oil usage

[scottie boy]

Has any one ever gotten a proper explanation as to why our beloved boxers use engine oil? My RT is well within the limits stated in the owner's manual. I'm just curious.

[kioolt]

My 04 RT was using oil up until 18k. At that point I took it to the dealer for service. I did the 6k and 12k myself. The dealer put BMW synthetic oil in it. Previously I was using BMW dino oil. I then went to the national and put 6800 miles on it in two weeks. It used only about 3 ounces of oil. From this I drew the conclusion that the higher flash point of the synthetic was the reason for the lower oil comsumption. I now have Amsoil synthetic in it but I don't have enough miles on it to check usage yet.

[graben]

At the 600 mile check up on my '04 RT, the dealer refilled with in house oil and at 4900 miles I had used one quart of BMW regular oil for refills. So the bike used one quart of oil in 4300 miles. Don't know if that's average or not. The 4300 miles was mostly highway speeds and tristy road speeds.

[username]

ive only got ~9 months of owning this bike under my belt, so take my comments with a grain of salt please.

mine conusmes oil relative to two things - valve adjustment and oil level. (my bike, 2002 R1150RA has ~8k on it right now.) i run regular dino oil, BMW brand.

it was using no oil at all when i took it in for the 6k service in june or so. then it started using it like mad. dealer tells me that it'll do that after a valve adjustment. im still adding miles and waiting to see if it settles out. july and august are lousy riding months down here, so it'll get exercised a little more this fall and i'll find out. also, im planning to do my own valve adjustments in the future, so i'll know what the gaps were, and be able to talk more intelligently about this sort of thing. for now im just a dealer dummy.

anyway, prior to the service, if the oil level in the sight glass was close to the top, it'd use oil down to about the middle, and then hold steady. weird, but true.

the big thing i've read/learnt with these bikes is dont mess around with micromanaging the oil level, and check it the same way every time. meaning, come home from a ride, put it up on the center stand, take off all your gear, kiss your SO hello (with your teeth, because you should be grinning like an idiot after your ride. :D ) and then after 5-10 minutes, go look at the oil level.

i dont add oil until it's near the bottom of the glass. i dont like to add piddly amounts, because there are all sorts of places for it to hide in the engine it seems. an ounce here or there is too fine an amount for me to add.

as a BMW owner you are allowed to exhibit a pretty high level of obsessive compulsive disorder without actually having to seek treatment. to that end, check your oil obsessively, record how your bike behaves, and over the course of a few weeks, if you ride every other day or so, youll get to know your bike. thus far thats been the best way to maintain the bike (or most anything for that matter) - use it fairly often and then notice when something is out of whack.

btw, if you're going to fiddle with your oil filler cap frequently, go buy a spare o-ring for the oil filler cap and keep it handy. if the thing gets pinched or goofily handled, your oil will seep out and coat your leg and left saddle bag and make a terrific mess in a very short distance. a guy over on the advrider site had this happen to him, and it sucked. (for him.) a tablespoon of nasty motoroil misted by the speed of the bike can cover half your leg.

hope this helps.

[Mr. Frank]

Originally posted by scottie boy
Has any one ever gotten a proper explanation as to why our beloved boxers use engine oil? My RT is well within the limits stated in the owner's manual. I'm just curious.

The short answer is it's an air cooled engine. Things settle down for most folks between 10K and 15K miles. Synthetic does better than dino if it bothers you.

Parking on the side stand for awhile before putting it on the center stand gives more consistent readings. From the top to the bottom of the sight glass is only half a quart, so small variations don't mean much.