Yet Another Oil Q/Thread

[wiggledbits]

So I've had my S for 14 months. Got her with 10500/m on the clock. I think she was babied judging by the chicken strip and how she seemed tight. She was going through oil at about 1cc/mile. I was worried. I had a shop do the 12k maintenance and they used a 15-50W blend fuchs I think. She still went through the same oil. I went to Mobile 1 15-50W full syn on the next oil/filter change at about 14k. Took a long trip and went through the same ~1cc/mile. More worried but trusted that "a lot of them use that amount of oil". I then went to dino Castrol 20-50W as an experiment and I started to really flog her, hitting rev limit a few times and keeping her around 4500 - 7500 in the passes around here. Now I'm hardly burning any oil like maybe 200cc per 1k miles.

Could this be a delayed break in or do they really need to be flogged to break them in? I know she like the revs once you get to 5k she just pours them on. I ask because I'd hate to spend another $60 only to be pouring oil in every couple of hundred miles. She now has ~17500/m. (I think I've put only about 3k on my care during that time. :-) )

[cageyar]

You're over thinking this whole affair.
Stick with Mobil 1 15W50 and continue to flog.
The Mobil 1 and Castrol are both 50 weight at operating temperature.
IMO, you should stick with full synthetic, but quality oil in any case.
Anyone who says the R engine uses zero oil......is wrong.
As I said, continue to flog - you'll be fine.

[Guest24]

WB, my '04 S stopped using the break-in oil consumption level at about 16k on clock. I went to Mobile 1 and it would use 1/2qt in 5k miles. That 's good enough and the plugs we a nice light toast color.

[Deans BMW]

The reason your bike stopped using oil is that you started flogging it. I always switch to mobil 1 15-50 Synth at my first oil change at about 200 to 300 miles.

[ranadrew]

Takes a while for the bikes to break in. Has to do with that hard as hayell alloy cylinder sleeve BMW uses (yes the same sleeve that then goes on to perform for up to 100,000 miles).

I have read lots of jabber on this issue on the Adventure Rider site. Your experience parallels that of my R1150GSA with remarkable fidelity. I ran dino oil till it stopped burning a litre per 1000mi. And it was pronounced and obvious when it did stop consuming oil. My recollection is those oilhead adventure nut jobs reached consensus that using dino oil until break-in (as evidenced by no more oil consumption) was preferred. Once break-in was reached, switch to synthetic. The boys appeared to approve of both Mobil 1 and Castrol Syntec... and they were universally opposed to the use of BMW branded lubricants.

My 03 R11S just rolled 9K on the clock and it still burns, so it is still on the dino diet. I expect it to earn synthetic conversion rights around 12-14K.

[1100s nut]

I agree with above but I would not just change it short just to put syn. back in....I would go 3-4 k on the conventional oil....you might get a little more break in that way.

Lane

[PFFOG]

At 44K I still use 1/2 Qt/rear tire, which is probably a better yard stick than miles.

Ride it like you stole it, the price of fun is tires, fuel and oil.