BMW Oil Delivery

[Gone in 60]

There's a "I don't ride BMW's Anymore" thread going on the Triumph forum, and after piling on with my tales of BMW woe, it made me think of Saturday morning.

At Cars and Coffee on Saturday, I was staring, well drooling actually, on a CBX, hoping the owner would return soon and fire it up to leave.

While I was drooling, a guy on a newer model liquid cooled R1200GS backed in nearby, and put the bike on the center stand. A crowd gathered as he was letting the bike sit and idle.

I strolled over to see what was what. He had fitted the bike with clear plastic valve covers (said he found them on Ebay), and everyone was watching the valvetrain whirl away. I noticed something interesting. While the left cylinder was awash in a tornado of oil, there was barely a trickle swishing around in the right cylinder.

He said there was a ticking on the right side, and he thought that by buying the clear covers, he might be able to see something weird. Well, oil starvation will do that sort of thing, I guess. I started mentally cataloging the esoteric parts I had purchased over the years to try to diagnose or fix what was supposed be an indestructible machine. Bespoke battery chargers, expensive tools, scanners, etc.

Another BMW guy walked over and told the guy that some liquid cooled GS bikes have oiling problems, and let him know that his right cam probably wouldn't last much longer.

All the while, the CBX sat, unnoticed. I wanted to hear it, but my wife reminded me that we were supposed to be going to rescue my mom, who was stranded with a dead battery, not waiting to listen to motorcycles. Oh well, priorities, I guess.

 

[pdedse]

There's a "I don't ride BMW's Anymore" thread going on the Triumph forum, and after piling on with my tales of BMW woe, it made me think of Saturday morning.

At Cars and Coffee on Saturday, I was staring, well drooling actually, on a CBX, hoping the owner would return soon and fire it up to leave.

While I was drooling, a guy on a newer model liquid cooled R1200GS backed in nearby, and put the bike on the center stand. A crowd gathered as he was letting the bike sit and idle.

I strolled over to see what was what. He had fitted the bike with clear plastic valve covers (said he found them on Ebay), and everyone was watching the valvetrain whirl away. I noticed something interesting. While the left cylinder was awash in a tornado of oil, there was barely a trickle swishing around in the right cylinder.

He said there was a ticking on the right side, and he thought that by buying the clear covers, he might be able to see something weird. Well, oil starvation will do that sort of thing, I guess. I started mentally cataloging the esoteric parts I had purchased over the years to try to diagnose or fix what was supposed be an indestructible machine. Bespoke battery chargers, expensive tools, scanners, etc.

Another BMW guy walked over and told the guy that some liquid cooled GS bikes have oiling problems, and let him know that his right cam probably wouldn't last much longer.

All the while, the CBX sat, unnoticed. I wanted to hear it, but my wife reminded me that we were supposed to be going to rescue my mom, who was stranded with a dead battery, not waiting to listen to motorcycles. Oh well, priorities, I guess.

So did your wife / mom come back to pick you up from the shop after they got the car running?

 

[Gone in 60]

No, unfortunately we were on a mission to buy a new battery and take it to install in my mom’s car so she could get to her kitten rescue society volunteer gig. Neither my wife or mom would be able to complete the task on their own so, alas, I couldn’t stick around.

 

[DAC]

Drooling over a dime-a-dozen GS and the CBX goes unnoticed. No accounting for taste.

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

Clear valve cover? Neat.

Any kitten pics?








Just kiddin'!

No CBX pics? :dodgy:

 

[pekingduck]

AAA would have delivered and installed a battery within an hour. No need to figure which battery group size, stand in line at Pep Boys, return the core, or reset the clock and radio stations. You could have been listening to sweet music from the 6.

 

[Gone in 60]

Strangely, I didn't take pictures of the CBX. Looking on my phone, the only thing I did take a picture of was a Reliant Regal three-wheeler.

Kitten pics? I have thousands of them. Mom is the Kitten Pied Piper of San Diego County. At any time, she has a batch of at least five that she's nursing back to health to be adopted.

AAA? Yeah... 'bout that... That's the reason I went to go help. Last time she did call them. They charged her $230 for what turned out to be an 18-month battery for a standard GM car. That's elder abuse in my book.

 

[pekingduck]

Strangely, I didn't take pictures of the CBX. Looking on my phone, the only thing I did take a picture of was a Reliant Regal three-wheeler.

Kitten pics? I have thousands of them. Mom is the Kitten Pied Piper of San Diego County. At any time, she has a batch of at least five that she's nursing back to health to be adopted.

AAA? Yeah... 'bout that... That's the reason I went to go help. Last time she did call them. They charged her $230 for what turned out to be an 18-month battery for a standard GM car. That's elder abuse in my book.

I've had good luck with AAA, both with the price and longevity.
They have an on-line battery quote - just input car model, etc.

 

[Gone in 60]

I get 'em from Costco. Good warranty, Visa points and we're there almost every week anyway.

 

[Gone in 60]

Yeah, loved my R1200R up until it started going down the list of known glitches for that bike. It developed every one, and I was able to sell it before it became a complete money pit. Luckily, I got enough for it to move straight over to my CB. I can sleep easier now.

Funny, did a search, can't find clear valve covers for Hondas.

 

[pekingduck]

Hmm, maybe that's because with a Honda, there's no expectation of anything failing.

 

[peterbaron]

Seriously, let me see...

nothing wrong with the CB for sure...BMW, hmm...???

 

[Gone in 60]

Yeah, nice having a bike that doesn't require me to wince when I turn the key to see if a new warning light came on.

 

[pekingduck]

Does BMW mean Bike Might Work?

 

[peterbaron]

My riding buddy/3rd owner has a 2007 R 1200 GS model with about 65Kms, and he never had any problem while riding together, about 20000 kms.
In 2019 we have scheduled 2 week/7000kms round trip from Toronto, ON to Newfoundland, he maintains his bike in tip-top condition.

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

I thought BMWs were coveted?

 

[pdedse]

Hmm, maybe that's because with a Honda, there's no expectation of anything failing.

Yeeeaaaaahh...until they do. Sorry, every now and then memories of the "high / low idle issue" pop up for me. One of the reasons I bought the '14 CB1100 standard was that I had heard about Honda's dead-on reliablity. Naturally, I get blessed with one that had the idle problems. But... while I may be slow, I am stupid...after trading the '14 in, I eventually got a '17 EX...and glad to report that after nearly 2 full years, no issues. Guess I was one of the exceptions to prove the rule.
:biker:

 

[Wisedrum]

Hmm, maybe that's because with a Honda, there's no expectation of anything failing.

Yeeeaaaaahh...until they do. Sorry, every now and then memories of the "high / low idle issue" pop up for me. One of the reasons I bought the '14 CB1100 standard was that I had heard about Honda's dead-on reliablity. Naturally, I get blessed with one that had the idle problems. But... while I may be slow, I am stupid...after trading the '14 in, I eventually got a '17 EX...and glad to report that after nearly 2 full years, no issues. Guess I was one of the exceptions to prove the rule.
:biker:

My CB was also one of those Hondas with the mentioned idle issue. It was and it could luckly and easily been cured by a new injection programming by Honda in my country. I'm glad and enjoy a very reliable and problemfree CB since that healing. A bike without any other issue or failing til now with 58.000km on the speedometer in 7 years. A Honda. A good one. I'm not dissapointed.

Wisedrum

 

[pekingduck]

Hmm, maybe that's because with a Honda, there's no expectation of anything failing.

Yeeeaaaaahh...until they do. Sorry, every now and then memories of the "high / low idle issue" pop up for me. One of the reasons I bought the '14 CB1100 standard was that I had heard about Honda's dead-on reliablity. Naturally, I get blessed with one that had the idle problems. But... while I may be slow, I am stupid...after trading the '14 in, I eventually got a '17 EX...and glad to report that after nearly 2 full years, no issues. Guess I was one of the exceptions to prove the rule.
:biker:

Yeeeaaaaahh...until they do. Sorry, every now and then memories of the "high / low idle issue" pop up for me. One of the reasons I bought the '14 CB1100 standard was that I had heard about Honda's dead-on reliablity. Naturally, I get blessed with one that had the idle problems. But... while I may be slow, I am stupid...after trading the '14 in, I eventually got a '17 EX...and glad to report that after nearly 2 full years, no issues. Guess I was one of the exceptions to prove the rule.
:biker:
Problems of a mechanical nature are rare on Hondas. It's the little intermittent electronic gremlins that are so hard to track down.
I suspect that electronics and wiring are the major part of BMWs warranty complaints, especially those that have customer installed electrical accessories added.

 

[Gone in 60]

No machine is perfect. I have a 2001 Odyssey here at work that I stripped out to use as a cargo van. It's got 230k miles on it, and it still runs like a top. But, it's had three transmissions.

I like talking with motor police officers when I get the chance. These guys live on motorcycles every day, so it's interesting to get their perspective of the machines that someone, somewhere decided was the best motorcycle for them to ride for a living.

When I was interested in BMWs years ago, I spoke with several Highway Patrol officers who raved about them. All-day comfort, reliable as the day is long. They bragged about six-digit mileage with regular maintenance. I was sold, and went through a small fleet of them over the years to get a taste of different models.

The museum where I work on weekends hosts private parties frequently, sometimes being receptions for Los Angeles city officials. That's given me the opportunity to talk with some LAPD officers on motorcade duty when they can relax a little bit sitting outside the museum. They have recently swapped out their Beemers for Harleys, however older air-cooled BMWs are still used here and there, often for ceremonial work. The LAPD officers on BMWs give a much different story about their bikes. Due to the more frequent starts and stops, and a lot of low speed riding in the friction zone means more frequent parts replacement, which, on a BMW can be a lot more expensive and time consuming than for other brands. Replacing the thousand-dollar clutch requires splitting the bike in two with days of down-time. Made sense. The Highway Patrol guys are doing thousands of highway miles, with less city riding.

Some of these guys aren't happy to give up the BMWs for Harleys, but "What can we say, the Harleys are pigs to ride, but the BMWs were costing too much to maintain".

Meanwhile, Huntington Beach PD is still riding Honda ST1300s. Two officers were sitting outside of a shopping center last weekend, and as my wife and I strolled by, I said "Man, you guys are still riding those?" I got a shrug "Well, they just keep on going."