Engine Bad Rattle

Bike started loosing power riding up a slight incline at 65 mph. Pulled in clutch to downshift. And bike stalled immediately. Terrible rattle noise coming from engine. Somewhere I lost 2.5 quarts of oil. No oil on bike rear tire or residue of oil Ok'ing from exhaust. Recently had new clutch installed at dealership and they also replaced main rear seal and clutch master while in there. Guess my question is could the missing oil be caused by a bad seal replacement and where did the oil go?

No oil drip at all since repair. One side note, after repair, I was getting tiny bit of oil out of filler hole. I first replaced the 2 o-rings but that didn't help so also replaced the plastic filler piece and that solved the problem.

Bike started loosing power riding up a slight incline at 65 mph. Pulled in clutch to downshift. And bike stalled immediately. Terrible rattle noise coming from engine. Somewhere I lost 2.5 quarts of oil. No oil on bike rear tire or residue of oil Ok'ing from exhaust. Recently had new clutch installed at dealership and they also replaced main rear seal and clutch master while in there. Guess my question is could the missing oil be caused by a bad seal replacement and where did the oil go?

No oil drip at all since repair. One side note, after repair, I was getting tiny bit of oil out of filler hole. I first replaced the 2 o-rings but that didn't help so also replaced the plastic filler piece and that solved the problem.

Morning Bigfish

Who did clutch job????

If a BMW dealer then a good chance the rear main seal was at least installed correctly.

If the clutch was done at a non-BMW shop then a very good possibility (high chance) that the rear main seal was installed too deeply therefore blocking the crankcase vent system.

Unless very familiar with the BMW 1100/1150 rear main seal installation procedure then a LOT of mechanics drive the outer seal it in too deep figuring that is where it I supposed to go.

The BMW 1100/1150 boxer engine vents between the inner & outer rear main seal so if the vent system is blocked then the engine forces oil out past the piston rings or any place it can force oil out of.

Give the guy a call that did the clutch & ask him HOW he installed the rear main seals & what he used to drive them in with.

You might also open the air box drain valve (L/H rear lower corner of air box) to see how much oil comes out of that.

The senior mechanic at local BMW shop did it all. I specially requested that mechanic since he had the most experience.

I do think my engine is toast now. After adding the oil the rattle lessened but it still sounds awful.

Just a drop of oil cake out of the overflow airbox. Also is a bummer I am 500 miles from home right now.

Could the missing oil be in the clutch area?

Could the missing oil be in the clutch area?

Morning Bigfish

Possibly but probably not as the clutch housing is not sealed to the engine so any oil that leaks into that area usually just seeps out all over the lower rear of engine.

Was the engine full of oil when you left home?

Could the missing oil be in the clutch area?

 

 

Morning Bigfish

 

Possibly but probably not as the clutch housing is not sealed to the engine so any oil that leaks into that area usually just seeps out all over the lower rear of engine.

 

Was the engine full of oil when you left home?

 

 

This is going to seem like a really simple minded question, as I assume you would have noticed this but is the sight glass still installed? I know first hand that if you push the rear main oil seal in too far (as DR eluded to earlier) the crankcase pressure builds up. This usually results in the sight glass blowing out of it's installed position.

When it happened to me, I lost a LOT of oil very quickly.

If the sight glass is still installed, then my internet guess would be a valve. A few years back I had a similar incident, lost power on the highway, exited and the engine stalled as soon as I pulled in the clutch. Restarted but very noisy engine. Fortunately it was just a mile from home, so I got it home. Spent three weeks troubleshooting everything and finally had the shop pick it up. No compression on the left cylinder. Exhaust valve chipped and was missing a piece about 1/4 inch around. Valve replaced, seats ground and engine has been running great for quite a while.

Yes sight glass intact.

Going to have Ozzie's BMW do the repair. Will do a follow up post to what they find.

Going to try and enjoy the rest of my vacation week with my wife albeit in a rental car now. 😩

Going to have Ozzie's BMW do the repair. Will do a follow up post to what they find.

Going to try and enjoy the rest of my vacation week with my wife albeit in a rental car now. 😩

As DR pointed out, that rear crankshaft oil seal is an area that causes concern. However if your air box is not full of oil, that kind of mitigates it. But nonetheless, if you are having someone look at it, get them to check that seal is correctly installed.

How have you briefed the mechanic? Are you asking him to repair it, or diagnose it? If it is terminal, then a replacement engine will probably be a cheaper option.

Going to have Ozzie's BMW do the repair. Will do a follow up post to what they find.

Going to try and enjoy the rest of my vacation week with my wife albeit in a rental car now. 😩

 

As DR pointed out, that rear crankshaft oil seal is an area that causes concern. However if your air box is not full of oil, that kind of mitigates it. But nonetheless, if you are having someone look at it, get them to check that seal is correctly installed.

 

Afternoon Andy

If the rear seal is driven in too far then that blocks the vent going to the air box so an incorrect seal install (too deep) would keep oil from venting into (or going into) into the air box.

Going to have Ozzie's BMW do the repair. Will do a follow up post to what they find.

Going to try and enjoy the rest of my vacation week with my wife albeit in a rental car now. 😩

 

How have you briefed the mechanic? Are you asking him to repair it, or diagnose it? If it is terminal, then a replacement engine will probably be a cheaper option.

 

Not necessarily. We still don't know what is wrong or any repair estimate, BUT - 5 years ago I blew an exhaust valve on my R1100RT. It must have blown the chip out the exhaust because there was no damage to the cylinder. Had my local BMW shop do the repair, new valve, head gasket some other stuff - $1,200. Five years and 78k miles ago.

Afternoon Andy If the rear seal is driven in too far then that blocks the vent going to the air box so an incorrect seal install (too deep) would keep oil from venting into (or going into) into the air box

Hi, thanks DR. that's why I commented that it was mitigated by no oil in the Airbox.

My point was really, that if someone is pulling that motor to bits, just double check that the seal is inserted correctly and not blocking that oil breather gallery.

Is it possible that oil was previously drained, possibly during the clutch job, and never replaced?? Stranger things have happened....

Is it possible that oil was previously drained, possibly during the clutch job, and never replaced?? Stranger things have happened....

Afternoon Lowndes

Also is a bummer I am 500 miles from home right now

At 500 miles from home I'm not sure how Bigfish could have ridden that far with little or no oil in the engine after repair.

Going to have Ozzie's BMW do the repair. Will do a follow up post to what they find.

Going to try and enjoy the rest of my vacation week with my wife albeit in a rental car now. 😩

 

How have you briefed the mechanic? Are you asking him to repair it, or diagnose it? If it is terminal, then a replacement engine will probably be a cheaper option.

The Mechanic I spoke with also agreed that a replacement motor would be cheeper depending on the damage. Mechanic also mentioned that a new (used) motor is always a gamble too.

Mentioned that if it had a tip-over and the engine ran for some time while on side... the real damage might be discovered after a few thousand miles are put on the motor.

In the last few years, I've replace the Final Drive and the Clutch and Master Clutch Slave and added Speigler Brake lines. So my first thought is to get this motor repaired with new engine parts that I know are not damaged. It's going to be awhile before bike gets transported to the mechanic and he already told me he would know a lot more once he drains the oil. I won't know anything until sometime in August.

I am open to suggestions on how to approach the Local BMW shop that did my recent rear main seal and new clutch. Do I mention anything to them now? Or wait to see what the certified mechanic finds. I hate to place blame with no absolute proof, but I do have receipts of buying filler cap o-rings and new plastic filler tube after repair since oil was leaking through the top filler cap after new clutch and seals were installed. At least that proves there was excessive pressure in the engine after the repair. In hind sight, I wish I would have brought this to the service departments attention instead of just going to the parts counter and getting the needed parts and fixing myself.

 

I am open to suggestions on how to approach the Local BMW shop that did my recent rear main seal and new clutch. Do I mention anything to them now? Or wait to see what the certified mechanic finds. I hate to place blame with no absolute proof, but I do have receipts of buying filler cap o-rings and new plastic filler tube after repair since oil was leaking through the top filler cap after new clutch and seals were installed. At least that proves there was excessive pressure in the engine after the repair. In hind sight, I wish I would have brought this to the service departments attention instead of just going to the parts counter and getting the needed parts and fixing myself.

Morning Bigfish

No harm in mentioning it to the shop that did the clutch. Don't outright blame them for anything just yet UNTIL you get the bike looked at & the cause of the failure is determined.

The engine failure could easily be from the clutch/seal work or just as easily be from an unrelated part failure.

Once the engine failure root cause is determined then you can assign blame and/or seek restitution.

Definitely mention to the new shop working on the bike to check the rear seal installation as that is something they probably wouldn't look at unless specifically asked to. If it is incorrect have them take pictures of the seal installed-depth BEFORE removing the seal, then have them forward the pictures to you.