Running in and towing

G’day RMD and all
Another story
I’ve owned BMW1200gs’s motorcycle’s 2004 2006 and 2008
None have used significant oil, I wasn’t very gentle running any of them in. There had been reports of high oil usage back when I had the first one. I asked the service manager what BMW regarded as acceptable oil usage , he said 1 litre per 1000. When I commented mine used that little it didn’t need any top up for the 10,000 k service interval, he said a lot run them in too soft. The beemer 1200 holds 4 litres in engine only (seperate gearbox) in the 10,000 it would only get to the bottom of the eye level which is less than 300 ml. So was fine.
I also had an employee with a secondhand v8 commodore that used heaps , but after he’d had it a while and drove it hard , the oil consumption improved to an acceptable level
Cheers
Shane

Hey Shane


"I asked the service manager what BMW regarded as acceptable oil usage , he said 1 litre per 1000 "

Back in the 70's when I bought, owned and raced BSA's , Triumph's and Nortons I asked the service manager what is acceptable oil usage - he said you will probably leak about a litre a week !

Wasn't far wrong ..lol lol lol

Wish I still had all of them today !!

Cheers
Gazz

On the pommy bikes leaking oil.
One of my mates turned up at a party on a Suzuki 250 with a bit of an oil leak. There were a couple of triumph fans there , when they bagged him about the oil leak.
Quick a# a flash he replied, “yeah I’ve just had a triumph conversion kit put in”

That shut em up!!

Ha ha - but I would have an educated guess those triumph fan$ would be having the la$t laugh if they $till had their Triumph$ and your mate $till had his Suzuki - oil leaks or not !

Cheers
Gazz

Hi Gazz, I purchased 250 Suzuki Hustler When they first came out, Their performance stats were a big con, their 100mph claim was absolute B/S, unless you rode it down a mine shaft ..lol.

After 3mths of pain i traded it on a ex police Triumph 650 Saint, ..What a difference !!!., at least i could pull out from the kerb with a cold motor.

If we had the sealants that we have now back then, oil leaks would not have been a problem

Cheers Axle.

G'day Axle

My ex missus had a 250 Hustler when we started dating - I had a Triumph Bonneville at the time.
Your Triumph Saint is worth about ten grand at least today.
Had a couple ex SA Police A65 BSA's - also restored a couple other A65's and as you say with improved sealants and an understanding of where and what caused the oil leaks I had NO leaks at all in most of my British bikes !

Had a few high powered Yamaha's and Kawasaki's etc but as I got on a bit in age I realized the brains reaction time didn't quite marry up with the speed of the bikes so I played it safe and stuck with 4wdriving.

Cheers
Gazz

Jim
If you followed their instructions to the letter, or not, how would they know? If a problem developed it is their claim against yours. Same old.

Started maybe, but run in?

G'day Frank
I wonder what powertrain components are/might/maybe damaged by towing a trailer. Many tradies have done exactly that and towed their tandems heaped with gear. Some tandems with loads of screenings etc. so the tonnage was up there.

There are many people who retire, buy the LC 200 or other brand, hitch up the big new van and depart.

Who knows, RMD. The book is full of vague warnings, like "it might drive differently" and such things.

It even said if the engine overheats you can continue to drive it safely because when it gets really bad it will go into limp mode to protect itself. So I suppose you keep limping and all will be good. Yeah, right!

As far as I could tell from the owners manual the most important thing about running in was the tyres. There was no mention of what happens when you get your second and subsequent sets.

Frank
The only auto parts affected would be the clutch plates and since many drivers accelerate hard and often they will be bedded in soon I imagine. Sensible towing can't be worse than some I have seen.

That is pretty high tech for the manual to say you can keep driving because it will enter limp mode if too hot. Perhaps the lack of coolant isn't such an issue. Older vehicles had a RED light which came on and if continued to drive they certainly entered limp mode after a short time. My silly brother inlaw burnt a hole in three pistons in his Holden and it had developed a bad limp.

RMD, Must be something about B/inlaws!, mine ran his honda prelude with the oil light on for a hr or so. .

Very little oil flow happening due to sludge in oil gallerys, hence he did not get to his destination......lol.


Cheers

Axle
You are right again, I never had the chance to choose a smart brother inlaw either.