if that paragraph had been accompanied by something to indicate that it was tongue-in-cheek and not just a stupid question.

 

[Wizard]

Wizard's reply seems to indicate that he has some difficulty with reading, so I won't comment further.

I have no difficulty with reading whatsoever. It would appear that you are the one who didn't see Mike's statement that he knew his comments may appear sarcastic, thereby trying to show that there was no offence intended. Either that or you're so thin-skinned that you decided to take offence anyway, in which case I really do look forward to any further posts you make to this forum....... particularly threads like this one when Steptoe is around!!!

Oh, and I won't bother using a smilie, since there isn't one that covers "hypocritical ".

 

[newman7096]

Time out FFS!!! Its only oil

 

[Wizard]

Time out FFS!!! Its only oil

Well, I'm fed the feck up with whinging little gits who come onto a forum (look up the meaning of the word peeps!!!) and kick off when everyone else doesn't immediately bow, scrape and blow smoke up their ass. Mike raised a valid point, made clear that the tone of his post wasn't really what he intended, and then the big girls blouse throws her toys out of the pram. Boo flaming hoo, welcome to life.



(sits on floor, closes eyes and crosses legs) uummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

 

[JDH]

Mavcvtr:

People are trying to be helpful here but when you call our bikes "German Shit" I take OFFENCE. Don't try and compare oil consumption with a water cooled four and an air/oil cooled twin and listen to the advice you've been given

Oh yes, and how helpful is this comment - If so, what on earth possessed you to go and fill it to the top? If you had a dipstick would you always top-up if the oil was halfway between the top and bottom dipstick marks?

Mal, sorry you have had the flack from some on this site, personally I can fully understand your concerns, same happened to me and it's worrying. True, there is a lot posted on the site about these things, and a lot of it is designed to be helpful to the uninitiated, so always worth a look before you incur the wrath of some pompous individual waiting by his pc to pounce. Pretty sure you will end up being very happy with the "German sh*t" once you have got used to the bike. Good luck with it.

JDH

 

[Malcvtr]

Thanks mate. I unreservedly retract the "German shit" comment by the way

 

[MikeP]

Oh yes, and how helpful is this comment - If so, what on earth possessed you to go and fill it to the top? If you had a dipstick would you always top-up if the oil was halfway between the top and bottom dipstick marks?

Mal, sorry you have had the flack from some on this site, personally I can fully understand your concerns, same happened to me and it's worrying.
JDH

When you've finished smoothing each other's ruffled feathers perhaps you might explain this.

Lot's of miles = no oil consumption.

60 miles = significant oil loss.

So how the does topping-up the oil level address what Malc then goes on to suggest is oil an loss rate that is going to lead to terminal engine siezure if speeds of 120 mph were maintained for four minutes or longer?

It was a stupid post but instead of just saying that in the first place, I was sarcastic.

Poor Malc didn't like my sarcasm and now you are suffering vicariously too.

I'm not sure I'll be able to sleep for weeks!

Oops! There I go being sarcastic again.

 

[marcus]

Hey Malcvtr

For what it's worth now there's toys flying about

I'm on my 3rd BMW flat twin

They've all given odd oil sight glass readings from time to time, which is generally solved by looking at something else.

I've overfilled, nearly run out and got knows what else but the old bilge-pump engine keeps chugging away.

I've found that the more mileage an engine has, the less oil it has used. So the situation improves with time and after a while you stop having to carry oil about unless its a really long journey

If there isn't enough oil going round the engine makes a very distinctive tappitytappity sound.

 

[JDH]

When you've finished smoothing each other's ruffled feathers perhaps you might explain this.

Lot's of miles = no oil consumption.

60 miles = significant oil loss.

So how the does topping-up the oil level address what Malc then goes on to suggest is oil an loss rate that is going to lead to terminal engine siezure if speeds of 120 mph were maintained for four minutes or longer?

It was a stupid post but instead of just saying that in the first place, I was sarcastic.

Poor Malc didn't like my sarcasm and now you are suffering vicariously too.

I'm not sure I'll be able to sleep for weeks!

Oops! There I go being sarcastic again.

My feathers are entirely unruffled I can assure you

JDH

 

[Malcvtr]

The interesting thing about all this is that it appears I haven't overfilled my bike. I've been on three rides since my question - a total of 162 miles - and each time I've checked it in accordance with what the manual says. The oil level each time is about two millimetres below the top line. So, I have no idea what happened to that original oil I guess someone might now suggest that I had the bike on an uneven surface and so got a false reading. Because I know that could be a problem, I check for levelness before checking the level.

Sorry Mike about not taking your advice to check before taking the bike for a ride, but I read other posts on other threads and found lots recommending the checking of the oil five minutes after a ride - just like the manual says. For example, Mouse said in a post back in July 05, "If you have overfilled the engine slightly, the excess oil will get burnt off this way. I think new BMW owners are prone to overfilling their bikes (I know I was) because if you read the oil level when the engine is cold, it looks as though the oil is low. Remember to check your oil 5 minutes after a good run, while the engine is still warm."

My feathers are also unruffled. Are yours OK?

Cheers,

Malc

 

[MikeP]

My feathers are also unruffled. Are yours OK?

No feathers here, just scales.

 

[Malcvtr]

I'm glad.

 

[(RIP) Proff]

I'm so so Happy my Happy Beemers are Proper old Boxers cooled purely by air
I couldn't be doing with all this heavy oil consumption bollox.

 

[Fanum]

Dear oh dear, we go away for one flippin weekend and everyone gets teir hand bags out for a bit of a sparring session!!!

One comment on oil consumption that we discovered recently.....

On the way down to Morocco, nobody used a drop of the stuff......same with the way back, and that's six days of 750+ miles a day in total (though TBH I'm not sure about Love James Burton's new SE 1150ADV....that may be a different case)

All the rest of us were on 30k+ bikes, so all run in nicely........and didn't use a drop

There was one day however when we did 100 miles of seriously gorgeous fast twisties on the way from Fes to Marrakesh......flat out hard on the throttle jobbies......on that day, we were ALL low on oil afterwards and stuck in 4 litres of 20/50 between us to top up.

 

[Paul Wakefield]

For somebody coming new to Boxers, I can quite understand why it comes as a surprise to discover that oil level reading is something of an art form and why an apparent sudden increase in oil usage is alarming.

The only comment I would add which I don't think has been specifically mentioned is that the oil has to have been right up to operating temperature before a reading (whether the reading is taken immediately after or when cold). A 5 minute run is no use; ideally you want at least 10 miles.

Paul

 

[GSmonkey]

The fact that somebody can be offended by somebody calling their make of bike "German Shit" is amazing. Having owned both German cars and bikes, that phrase has passed my lips quite a few times.

1. Chill out
2. Get a life

(note the smiley)