“NEW” 2011 RT, question on oil level sight window

[Arnes RT]

Good logical read; thank you David for the excellent oil drain-down explanation.

[Grumpy]

I just did a search on this forum about oil levels.  There are two pages worth of threads that mention this issue. 
The longer I own this thing the more I shake my head.  If an owner can't figure out how to check an oil level properly (and this pig burns oil like no modern motorcycle ever should meaning oil levels must be checked often and accurately) then it seems to me there is an engineering/design issue or at least a complete disregard for the customer by BMW.
BMW makes a nice-looking bike and the low CG is appreciated, but it's designed like a 1950s era John Deere tractor (farmers called them a two-popper) without the ease of maintenance and repair the tractor has.
My apologies to the BMW fans out there, but I regret the purchase of this bike and I'm stuck with it for the foreseeable future, at least until something major goes wrong with it (and I'm guessing that will happen eventually, based on what I've read).

[David.]

On a Camhead, there is an oil level indicator which appears as a "Tick" next to the word "Oil" when it is selected on the BC.

This photo is showing _ _ _ , the engine needs to be up to temperature, running & in neutral. The engine temperature (RHS column) needs to be around 50%.




The practice of checking the oil level after a decent ride out before putting the bike away would seem a good policy. Then you are good to go for next time out.

[David.]

This pig burns oil like no modern motorcycle ever should.

My Camhead has used 1 litre of oil in 5,600 miles. What kind of oil consumption does your pig have.

[Grumpy]

My Camhead has used 1 litre of oil in 5,600 miles. What kind of oil consumption does your pig have.

Looks to be about 1\2 liter (500mil) at about 1200 miles. Dealer mechanics shrugged his shoulders and said "that sounds about right". I haven't seen it myself but the mechanic said BMW says a quart per thousand miles is acceptable.

[David.]

BMW says a quart per thousand miles is acceptable.

US quart = 0.946 litres

[Grumpy]

US quart = 0.946 litres

Close enough that I sometimes use them interchangeably. I topped off the bike using metric scale on the container, the mechanic discussed in imperial measure so I stayed with that in my comment.
Regardless of the system used to measure, it's way more oil use than is acceptable for a modern engine.  I've had two strokes that didn't use much more oil.
I have begun to park it on the centerstand and next oil change will try 15-50 wt dino to try and mitigate the usage. But it's not likely that will help much.
My Japanese bikes never burned any oil and boxer engines don't have to either. I drove a Subaru with a boxer engine for ten years and never had to add an ounce of oil between changes.

[David.]

Next oil change will try 15-50 wt dino to try and mitigate the usage.

What viscosity oil is in the bike at the moment and how may miles has it done. The 15W50 Motorex Boxer oil is Synthetic.

[Grumpy]

What viscosity oil is in the bike at the moment and how may miles has it done. The 15W50 Motorex Boxer oil is Synthetic.

Advantec Pro 15-50: I think that is a semi-synthetic.  BMW branded from the dealer.  1500+ miles on this oil change but had to add 1/2 liter at about the 1200 mile mark.
I misspoke on the 15/50 for the next oil change, should have said 20/40 dino. The dealer suggested that.
Dealer also warned me away from using full synthetic as they claim to see a lot of seals leaking when switching after so many miles using dino.  With all the other issues on this bike, I didn't want to risk seals leaking as well so stayed away from the synthetic.

[David.]

Dealer also warned me away from using full synthetic.

When the Camheads first came out in 2010, the BMW dealer recommended oil was Castrol Power 1 Racing 10W-50 fully synthetic.

I was given a copy of this Castrol leaflet when I bought my 2010 RT, BMW_lubricants_POSTER-2.pdf (motorcycleinfo.co.uk)

Since then, the oil spec. has been downgraded to 15W-50 semi-synthetic.

The Hexheads used to run on 20W-50 mineral oil, 20W-40 is an interesting viscosity range. BMW do a 20W-50 "Classic" mineral oil (dino).