The New And Improved Unofficial R65 Forum V2
Technical Discussion => BMW Technical Q&A, Primarily R65 => Topic started by: mrclubike on September 05, 2017, 10:32:18 PM
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I was wondering how much oil other people have been running in their motor
The full 2.5qts ( 2.5L)
or 2.0qts (2.0)
I did notice when I first got the bike that the oil level seemed to drop a 1/2 qt quickly and then slowed down
But I still ran the 2.5qts as specified
I just could not bring myself to purposely run it low on oil
I have read about this elsewhere but I think it was more problematic with the older shallow pans
BMW realized this and deepened the pans and I think even put out a service bulletin about running the oil lower than specified in the shallow pans
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I fill mine until I'm at the half-way mark and the bike is plenty happy. But, I've been riding Beemers since 1976 so old habits die hard!
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I run at the half way mark which is not much oil on the early models, only a little over 1.8 Litres.
It burns no measurable amount between changes at 2000 miles
I once worked out that if you run an 81-84 model at the full mark you have the same air space as a 78-80 model at half way. Not suggesting for a minute that anyone should run at the full mark but it illustrates that it's even more important to run no more than half way on the early models with the shallower pan.
Running at half way was actually sanctioned by BMW. In response to excessive oil consumption, an Aug 1990 BMW service bulletin citing oil churning and breather loss, specifically advised not to add oil until the level reached the minimum mark and then add no more than 1 pint.
That was a round about way of BMW saying don't fill above the halfway mark.
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I fill about 2/3rds of the way between the marks. More than that it just blows it out the breather and makes a mess. doesn't use enough oil to require a top up between changes which are 6 monthly as the bike doesn't do enough work for miles to be a problem.
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This was the main reason I installed the spacer
I thought it was recommended to run 1/2 way down with the shallow pans but I guess it included the deeper pans also
I am running 5000 miles between oil changes (change filter every oil change also)
When I dropped the pan to install the spacer the engine was extremely clean
I do run Mobile One 20W50 full synthetic
And I ride about 15000 miles per year
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I use 2.5 litres in my '87 mono, the level never changes.
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Duane Ausherman said that it is better to run too low, than too full.
Just make sure there is something in there for the pick-up and pump to work with.
1/2 way was my goal.