Burning Engine Oil
- Thread starter Warlord
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On my second LC GS ridden both hard, 24,000 mls, never used a drop.
My 13 plate LC never used any oil but my 15 plate did use about 0.5 litres over 14k miles. Well within BMW specifications mine and yours. Much better than the old oil cooled models, used to take oil on every trip we did 
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I really don't know!
I change the oil in my 1200RT each October/November, when they start to salt the roads. Then I park the bike till the start of March. From then till the following Autumn, I never look at the oil level again. When I drain it, there is always plenty in it, so I am happy enough. I do remember, though, that though all of the BMWs I have bought used oil when I bought them, I cured it by twisting the Tiger's tail quite hard.
I do not obsess over motorcycle oil levels. The engine holds lots of oil, and cornering does not centrifuge the oil away from the pickup.
Ride it harder through the gears, hitting the rev limiter regularly, and it will soon cease to use the little oil it does.
Myke
I change the oil in my 1200RT each October/November, when they start to salt the roads. Then I park the bike till the start of March. From then till the following Autumn, I never look at the oil level again. When I drain it, there is always plenty in it, so I am happy enough. I do remember, though, that though all of the BMWs I have bought used oil when I bought them, I cured it by twisting the Tiger's tail quite hard.
I do not obsess over motorcycle oil levels. The engine holds lots of oil, and cornering does not centrifuge the oil away from the pickup.
Ride it harder through the gears, hitting the rev limiter regularly, and it will soon cease to use the little oil it does.
Myke
roadrunner
Registered user
500ml in 5000 miles is hardly excessive? it's normal.
Compared to the older aircooled engines it's not much at all. My 2009 GS MU used a litre every 3000 miles and my 2012 RT TC used a litre every 2000 miles 
My GS LC doesn't use any between services, neither the original 2014 engine or the replacement 2016 engine
My GS LC doesn't use any between services, neither the original 2014 engine or the replacement 2016 engine
very usefull on a thread about the l/c engine thanks for sharing
The LC still uses a horizontally opposed twin boxer engine which shares some of the characteristics of it's earlier brothers, which is why I 'shared'.
I thought some of the aims of the UKGSER forum were to encourage a community of like minded people and to encourage its members to share their experiences and knowledge for the benefit of members. Sarcastic comments from Cnuts like you only serve to do the opposite.
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my 944 porsche is quoted as 400mls/lt
J biker
Registered user
Not being too gentle when running in, will have the benefit of preventing glazed bores. Rings, pistons, bore should all then be bedded in nicely. Much preferable to something that has had no decent load applied during the running in process. Treating them too gentle is a mistake IMO.
My preference is to just ride the damn thing, building up to riding like I stole it in time for 1st oil change. Worked so far, and never had motor that used excessive amounts of oil as a result. That includes some high miles bikes and cars.
PDiddy
Registered user
I've never had to top my LC up between services, in for a 24k service next week - 
My old hexhead used to burn a fair amount of oil but the three WC's I've owned since 2014 (one standard GS & two GSAs) I've never had to top the oil up between servicing.
Ok so here we are:
My bike is March 17',
Has done 5500 miles since first service, (total mileage 6200)
I've just bought and topped up oil at the dealers and it taken in approx 580ml.
This was my oil level this morning after parking last night.
Should I be concerned???
On my last GS LC I was advised to keep an eye out for oil levels as it was low at the point of service. That bike done nearly20k and had 3 owners. One of which was dealership and they used it as a demo bike.
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My bike is March 17',
Has done 5500 miles since first service, (total mileage 6200)
I've just bought and topped up oil at the dealers and it taken in approx 580ml.
This was my oil level this morning after parking last night.
Should I be concerned???
On my last GS LC I was advised to keep an eye out for oil levels as it was low at the point of service. That bike done nearly20k and had 3 owners. One of which was dealership and they used it as a demo bike.
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M30SJM
Registered user
I've always been of the opinion that running in as per the book is more a safety exercise on the manufacturers behalf, making sure nothings going to fall off or vibrate loose before the first service, after all the engines are run up to high revs at the factory before they go into the frame (as per the boxer build video). My mates just bought a 900 mile ex demo GSA and i'll be telling him to ride it as normal. I've also always thought that it's banging them down through the gears using the engine braking that uses the oil rather than high revs, although glazed bores due to too soft a run in is probably the worst case.
I've got to say that with the settled telelever front end i tend to ride into the corners a bit harder using the brakes, more than i have for the last 10 years riding Triumphs, where i tend to just use the gears to slow down, and my 1050 would drink oil. If i went up the west coast of scotland i would take 1/2 litre of oil with me.
Stu
I've got to say that with the settled telelever front end i tend to ride into the corners a bit harder using the brakes, more than i have for the last 10 years riding Triumphs, where i tend to just use the gears to slow down, and my 1050 would drink oil. If i went up the west coast of scotland i would take 1/2 litre of oil with me.
Stu
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Deleted account 181015003
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It could be worse you could have corrosion insteadGreat, thanks guys.
I'll keep it topped up and keep an eye on it. So I won't worry any further, just treat it as the bikes 'Character'
It only felt excessive enough to ask on here because I've used 500ml on top ups, so thought I'd check.
But I'm not saintly when I ride, so it does get used hard at times over the last 5000 miles.
100ml per 1000 miles it seems.
Bless it
Deleted account 181015003
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Ok so here we are:
My bike is March 17',
Has done 5500 miles since first service, (total mileage 6200)
I've just bought and topped up oil at the dealers and it taken in approx 580ml.
This was my oil level this morning after parking last night.
Should I be concerned???
On my last GS LC I was advised to keep an eye out for oil levels as it was low at the point of service. That bike done nearly20k and had 3 owners. One of which was dealership and they used it as a demo bike.
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The older models needed the oil hot to get an accurate reading are you sure your not overfilling it ?
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