So I bought a 1996 R1100GS this past summer from a great BMW owner who followed all the maintenance schedules to dot, including replacing the OEM brake lines every few years. The bike now has around 68k miles, having just completed a 1k mile weekend a few weeks ago.
On that ride last week, I noticed a small oil leak. Note that the last 3 times I rode this bike were in July '14 (twice) and early Dec '14 (once), which were just 2 hour long rides. This 1k mile ride last week was a long run in 20-40 degree F weather. Oil is BMW 20w50. The oil was weeping down the right side of the case, both in front and behind the jug. It was just enough to get a small mist on my book, but not enough to notice a drop in the sight glass. Over 1k miles, it dropped the oil level around 1mm, from just above the dot to on the dot. This drop sounds normal enough for this engine without any leaks.
Last week, I replaced the breather hose (thinking it could have been weeping from there due to a tiny crack in the hose), put it back together, cleaned it up real pretty, and then took it on a 40 mile ride. At 20 miles, I could see fresh oil leaking out again. After a close inspection, the only place I can see this oil coming from is the underside of the telelever pivot on the right side, as seen here:
Note that while the oil here on the pivot is freshly wet and dirty looking, where it runs down the case and front side of the cylinder, it looks super clean and fresh, like virgin oil straight out of the bottle. The oil in the engine has a few thousand miles and is darker, as evident from the sight glass. Why is this oil so fresh and clean looking? If there even a way for engine oil to leak out of the telelever pivot? I find it hard to see how that could be. There is some wet fresh oil behind that plastic cap. Only other thing I can think is if the telelever bearing is spilling its greasy guts out as oil.
The left side looks completely clean in comparison.
On that ride last week, I noticed a small oil leak. Note that the last 3 times I rode this bike were in July '14 (twice) and early Dec '14 (once), which were just 2 hour long rides. This 1k mile ride last week was a long run in 20-40 degree F weather. Oil is BMW 20w50. The oil was weeping down the right side of the case, both in front and behind the jug. It was just enough to get a small mist on my book, but not enough to notice a drop in the sight glass. Over 1k miles, it dropped the oil level around 1mm, from just above the dot to on the dot. This drop sounds normal enough for this engine without any leaks.
Last week, I replaced the breather hose (thinking it could have been weeping from there due to a tiny crack in the hose), put it back together, cleaned it up real pretty, and then took it on a 40 mile ride. At 20 miles, I could see fresh oil leaking out again. After a close inspection, the only place I can see this oil coming from is the underside of the telelever pivot on the right side, as seen here:
Note that while the oil here on the pivot is freshly wet and dirty looking, where it runs down the case and front side of the cylinder, it looks super clean and fresh, like virgin oil straight out of the bottle. The oil in the engine has a few thousand miles and is darker, as evident from the sight glass. Why is this oil so fresh and clean looking? If there even a way for engine oil to leak out of the telelever pivot? I find it hard to see how that could be. There is some wet fresh oil behind that plastic cap. Only other thing I can think is if the telelever bearing is spilling its greasy guts out as oil.
The left side looks completely clean in comparison.
