New Rings under Warranty pour moi...

[motoman]

Tired of getting on my knees to check my oil all the time, so I asked my dealer and he graciously consented to re-ring my S and hone the cylinders, all under Warranty which expires in Feb. 04.

They also loaned me an '02 R1150R/Dakar to ride around until my bike is done. It's a lot more fun than I expected!

While the pipes are off, I'm having them sent to Jet-Hot for a nice matte black ceramic coating. I might put on the Black valve covers like the 1150R--they would look great on my black S, and much cheaper than CF...

I asked him if BMW would also upgrade me to 1150cc while they were at it (under warranty of course), but he told me not to push my luck.

Can you guys think of anything else I should do while the bike is down?

[EZ-RIDER]

Hey Motoman;


Where the hell have you been Lately?

[pmc847]

Balance the pistons while they are out.

Philip

[Olaf]

Moto,

How much Oil was yours eating? I have an 02 with 10,000 miles on it. Depending on how I am driving it, I can go through 1.5+ quarts per 3,000 miles.

I don't plan on doing anything about it now. Hope it will get better as more miles get on it. I am interested though.

Thanks,

Jon

[CarlosT]

Trade it in on a new '04 Mille?

[Olaf]

CarlosT,

Stop it!!! You are trying to get me in trouble:-)

Jon

[Joe H.]

I have read a lot of post here about the BMW using oil. I am curious if this is true in all of the bikes.
I bought my first BMW , a 2004 BCR in June and it has not used any as of now. I have not ran the bike with many miles before I change oil and filter so I can't say it dosn't use any. I did my first oil change at 158 miles then again at 630 miles. I now have 1250 miles so it is hard to say if it uses oil or not. If i waited 3000 to 4000 miles I mght notice it using oil.
I have two Ducati's an 851SP and a 996SPS and a Yamaha R1 and none of those use oil but I do change oil sooner than most people do. I never go much over 1500 miles and sometimes earlier if I do a track day on those bikes. If I waited to maybe 3000 or so miles maybe I would notice the bikes using oil. I have never seen any indication on the plugs.
I have seen post where some have said it takes 15 to 20,000 miles before the BMW stops using oil. I just can't imagine rings not seating after 2000 or 2500 miles.
I have had a some bikes in the past that did use oil , Nortons, BSA and some others but never enough to get exited about.
Well I was just curious if all these bikes are oil burners.

[repoe3]

if you change oil at that interval then you wont see any or much oil usage unless you run at full tilt the whole time. but the boxer engine does take a while to fully break-in and they run better with miles on them. will the bikes you have and the interval you change...do you ride that much? or is 1500 miles several months of riding for you? picked my 04 BCR up August 2nd and now have nearly 3k miles on it. since i commute on it and do a lot of city riding, i usually do a change every 3k miles.

repoe3

[Joe H.]

Originally posted by repoe3
if you change oil at that interval then you wont see any or much oil usage unless you run at full tilt the whole time. but the boxer engine does take a while to fully break-in and they run better with miles on them. will the bikes you have and the interval you change...do you ride that much? or is 1500 miles several months of riding for you? picked my 04 BCR up August 2nd and now have nearly 3k miles on it. since i commute on it and do a lot of city riding, i usually do a change every 3k miles.

repoe3

I know I change oil a lot sooner than nesassary but that is just something I do. It seems as though I am always changing oil on something.
I don't use any of the bikes for commuting or no city riding or as little as possible. I do ride one of those bikes with two or three other guys every weekend and sometimes maybe during the week one day or so. We do some pretty spirtted rides.
I didn't ride the BCR a whole lot after I picked it up but the last three or four weeks that is all I have been riding. I like the bike a lot after I got use to it. It is not near as fast as my other bikes or the GSXR's and one other Ducati that belongs to one of my fellow riders but they sure don't have to wait on me and they would be the first to tell you that also. They have been real surprised how well the BMW gets around. I also never really paid much attention to that 4000 RPM limit after the first couple hundred miles. I did change the exhaust and chip right after I bought the bike and I am changing shocks real soon.

[motoman]

I was burning about 1 qt/2000 miles. I change at 3000, especially since I'm adding new oil anyway!

I will admit, the bike was starting to run better at 15K miles, and it's possible things would continue to improve up to 20K miles, but the warranty would probably run out by then.

I plan to break it in a lot harder than I did the first time, and hopefully things will be better this time around.

Tom: I'm around! Gimme a call or email--now that Steve N. is gone, it's just us!

Carlos: If I ever buy a Beemer again, it will be a K bike.

Philip: Good idea on the pistons! I'll check into it..

[RoundelRider]

Originally posted by motoman
Can you guys think of anything else I should do while the bike is down?

Hummm, depnding on the down time and $$ to spend, High comp. pistons, larger valves, port/polish cylnder heads, port match heads, camshafts, cam sprockets, balance connecting rods, shot-peen connecting rods. Trade in for '04 Millie like Carlos said!

Just a few ideas.

John

[motoman]

Originally posted by RoundelRider
Hummm, depnding on the down time and $$ to spend, High comp. pistons, larger valves, port/polish cylnder heads, port match heads, camshafts, cam sprockets, balance connecting rods, shot-peen connecting rods. Trade in for '04 Millie like Carlos said!

You must have me confused with somebody named Cliff. The cost per HP gained would be astronomical!

A Mille would be fun, but at 6'3" not very comfortable...

I wouldn't mind jumping on an FJR1300 though...

[blakebird]

Originally posted by Joe H.
I have read a lot of post here about the BMW using oil. I am curious if this is true in all of the bikes.
I bought my first BMW , a 2004 BCR in June and it has not used any as of now.

My '04 Prep used a max of about 1/2 qt between 3,000 mile oil changes. By around 10,000 miles it had stopped consuming oil altogether.
At 12k, I switched from BMW 10w-40 to Mobil 1 15w-50.
It has 15k on it now, and has not used a drop for the last 5k miles.
Not that I think it makes any difference - but I left the bike pretty much stock for the first 10k, I just rode it.

[Iceblue02]

When I went to the MOA Rally I started out with about 2000 miles on the bike. We ended up doing 3500 miles that week and the S used right at 1.2 quarts. Now I have 7800 on it and getting ready to do a Florida trip. Will have 12K on it by the time I get back. Hope all oil consuption will be gone by then.

T

[repoe3]

iceblue02...while the mileage might be creeping (okay leaping) up on your S, touring will actually prolong the break-in time. spirited rides that takes the RPMs all the whay up, high engine speed, engine braking, etc. is what gets the temps up and rings seated. not that you dont do this, but if you rode from KS to WV dont think you were racing the whole time. after breaking in 3 S's and tracking my father's 2 S's, i can tell a difference when i ride his bike and give it a good run. he is a lot easier on the throttle than i am.

repoe3

[Firebolter]

I used a totsl of about 3/4 OF A QUART OF OIL IN THE FIRST 9K MILES, damn caps key........

Didn't use any oil until after the first 5K miles. Not a big deal, I have used oil in almost all of my bikes, but I flog them pretty good too.......