I think there is truth in slowed oil loss after a few miles on the bike

[majordad]

I am up to 22k miles on my 2005 RT and so far I haven't had to add any oil in after my oil change at 20k. there has been no noticable oil loss over the last 2k miles. It was sort of dramatic too because I had to add oil around 18k. so far I haven't had to.

[stubble!]

I'm curious to see if the same holds true for mine. I'm due for a change as soon as I get home from DV, and I'll be at about 19k by then. So she's finally getting broken in I plan to switch to Mobil 1 synthetic then. Still adding oil at the normal rate currently, seems like about every 1k it's down toward the bottom of the glass again.

[Haynes]

I was a sceptic when I bought my first boxer but the results certainly showed that the oil usage diminishes with age.

I have had two R1150RTs and both of them used very small amounts of oil between changes. Both bikes have a significant amount of two-up riding so I suspect that the rings bedded fairly well with the extra load.

[Rags]

Its the way it works. The rings are out of round when assembled. oil bypasses until the rings seat (wear in). This is the breakin period.

[rule_62]

From the time I bought my RT until about 11K miles, I used about 1/2 quart per 1K miles. Because of this bad behavior, I have a habit of checking the glass almost every time I hop on..

 

The bike has 13 K miles on it and the level has not moved in the previous 1500 miles.

[duckbubbles]

I can agree with that, too. My ST used oil, but not excessively for the first 10,000 miles. I did an oil change at that time and switched to Mobil 1 15W50 and since then the oil consumption is almost nothing, not enough to top off between oil changes.(5000 miles)

I can't say if it is the oil, mileage or a combination, but that's just the facts, ma'am.

 

Frank

[DaveC]

Unfortunately I have not been so lucky.

I have a 97' R850R with 28k miles that I have owned for 8 years now.

I use about a quart of oil every 1000 miles.

I am using the standard BMW 20-50 dealer supplied oil.

I have not accurately measured the use lately, but I am frequently adding oil. I have just accepted this as "normal" for this bike.

 

I do like the bike. Buying oil is a lot cheaper than trying to fix this problem with a top end rebuild.

[woodscrew]

My '99RT has 24k on the clock.The last time I measured accurately was from 17k to 20k.Exactly one quart in 3000 miles.Synthetic. I just add as needed now and carry some on the bike.And don't worry about it.

[RFW]

Its the way it works. The rings are out of round when assembled. oil bypasses until the rings seat (wear in). This is the breakin period.

That is fairly obvious, but the real question is, why is this an R-Bike thing and not a K-bike thing? Or, put another way, why do K-bikes not need 20K miles of break in before the rings start to properly fit the bores?

[Boffin]

Its the way it works. The rings are out of round when assembled. oil bypasses until the rings seat (wear in). This is the breakin period.

That is fairly obvious, but the real question is, why is this an R-Bike thing and not a K-bike thing? Or, put another way, why do K-bikes not need 20K miles of break in before the rings start to properly fit the bores?

 

Just thinking out loud here...

The 4-cylinder K bikes have a pretty much constant crankcase volume - as one piston goes up another comes down. I can't easily visualise the 3-cylinder engine (I blame the 10yo Jura) but there is probably little difference in volume. With the boxer engines though, the crankcase volume changes are equal to the bikes displacement - 1038cc on an 1150 because both pistons go in and out together. This has got to put a much higher pumping effect on all the engine components, rings, valve seals, crank breathers. What is suprising is that they do not use more oil...

 

Andy

[Rags]

Its the way it works. The rings are out of round when assembled. oil bypasses until the rings seat (wear in). This is the breakin period.

That is fairly obvious, but the real question is, why is this an R-Bike thing and not a K-bike thing? Or, put another way, why do K-bikes not need 20K miles of break in before the rings start to properly fit the bores?

 

Because its a boxer? Horizontally opposed where the oil lays in the cylinder rather than leaking back into the crankcase after cooling. Every start up has a little blow by. Little + a little....

 

My 911 had a little smoke at starting when new.