2012 RT with high oil consumption

Motodan said:

Let's see...had a friend with 37 miles on his new GS and rode it like he stole it...and ruined a big end bearing....the owner always knows best.

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I've run in the following since 2001. Very hard from mile 10 and almost no oil use from day 1.
7 1200 GS's
3 1150 RT's
2 650 GS's
2 1150 R's
! 800 GS

Have I just been lucky with 15 bikes?

Perhaps your friend just got a bad engine from the factory.

martyhill said:

I've run in the following since 2001. Very hard from mile 10 and almost no oil use from day 1.
7 1200 GS's
3 1150 RT's
2 650 GS's
2 1150 R's
! 800 GS

Have I just been lucky with 15 bikes?

Perhaps your friend just got a bad engine from the factory.

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Could be...have to admit the engine itself quite bullet-proof, but "things" can and do.

Try this:

http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm


I have been doing this procedure for years before there was a "motoman", and never have had a bike or any vehicle use oil excessively. Did it on the current bike and it uses essentially no oil between changes. I use Amsoil 20W50.

There is no mystery to engine break in and what it doesn't call for is not using the motor.

It is very important to load rings heavily early on. That's low rpm full throttle in higher gears. And to mix it up with a few runs to the limit after a little bit of use

If a motor is still using a bunch of oil at 4K or 6K it probably was babied excessively when new (eg perhaps ridden by a former Harley ridr using similar rpm). The only problem with that is that the final breakin may now take a bunch longer than normal. Only in rare cases will stuff not seat in eventually.

A racers breakin consists of few dyno runs and then bolt it in and have at it..

danvestedbb said:

What have you normally done? 20w50?

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The weight is not the concern; it is running synthetic too early. I typically wait 3-5k miles before moving from dino to synthetic.

liv2ride said:

The weight is not the concern; it is running synthetic too early. I typically wait 3-5k miles before moving from dino to synthetic.

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OK. I just recently bought my first RT (used). I have about 60,000 miles on it. Should I be using 20w50?

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danvestedbb said:

OK. I just recently bought my first RT (used). I have about 60,000 miles on it. Should I be using 20w50?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

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Only if you want to.

I typically put in synth at the 600 mile oil change. No significant oil usage on any of the Ks we have had or the '08GS and '12GS. A couple of ounces on a 4600 mile trip out to Oregon and back, both GSes, just recently.
And we just ride them like normal people...no stole it or whatever. 4 to 5 thousand rpm when cruising.
BMW would have you believe that everything that happens to the bike is something you did or didn't do. The truth is that they have more control before you ever get it than you do. I have seen even a K75 use a quart in a thousand miles from new. Eventually it dried up somewhat, but BMW manufactured it that way, not the owner's break-in methods or synth or dino, or whatever.
I am thinking the new water cooled twins will be more consistently "not" oil burners from new.

can the dealer read rpm's / hours on the computer?

the reason I ask is I recently bought a suzuki outboard motor. It has a breakin routine that is pretty boring, but the dealer says they can download the hours and rpms the motor is run at. Never heard of that on a motorcycle, but it should be easily possible.

I followed max rpms fairly close on my 09 gs, but did a lot of full throttle runs and lot of decelerating with throttle closed. Varied speeds constantly, probably didn't redline it too often but would run up to 5-6 k rpms. Whatever it seems to have worked. The bike just doesn't burn oil!

liv2ride said:

The weight is not the concern; it is running synthetic too early. I typically wait 3-5k miles before moving from dino to synthetic.

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Engines do not know what kind of oil is in them. The major consideration is only cost. You can break in an engine with synthetic or straight petroleum oil. I generally, on a new engine, change at 100, 600, 1200 and 6000 to flush all the loose trash out of the engine. Doing that with synthetic would be kind of expensive.

For what it is worth, I have a 2007 RT that I bought new. I followed the break in procedure, but was not anal about it. I definitely did not ride it like I stole it. I have used BMW synthetic from the beginning. I have almost 60K on it, and have never had to add oil between changes.

It is interest how/why BMW changed their "run in" protocol from '09 to '10 RT models....more agressive than their prior guides.