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Attention all 1999 R1100R oil nerds - A very short report on oil consumption

Back to the original post: This confuses me a little bit :scratch - Synthetic oil is alleged to be slipperier/slicker than petro oil ... wouldn't this make it more likely to get past rings and valve seals (therefore more consumption), or does it "stick" better and maybe even "burn" less??

Hope this doesn't start another battle...!
 
Back to the original post: This confuses me a little bit :scratch - Synthetic oil is alleged to be slipperier/slicker than petro oil ... wouldn't this make it more likely to get past rings and valve seals (therefore more consumption), or does it "stick" better and maybe even "burn" less??

Hope this doesn't start another battle...!

I'm not an oil engineer therefore I plead pretty much total ignorance. I just know that like woman I know what oil I like :love .
 
"I don't always drink oil, but when I do, it's..."
 

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Back to the original post: This confuses me a little bit :scratch - Synthetic oil is alleged to be slipperier/slicker than petro oil ... wouldn't this make it more likely to get past rings and valve seals (therefore more consumption), or does it "stick" better and maybe even "burn" less??

Hope this doesn't start another battle...!

As I am not an oil engineer, I only know what I read and what I experience...

It is my understanding that the strings of oil molecules in synthetic oil are more resistant to being cut/split/severed than those of regular oil. Because of this, synthetic oil use frequently reduces oil consumption due to the molecule string being "larger" than a standard oil string of molecules and therefore less likely to fit through a specific tolerance. i.e. piston ring/cylinder wall gap.
 
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- Synthetic oil is alleged to be slipperier/slicker than petro oil ... ...!

I think this is a lot of bs. I hear about slipping clutches in unit engines, oil leaks through seals and so on. Some of these stories are "conventional wisdom" and are being repeated over and over by people who have not actually experienced it.
 
Back to the original post: This confuses me a little bit :scratch - Synthetic oil is alleged to be slipperier/slicker than petro oil ... wouldn't this make it more likely to get past rings and valve seals (therefore more consumption), or does it "stick" better and maybe even "burn" less??

Hope this doesn't start another battle...!

Be careful not to assume that a reduction in oil volume automatically means it is getting past the rings. Evaporative losses can be significant, increasing the amount of oil that gets to the air box through the breather on an oilhead. Ever get a hot oil smell from your bike while stuck in traffic on a hot day? That's evaporation and some oils are more prone to it than others and it doesn't always follow synthetic vs. non synthetic lines. Google NOACK Volatility.
 
Oil ( Oh there i've said it!)

Some useful basics:
Flash Point-temp at which a particular oil will burn
Pour Point-how cold can it get before the oil gets too thick to flow
Shear Point-What point does the oil break down

If you do some reading, you will see that synthetics vastly out-perform dino oils.

Had a Mazda 323 back in the 80's. Mobil 1 every 5000 miles.
@ 60,000 took the car in for a cam belt replacement as per the maintenance schedule
When I came back to get the car the service mgr asked me to "come out and look at something"
Promptly got the heebeegeebees
Service mgr took the cam cover off and asked if/when I had the head replaced as the inside looked like a new engine
I informed him that the engine had never been apart.
The only explanation was the oil
Nuff Said

Will
 
As I am not an oil engineer, I only know what I read and what I experience...

It is my understanding that the strings of oil molecules in synthetic oil are more resistant to being cut/split/severed than those of regular oil. Because of this, synthetic oil use frequently reduces oil consumption due to the molecule string being "larger" than a standard oil string of molecules and therefore less likely to fit through a specific tolerance. i.e. piston ring/cylinder wall gap.

On the contrary, synthetic molecules are smaller (and more consistent). This is frequently cited as the reason synthetics are more apt to "weep" past gaskets and end up on the outside of your engine casing. Or mine, at least.
 
Have to agree with James. Opinion: "superior" oil should be more likely to get into smaller clearances. Think of what would happen if there was NOT oil between the rings and the cylinder wall.
 
r1100rs takes 5W50 - are you'se guys changing viscosity?

OK now I see where a person can substitute viscosities (sorry) but I see 5W50 goes up to over 100 deg F. so = shouldn't I stick with the lowest viscosity I can? My bike is a '94 r1100rs with almost 100 K miles and may not have been cared for excellently.
And, because the question will probably be asked, I am using Mobil 1 V-Twin 20/50 Synthetic as my choice of lubricant. This is a recent change for me as I have only been a Mobil 1 fan for maybe 5k miles at this point. Prior to that I was using good ol' Castrol 20/50 petroleum. There is a noticeable difference in mechanical noise with the Mobil 1 and I am extremely pleased so far.
 
The first number in the viscosity rating represents the viscosity at normal ambient temp (~72 degrees F maybe?).
The purpose of oil is to provide a slippery film between moving parts.
If the oil is too thin, it may be more likely to get squeezed out from between the surfaces instead of lubricating them. And, especially at start-up, before the oil pressure has built up and the juice is flowing, lubrication is desirable.
The engineers who designed your engine probably have a purty good idea of what lube it needs... go with their recommendations unless you have evidence or preferences that warrant a variation.

I've used lower viscosities during break-in, after a rebuild, and for dyno runs (ok, that's cheating!); it's also a common practice on the track, just to reduce friction losses.
 
In the example of a 20W-50 oil....20 is the viscosity rating at 0 degrees Celsius and 50 is the viscosity rating at 100 degrees Celsius.

As Paul has said, I'd stick pretty close to what the factory recommends.

Now, I will serve my penance for responding (yet again) to an oil thread. :D
 
Oilhead oil consumption is most during warmup. (Piston/ring clearance is significant when cold)
Theoretically if you never shut them down they would use little or no oil.

I have logged oil consumption for 290,000 km on my '00 R1150GS
Up to 80,000km I had an oil slurper - OO babied it on break in.
If you read the BMW spec's for these engines they say 1000ml/1000km is the limit, which is totally ridiculous.

I re ringed it and broke it in hard.

Results?
City hwy average is 110ml/1000km or less
My recent Alaska trip of 10,000 km over 20 days (88 km hr average speed) consumption was 60ml/1000km
And YES, I know exactly how much I use as I have a graduated litre container and log on an excel spread sheet. ( the same applies to fuel, tires, brake pads & rotors).
The bike has always been run on 20w50 Golden Spectro semi syn. since I bought it @ 25,000km


Worth noting: My buddy rode a brand new 2015 GSW on this trip and his oil consumption was 0 for the same mileage.
 
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