BMW R1100R -- BMW OEM 20w50 dino

[dparm]

Posting this for my coworker who got his first ever UOA on his wife's BMW R1100R. Relatively high oil consumption but the Blackstone results look pretty good.

This is the basic BMW 20w50 dino oil. Very surprised at the results given this is not a synthetic.

 

[Steve S]

It has been said by those in the know, if the advantages of syn oil are not required dino oil will keep the parts separated and additives do their job. More will not help . Some people get by with 20wt in their Ferraris running to the mall and back.

 

[addyguy]

Not bad at all for 6k in a bike.

 

[Doug Hillary]

Hi,
dparm - great bike and good report! I'm jealous!!

I had a new R100RS several years ago and used the original ester based SH/CF GC 0W-30 in it. It was on their "Special Oils" (synthetics) schedule and it performed very well - even at temperatures of 45C (113F)

 

[dparm]

Thanks Doug, but it's not my bike -- it's a coworkers. He was just curious if a UOA could help him figure out the moderate consumption.

 

[Doug Hillary]

Hi,
Dan - I would not call that oil consumption excessive

 

[dparm]

Well, he has the R850R (same motor, just destroked) and it drinks zero oil. He's just confused is all.

 

[RWEST]

It seems that Beemers either use it or they don't!!!

At the ADVRider forum's BMW boxer section, there are lots of stories about either situation, so, who knows??

When I got my R1200GS earlier this year, the guys at the various forums had me so worried about excessive oil consumption that I about wore out my back bending down to look in the check-window all the time. It has 4,500 miles on it now, and never did use any..

On a related note, many of the guys report going 10K miles between changes, since the engine is really pretty easy on oil. I'm thinking some of that may be due to the fact that the engine oil is not shared with the tranny..

 

[cycleman]

1 liter or 1 US quart in a 1000 miles is what BMW allows as oil consumption on the oilheads. On my R1100R I recently completed a 6000 mile trip, using Mobile 1 Twin 20-50 synthetic and the engine used about 1/2 a liter of oil. If I was running the non synthetic I would have expected to get about the same result as the original poster did on the BMW oil.

For whatever reason some use oil and others don't. In my view the 1.3 quarts is acceptable for this type of bike.

 

[BMWR1150GS]

Many boxer riders report early oil consumption especially if the engine was not broken in properly. Lugging the boxer motor will cause oil consumption. Also, too gentle break in will lead to a long ring-cylinder bedding in process.

I would recommend that the boxer engine be ridden at no less than 3000 RPM (once warmed to operating temp) and stay in lower gears when in traffic. Lugging the engine with its bore and stroke ratio with those Nikasil cylinder walls will cause oil to be consumed.

While this is a good UOA, you might want to consider a synthetic with better pumpability at cold start. I happen to use Mobil1 15w-50 year round and change annually regardless of mileage.

Last I checked, BMW brand oils were made by Spetro...an oil with a good reputation.