oil consumption, yet again

[Missouri Bob]

At the risk of boring everyone senseless, I would like to start yet another oil-consumption thread.

 

At 8700 miles, it appears that the rings in my R1200ST have never seated. I recently started to keep detailed records of the oil usage, and I think I am seeing a trend.

 

If I run the bike at lower RPM (3K – 4K), it uses more oil than if I keep it spinning above 5K. It also seems to use less oil if the ambient temperature is higher. Could these observations be explained by rings that have not seated? FWIW, I use conventional 20w-50 oil. The dealer has suggested that I go to 10w-40 to hasten the break-in.

 

Thanks.

 

Bob

[MikeB60]

Rode mine like I stole it (actually I still do!) with varing runs up to the red line right after I bought it. Dumped the oil at 300 miles, had the dealer do the 600 mile service. Didn't add a drop until I changed it at 6000 miles.

YMMV

[Norrie123]

Same here, was told to drive it on and did. Oil change every 6k, and hasn't used any in between.

[Leo Flor]

I thought the 1200 boxers were improved because my 2005 R1200RT, now at 19K km, does not consume any oil -- none that I can notice, anyway.

 

My 2001 R1150RT (model designation started as 2001 outside the US) consumed oil according to specs, about half a liter per 1000 km from the start. That, of course, varied with riding conditions. Oil consumption diminished considerably by 20K km, and was unnoticeable by about 45K.

 

I guess I'm mistaken. 1200 boxers still consume oil but consumption can vary significantly from one unit to the next.

[Rocket_Cowboy]

I haven't noticed any oil consumption on my R12RT, although I'm only at ~3400 miles on the odo, so it's still pretty early on.

[duckbubbles]

My ST used oil at about a quart in 5000 miles until 10,000 miles. At that time I switched to synthetic and the consumption dropped to about 1/4 quart in the same distance. I don't know if it was the synthetic, the mileage or a combination, but that's what happened. You need to put some more miles in it and let it get broken in.

I have noticed that it doesn't seem to use oil when run hard. The opposite of what you'd expect.

Don't top off the engine with oil until it disappears in the window. Some engines will reach a "comfortable" level and maintain that.

 

Frank

[grasslander]

Living in flat straight eastern Kansas, I had to plan my run in for best conditions. Bought my ST in May (what plan, actually went in to buy a tire for my 04KGT for an upcoming track day - and left with an R12ST).

 

I ran mine by the book to 250mi. Dropped the oil and filter at 50 miles and 250 miles for 10w40w. Went to the race track for 2 days with Jason P. Never exceeded 6k for the first day. Constant varying throttle with intermittent heavy ring loading and constant gear changing for 2-30 min followed by a 20 min cool down for 8 hours. Same for day 2 with 3 warm steady runs just to below red line in the afternoon. Left the track and went in for the 600 mile check and switched to 20-50w. I've never had to add oil between 3000 mile changes.

[Missouri Bob]

So nobody's R1200 uses oil other than mine. That's just peachy. I'm down to 400 miles/litre.

[Fergie]

Bob, Go out and ride it like you stole it for a couple of hours. You need to get the cylinder and piston temps up to seal the rings in good. Be a nice ride to. When I picked up my 06 R12RT thats what I did. Have'nt used a drop.

[Missouri Bob]

Bob, Go out and ride it like you stole it for a couple of hours. You need to get the cylinder and piston temps up to seal the rings in good. Be a nice ride to. When I picked up my 06 R12RT thats what I did. Have'nt used a drop.

 

Been there. Done that. I have been tracking my oil usage with the following results in miles/litre: 1260, 820, 600, 400. I would say that a problem exists.

 

To repeat my initial question, are my observations consistent with rings that have not seated?

[Fergie]

It could be rings. It also could be valve guides or valve seals but I don't think BMW has a problem with guides or seals. You could try a quart of marvel mistery oil for a while to see if that would seal the rings. That's a trick from the old days. You could also do a leak down test to see what the leakage percentage is and where it is leaking. You never have a 100 percent seal because of ring gap but it should be less than 6 percent, by the way if you do this the engine should be up to temp. Other than that it's hard to diagnose it over a forum.

[Jim VonBaden]

So nobody's R1200 uses oil other than mine. That's just peachy. I'm down to 400 miles/litre.

 

Mine used about a quart to the thousand miles untill about 15K miles. At 28K miles it is down to a quart for 4-5K miles.

 

Jim

[duckbubbles]

You wouldn't be one of these guys that insists on the oil level being kept up near the top of the window, would you? Adding at the slightest drop in level? Take the air filter out and look into the airbox with a light and mirror. If you see that it is oily you might be keeping it too full.

I let mine get down to the bottom of the window before I even think of adding.

 

Just a thought.

 

Frank

[PaulW42]

So nobody's R1200 uses oil other than mine. That's just peachy. I'm down to 400 miles/litre.

 

Mine uses a litre every 3-4k. Your's sounds waaay too high (and outside even BM's pessimistic spec as well).

[sardineone]

My ST uses hardly any oil at all, so I don't believe it is the R12 engine design at fault. This critique is not to criticise but, to inform. Sorry to say your problem might be the way you ran in your new motor. I've been told that a break-in oil is used from the factory. So you needed to leave that in till the 600 mile service. I also was attendant to not run the motor too easy during that period. I varied my speed often using half throttle often at the RPM's BMW recommended. After the 600 mile service I ran the motor as hard as I pleased and it was still gaining power till the 5000 mile mark. I'm inclined to believe what a GS riding friend had told me that riding a new boxer easy results in taking forever to seat the rings.

I also don't recommend adding any oil if at or above halfway in the sight glass. Reason for this is the thermostatically controlled oil cooler. On shorter trips that doesn't bring the engine oil to full operating temp, the level will appear a bit low when parked. When fully warmed from a longer ride, the oil cooler will mostly drain and the level comes right back up. Not heeding this procedure just over fills the sump and yes excess oil will be blown out.

[Missouri Bob]

You wouldn't be one of these guys that insists on the oil level being kept up near the top of the window, would you? Adding at the slightest drop in level? Take the air filter out and look into the airbox with a light and mirror. If you see that it is oily you might be keeping it too full.

I let mine get down to the bottom of the window before I even think of adding.

 

Just a thought.

 

Frank

 

Good point, but not in this case. I wait until the level is just about off the bottom of the window before adding, and I don't even think about checking the level unless I just rode at least 30 miles.

 

As for break-in, that's probably the source of this issue. It is my hope that I can still break it in, rather than buy a set of rings and top-end tear-down.

 

I bought this bike as a dealer demo with 1200 miles on the clock.

[Ken H.]

At 8700 miles, the rings are no where near seated yet. Report back when you have double that on it.

 

It's not unusual for oil consumption to not start to totally taper off until 20K miles on some boxers.

[BFish]

my 2004 RT tapered at approx 15k. feel like i screwed up the first couple k miles wear-in wise.

 

just ride it hard, make it work and you'll start noticing a decline is oil thirst.

[bmwnotharley]

hi

many 1200rt use oil but most like mine use less as the miles mount up, i think you have a problem that needs attention if it was a case of rings bedding in this would have happened by now

[duckbubbles]

In your original post you mentioned that the dealer said to put some 10W40 non-synthetic oil in it and run it hard. That's what my dealers top tech told me also.

Running the snot out of a bike as fast as the ST isn't such an easy task, believe me, I know.

At the 2500 mile mark, I took it out for about 50 miles, never letting the revs fall much below 6000, using the lower gears and lots of throttle when I could, saw 130+ mph indicated about 8 times. It was a weekday morning with no traffic on rural roads with good sight lines, and it still wasn't that easy. After that I immediately changed oil and filter, let it drip overnight.

That didn't change the oil consumption at that time, but the engine seemed to run easier and smoother after that. Since 10,000 miles it's consumption has dropped to something like 1/4 quart in 5000 miles. YMMV

 

Frank

[sardineone]

Running the snot out of a bike as fast as the ST isn't such an easy task

Well you can get some quality engine running by riding US129 Deals Gap in second gear. After that trip my 6th gear roll-ons compaired to my 5th gear ones before the trip. I also had broken the 5k mile barrier on the ride home.