Oil usage

WillyB

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Hi
My 2006 has 45000
My first boxer and BMW
I have noticed it is using quite a bit of oil, half a litre in about 2000 miles and recently the same in about 1000 miles, is this normal ?
It gets heavy used as in 2 up and luggage most of that mileage.
My previous Tiger used none between changes.

Cheers for any help
 
Mines the same. Can take it out for a days hard riding and go through half the oil on the sight glass.

Ride to austria non stop and iy doesnt burn a drop. Strange engine.


Just check it every time before you use it.
 
Make sure you are not over filling the engine and following the checking procedure in the manual. If you do not have a manual, download the PDF from the BMW website for free.

Some bikes like to settle half way down the sight glass and will chuck out via the breather or burn off excess oil.

Personally, I am happy as long as oil is visible in the sight glass about a third of the way up. My bike generally sits at two thirds and rarely has a top up between services. My R1200RS has done 22,000 miles since 2016 and has used less than half a litre of oil in top ups in that time.
 
It sits half way up the glass when stone cold, it was stitting near the top when it was serviced and cold, l have a Haynes but ther'e not the best 😆
I normally warm engine, leave for 10mins and top up to nearly the top of sight glass? Is this right?

Cheers again
 
WillyB said:
It sits half way up the glass when stone cold, it was stitting near the top when it was serviced and cold, l have a Haynes but ther'e not the best ��
I normally warm engine, leave for 10mins and top up to nearly the top of sight glass? Is this right?

Cheers again
Click to expand...

leave it half way up and you will probably see it stay there ... if it goes lower then you will need to top up

I only ever check my oil after a ride. Park the hot bike on the side stand. Go in house, toilet, make coffee, check phone for messages etc. After the coffee, pop the bike on the main stand, peer at the sight glass, if there is oil at or above 30% then stick the bike in the garage. On the very rare occasion the oil is below 30% then I stick in about 200ml of oil. I never top up the oil so the top level is not visible in the sight glass.

The amount of oil to take the level from bottom of the sight glass to the top is less than half a litre so do not fret unless the oil level disappears out of sight completely.
 
Oh no... the dark art of oil level checking.
Now for my 2 penneth, which plenty will probably disagree with anyway...lol.
My old 2005 Hexhead now has around 75k on it and I tend to take a cursory glance at oil level before I start her up, but the main way I check is when I get back from a decent ride. Leave bike on side stand for a couple of minutes then put on centre stand for a couple more then check sight glass. If it anywhere above a third I'm happy.
In my experience using super expensive high tech synthetic oils means it uses a fair bit so I stick to mineral or semi synth 20/50.
Also when I've filled oil to the upper mark the bike like to burn it off till it get to about mid sight glass anyway.
Best to just get a routine and stick to it.
BTW, it's not advised to warm your bike up on its stand.


Sent from my CLT-L29 using Tapatalk
 
Is there a rationale for leaving the bike on the side stand for a few minutes before going on the centre stand to check the oil level as the manual does not recommend this two stage proceedure ?
 
Not really. But to my mind putting the bike on side stand means sight glass side is lower so allowing any oil to drain to lowest point before taking a reading with the bike level.
Most important thing is sticking with your preferred method.

Sent from my CLT-L29 using Tapatalk
 
My method; Go to bike (1200 TC, cold engine) which will be on centre stand, look at sight glass, can i see oil? (preferably a third to half way up the glass) Yes, then good to go. No, (never happened yet) top up required.

I never need to top up between changes and the bike has now done 73k.

Life is much simpler if you don't over complicate these things :rob
 
There’s a direct correlation between worrying about engine oil level and oil consumption. The more you worry and fret about it, the more oil your bike will consume.
 
Hi all and thanks again for your replies.
Don't worry' I don't worry..
I have not owned a Boxer/BMW before and was just asking..
As in all bike they take oil (apart from the obvious :barf:barf lecky bikes)
Now I know half way up the glass when cold is fine and thanks again for that..
Sorry for the misunderstanding, when I mean warm up I mean a run out to get to temp :okay

Great site this and proud to be a paid member :thumb2


Cheers Bill
 
Once warmed up I tend to ride like marc marques' grown up older brother who can actually ride a bike...

Around the 20k mile mark I discovered my GS1200's first ever use of any engine oil... I did an 900 mile trip and used 1 litre of oil.... it was very hot >35C, with lots of miles covered around 95mph, and it was running 10-40 synthetic

I moved to 10-50 synthetic and its never used a drop since. Even a >32C, >120mph for more than 300 miles across Germany didn't use a single ml.

But they are making it hard to come by at a sensible price, 15-50 castrol is almost available for free these days. I just swapped to this, not sure I like it, you can feel it hold the bike back vs the posher 10-50
 
not sure I like it, you can feel it hold the bike back vs the posher 10-50]

Utter bollox, I've heard it all now.
 
you would, its all very simple

go to your BM dealer and ask them. The recco is not to got to synthetic till its had 30k miles to run in... the significantly better, lower friction & higher lubricity of decent synthetic oil can physically stop an engine from bedding in correctly, and on old fossils like this, that includes the break in period for the piston rings,

if it didn't have any differences it wouldn't be available…. don't bother being rude.... go with two bottles of oil, put it in a dyno and then come back and apologise
 
And you can tell that from your seat of pants dyno? Go faster oil, excellent. I heard someone talking about the powerband on an RD350, maybe I should fit one of those too, does anyone make them for boxers?
 
Steptoe said:
There’s a direct correlation between worrying about engine oil level and oil consumption. The more you worry and fret about it, the more oil your bike will consume.
Click to expand...

WORRY

Never worry till worry worries you
When worry worries you that's the time to worry
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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