Oil Consumption

Hi all. My RT just turned 80,000 KM, and I had a friend following behind me indicate I'm burning a little oil. From the last oil top up, I was down to the lower 1/3 of the sight glass over perhaps 3000 km since last change, so a bit of consumption. I'm wondering what your experiences are. Is my consumption a bit high? Its always consumed just a little bit of oil, but I'm wondering if consumption is increasing. Rings???

This issue has come up a lot on the various forums and I expect the responses here will be varied. I'm in the camp that your consumption, maybe 1/4 liter or so over 3,000kms, isn't bad at all. My RT, with a little over 9,000 miles on it (3,000 since I bought it in April) uses about that much. What made your friend say he thought it was using oil? Bluish exhaust?

Too little to worry about.

Especially right after a ride.

Back in the day I think "normal" usage according to BMW was

a lot, maybe 1L/X miles.

Thankfully most never saw anywhere near that amount of oil consumption.

My 2013 R1200R had a very large thrust for oil. At one point it was consuming almost 1 liter per 1000 miles. BMW says it is OK if it uses 1 liter per 1000 Kilometers. I took the bike to the dealer while it was under warranty and they did a compression check and other checks and said that the motor was fine ride it the consumption will go down. Now the bike has 25,000 miles on it and it is using much less oil. It is down to probably 300 ML in 3000 miles. I can not remember when I put oil in the bike last. So if your bike is using 1/3 of the sight glass for 3000 KM you are OK in my book.

Just my 2 cents

Roger L

Keep in mind that you have to check the oil with the engine hot, on the center stand, about 5 minutes after stopping. The last time I added oil I filled it to a little over halfway up the sight glass. It's been sitting in the garage now for 6 days due to some mods I'm making and when I checked it last night, it was dead full (just a little air bubble at the top of the glass). How and when you check the oil level makes a big difference.