Burning Oil Smell from CamHead

Just a thought. To be entirely sure you rule everything out. Next time you get to the vent tubes, disconnect from both ends and make sure you can blow air through them. while it's unlikely something got in there to plug up the vent tube, there may be an obstruction of some sort.

To the best of my knowledge there is only one crankcase vent tube. It is from the left valve cover to the air box. This is a rubber hose that is approx. 3/4" ID. I have had this hose off and ran a paper towel thru it to remove any oil. This hose is open and there are no kinks. If there is another vent hose let me know I will look at it to see if it is kinked or plugged.

Roger L

Morning Roger L

Both plugs look like they have seen some oily residue that burnt off during engine operation. The upper plug (picture) looks to have some buildup so that could point to a little oil burning on that side. Neither plug seems to point to as much oil usage as you are seeing.

If the oil is going in through the air box while running then it mixes with fast moving air & burns more cleanly leaving little evidence.

On your trip try to resist the urge to top it off in one checking session. If you think it is 6 oz low then only put in 2 or 3 oz. (or better yet, give it a second checking later before adding anything, then only add half of what you think it needs)--

It is S-o-o-o-o easy to overfill the BMW 1200RT engines using only one sight glass reading.

If you are riding with another rider(s) then have them look for blue or black smoke out of the your muffler as you ride aggressively (maybe that will tell you something)

My airbox has some oil in it but its more like from vapor mist build up over time. My lower plugs showed more dark colored deposits than the primary. This is normal after I did some research. All in all my oil consumption was normal during the break in period. May I suggest to stop over analyzing the situation and keep riding until you reach the 15,000 mile mark?

My airbox has some oil in it but its more like from vapor mist build up over time. My lower plugs showed more dark colored deposits than the primary. This is normal after I did some research. All in all my oil consumption was normal during the break in period. May I suggest to stop over analyzing the situation and keep riding until you reach the 15,000 mile mark?

Come on now. I am a Mechanical Engineer with a BMW motorcycle. Over analyzing and obsessing over things is what I do. If it is not the oil it would be the final drive,the transmission, or some other noise the bike is making.

I will continue to ride the bike and watch the oil level and continue to document how much oil I am putting in. Up until my last ride the bike was averaging 1,700 miles per liter of oil. I hope the oil consumption drops.

Roger L

AS a guide I have a 2012 twin cam RT. Bought at 4200 miles in May, just done an oil change at 9700. Oil was about half litre down (ie 3.5 litres)

No oil was added between times.

Biggest problem here is discussing "break in."

We should all know that this is a 20th century historical artifact.

In the 21st century, engines are "broken in" within an hour.

Wikipedia on break in

I remember when I purchased my 1997 318ti with the 1.9 litre engine. According from BMW the engine will consume oil during break in. I never thought one liter of oil in the first 1,700 miles was normal by any break in standards. I panicked at first. The dealer said it's normal.

Well after the first oil change at 4,400 miles that engine tightened up. I calculated a consumption rate of about 14,000 miles a litre. I used Mobil one from then on. It went just over 100,000 miles before it started to consume more oil but it was never an issue except a couple of oil leaks that I took care of. Trust BMW when they tell you what the break in period is. Until then just ride and have fun.

Update:

I am back from my (4) day trip thru Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. I traveled 1176 miles and used (1) liter of oil. I was running the bike pretty hard thru the mountain roads. I am 3588 miles into this oil change and I have put in 2.7 liters of oil into the bike. that is a average of 1328 miles per liter of oil. The odometer reads 10,065 after the trip. I will continue to commute to work on the bike and see what the oil usage us after the trip.

I asked a friend to look at the exhaust when he is following me to see if it is dark of blue. He said that he did not see any smoke but could get a smell of burning oil coming out of a corner or during a steep climb.

Shy from using oil the bike performed flawlessly. The bike fits me perfectly and does exactly what I want it to do. I love this bike I hope the oil consumption issue gets resolved.

Thanks

Roger L

Hi Roger;

Just to add to the debate. I bought my 2012 R1200RT new and it used a lot of oil initially. I never measured it, but I was the only guy adding oil to my bike on group rides. It was more than a little bit frustrating. My bottom plugs looked like your photos too. (more so on the left cylinder)

Then this spring it hit ~32,000 KM (~20,000 miles) and seemingly like magic, it quit using oil at all. I usually change the oil after a long trip, just because I don't know when I'll be on my next trip. I do not commute with it.

The trips are usually 5000-7000 KM's long. I have about 49,000 KM on it now & the season is pretty well done for us up here in Canada.

Also, it always smells a little like oil is burning once it is warmed up... I see a little oil weeping out of the right cylinder base gasket & oil sensor, but not enough is weeping out to make it go down in the site glass between trips. I hope to get a new RT in 2018 when I retire & just trade it in - smell, leaks and all.

Hope that helps.

Ride Safe.

I was the only guy adding oil to my bike on group rides. It was more than a little bit frustrating.

I am with you there. I am the only guy with the BMW on the bike trips we do and the only guy watching thew oil level and adding oil to his bike. All of the other guys are not even thinking about the oil level in their bikes.

I will keep riding the bike and adding oil. I usually get 10,000 miles per year on the bike. At the end of next season I will see what is happening with the oil usage. If it is still high and if BMW does not want to do anything about it I will probably get rid of the bike.

Roger L

Took mine about 30,000 miles to totally stop using oil between changes. Until then I just kept a small MSR bottle on the bike and topped off if I got a warning on the dash. Other than that I just stopped obsessing about it and rode the snot out of it. When it was new I got some burning smell as well. That also went away as time went on with no obvious adverse effects.

My advice in two words: Ride More.

I have an update on the oil consumption for my 2013 R1200R. The bike now has 20,000 miles on it and I am pleased to say that the oil consumption is going down. I did an oil change at the end of the season last year and just changed the oil before my 3000 mile trip. For the 5300 miles on that oil change I added 1.1 liters of oil.

I just returned from a 7 day, 3000 mile trip from North East Ohio to Arkansas and back I added 800 ml of oil during the trip. Most of the oil was added when I was riding hard in the mountains of Virginia and West Virginia. I took 2 liters of oil with me on the trip.

I hope that the bike continues to slow down the oil usage but at this point it is much better than 1 liter per 1000 miles it was using.

Roger L